Amazon is an excellent eCommerce platform, which allows you to buy almost anything from food to films. And, that’s why so many people use it on a regular basis to shop.
As I mentioned in our very popular Amazon Hacks post, Amazon’s prices and promotions change daily, so keeping up with them, and determining whether or not you’re getting the best deal can be difficult.
Fortunately, Amazon does offer a range of features and programs that allow you to save money and there are many third-party websites that promote big discounts too.
So, read our list and learn how to get the best discounts on Amazon, and save yourself some cash.
Table of Contents
1. Get an Affiliate Buddy
Amazon operates an affiliates program that anyone can join. It’s called Amazon Associates and it’s free to join.
As a member of Amazon Associates, you will earn a percentage of any sales that are made through your affiliate links.
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So, for example, if you give someone a link to a camera and they buy it, then you would receive a percentage of the profits.
The commission you get varies from 4% to 15%, depending on the product and the units you sell each month.
Unfortunately, you can’t use your own affiliate link to get a percentage back, but you can get an affiliate buddy. Essentially, you ask a friend or family member to use your affiliate link whenever they buy something on Amazon, and in return, you do the same for them.
So, both of you essentially get paid in commission each time the other person makes a purchase.
While the amount you each receive won’t always be even, as it’s unlikely that you’ll constantly buy the same products as one another, it’s still a great way to generate a little extra cash.
2. Take Advantage of Amazon Prime
If you frequently use Amazon’s products and services, or if you enjoy streaming movies and TV shows, then you should definitely consider signing up to Amazon Prime.
While you do need to pay $99 per year to use Amazon Prime, the amount you get back in discounts and services, like Prime Video, makes it more than worth it. With Amazon prime, you get free two-day shipping on eligible items.
You also get same-day delivery in eligible zip codes for free.
There’s no minimum purchase threshold either, meaning that even if you’re just buying one small item, you can save on delivery.
One of the best features of Amazon Prime is Prime Video. With Prime Video, you get access to hundreds of movies and TV shows, for free, which you can stream on multiple devices, from your Smart TV to your Xbox.
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You also get access to over a million songs and hundreds of Prime Playlists with Prime Music.
Aside from all of that, you also get a number of exclusive discounts and savings, like 20% off of new release video games.
You can get a free 30 day trial of Amazon Prime, meaning you can try it out to see if you like it, without having to spend any money.
2. Use Amazon Family (Formerly known as Amazon Mom)
The Amazon Family program is a part of the Amazon Prime program.
With Amazon Mom, you get 20% off of all diapers. This is a great way for families with babies and toddlers to save money on a daily essential, without planning or having to cut coupons.
With Amazon Mom, you’ll automatically get the discount, meaning you don’t have to do anything to get great savings.
3. Use Amazon Student
Amazon Student is a membership program that’s designed to give college students a number of deals and discounts.
With the program, you get free access to Amazon Prime for six months. This is an absolutely excellent trial period, as you get to try out Prime for half a year, without having to spend anything.
Best of all, if you do decide that you want to continue using prime after the 6 month trial ends, then your Amazon Student membership makes you eligible for a 50% discount off of Amazon Prime.
With the Amazon Student program, you will also get access to student-exclusive deals and discounts.
If you’re in college or are starting college soon, then this program is a great way to save money on dorm supplies and anything else you might need in general.
4. Take Advantage of Super Saver Shipping
Even if you’re not an Amazon Prime member, you can still get free shipping on a lot of purchases, but you must spend a certain amount in order to qualify.
Currently, if you order $25 worth or more of eligible books, then you will qualify for free shipping.
But, it’s not just books that you can get free shipping on – you can get free Super Saver delivery across all other product categories too. However, the order must meet a minimum purchase threshold. Initially, this threshold was $25, but it was increased to $35 in 2013, and again in 2016 to $49.
So, now, if you want free delivery, you’ll need to place an order that includes $49 or more of eligible items.
Orders with Super Saver Shipping tend to take five to eight business days to arrive after all of the items become available to ship.
If you’re not in a rush for your items, then this is a good money-saving option.
5. Use Subscribe and Save
With Amazon’s Subscribe and Save feature, you can save up to 15% on all items and get free shipping on thousands of products. All you need to do is find a product that you purchase regularly, like makeup or laundry detergent, and then subscribe to it.
If you subscribe to five or more items, you’ll get a 15% discount.
To find out which products you can subscribe to browse the Subscribe & Save store or search for “Subscribe and Save” followed by the product you want to purchase.
This service is perfect if you frequently buy the same items on Amazon.
6. Buy Used
Buying used items on Amazon can save you a great deal of money. Many items on Amazon, particularly books and DVDs, have a “buy used” option on their listing.
So, if you don’t mind purchasing a used version of a book or DVD that you want you can often save 50% or more.
7. Get the Amazon Visa Card
Earn money back on your Amazon purchases, and on the things you buy elsewhere with the Amazon Rewards Visa Card.
When you use this card to buy things on Amazon, you’ll earn 3% of your spending back.
If you use the card at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores, you’ll earn 2% back, and for all other purchases, you’ll earn 1% of your spending back. You’ll get a $50 gift card instantly upon credit card approval too.
8. Amazon Coupons
Amazon offers a coupons section, where you can clip coupons, just as you would from a newspaper, except all you need to do is click a button. Then, you will get a discount when you checkout.
You can find coupons for a range of items, from beauty products to pet care products.
Use these coupons with the Subscribe and Save feature and you will save even more money.
9. Check the Amazon Gold Box
Amazon’s Gold Box offers a plethora of daily deals. With these deals, you can get discounts on a variety of products.
In this section, you’ll find lightning deals, savings and sales, deals of the day, and Prime early access deals. Also, look out for Amazon’s Kindle daily deal.
10. Check the Amazon’s Outlet Store
Most people don’t know about it, but Amazon actually offers an outlet store section, where you can find hundreds of items that are vastly discounted. Often, you can find products that are 20% to 80% lower than the recommended retail price.
So, if you’re looking for an item, like new TV and you don’t really have a specific model in mind, then this is a great way to get products at a much lower cost.
11. Set Up Price Alerts
Amazon products often fluctuate in price, meaning that if you make a purchase at the right time, you could save money.
But, it’s hard to know when a product is going to drop in price, and it’s both annoying and time-consuming to have to check the site for better prices on a daily basis.
To make things simpler and more convenient, set up price alerts with Camel Camel Camel.
This website monitors the prices of Amazon products and alerts you when the price drops. It takes just two clicks to create a new alert. All you need to do is enter the URL of the item you’re interested in, along with your email address and your target price and when the price drops, you’ll get an email to inform you.
12. Shop Through Amazon Warehouse Deals
Amazon Warehouse deals give you discounts on open-box, used, returned, and refurbished products that are in good condition, but don’t meet Amazon.com’s strict standards as “new”.
All products in the Amazon Warehouse section are thoroughly tested to check the operational and physical condition of them.
Products are then given a specific grade before they go on sale. Many of the items in this section are in great condition, but they are much cheaper.
You can always return products if they don’t meet expectations too.
13. Find Discounts with tjshome.com
Go to tjshome.com/greatdeals.php and you can browse items based on the discount percent offered.
So, if you’re only looking for products with 50% off, then choose that option in the shopping category of your choice. Then, you’ll be shown a list of products that are all 50% off.
14. CheapSally.com
Update: They have changed direction and are now focusing on coupons and promo codes for ride sharing companies.
Using CheapSally.com, you can find which Amazon products and shopping categories have the best discounts, whether that’s beauty or home and garden. All you need to do is go to the site and enter the word “Amazon” in the search bar and click “enter”.
You’ll be presented with a list of deals and discounts. All you need to do is click on the “Activate Savings” button and you’ll be sent to Amazon. You’ll need to place the product in the shopping cart, and check the discount is there. Then you can make your purchase.
15. Get Free or Deeply Discounted Products with Tomoson
With Tomoson, you can receive products for free, in exchange for a review on Amazon, or on your own blog if you are a blogger.
On Tomoson, you can find hundreds of products, from electronics to children’s clothing.
To receive a product, you will need to apply for it and be approved.
16. Checkout Today’s Deals
Conveniently, Amazon has a section called “Today’s Deals“, which gives you a huge list of incredible savings.
In this section, which is located at the top of the page, under the search bar, you’ll find a plethora of discounted products.
17. Earn Free Amazon Gift Certificates with Rewards Programs
Using apps and programs, like Swagbucks, you can earn hundreds of dollars worth free amazon gift cards.
There are many survey sites like Swagbucks, Toluna, and Global Test Market that give you free Amazon gift vouchers, in exchange for completing a survey.
Also, there are many exercise apps, like Nexercise and HealthyWage that reward you with Amazon gift cards, just for exercising.
18. Refer Your Friends and Earn $10 Credit
As a member of the Amazon Student Program, you already get a ton of amazing deals and savings. But, you can also get $10 Amazon credit just for referring other students to the program.
And, those students who sign up will get a free Amazon Student trial for six months.
19. Amazon Vine
If you enjoy reviewing products on Amazon, then you could get free items through the Amazon Vine program.
In this program, you receive free products in exchange for reviews.
Amazon only invites trusted reviewers, who leave helpful, high quality reviews and have a good reviewer rank, into the program. So, if you already review a lot of products and have a good reviewer rating, then the Amazon Vine program is a good option for you.
20. Use Rakuten to Get Cashback
On Rakuten,(former eBates), you can create a free account, and earn money back when you shop through one of the site’s merchant partners.
Essentially, stores give Rakuten commission for sending customers to their sites, and Rakuten share this commission with its members.
The site offers Amazon store credit and pays out every quarter.
21. Become an UberZon Club member
UberZon Club is a program that gives members huge discounts on Amazon products. As a member, you can get more than 85% of off items from Amazon sellers that are trying to increase the visibility of their products.
You can join the club for free, and deals are sent to your inbox daily.
Also, check out our list of Amazon review sites for a big list of sites you can join to get free and/or discounted products from Amazon sellers in exchange for your honest feedback.
22. Ask for Price-Drop Refunds
If you’ve been unfortunate enough to see an item you just bought go on sale the next day, it can be pretty frustrating.
But, Amazon actually offers price-drop refunds. All you need to do is request a refund within seven days from the delivery date.
23. Use Capital One Shopping (former Paribus) to Automate Price Drop Refunds
Products on Amazon frequently fluctuate in price, meaning that an item you buy one day could be heavily discounted the next. While you can contact Amazon for a price drop refund yourself, using a tool to do it for you is much more convenient.
Capital One Shopping is a tool that will automatically send a price drop refund request to Amazon on your behalf, whenever there is a price drop that is eligible for a refund. All you need to do is sign up to the tool using the same email that you use to login to your Amazon account.
Paribus will automatically get your money back when the prices drop, if you miss out on a better deal or if you miss out on a coupon.
Paribus is free to use, but the service does take a 25% cut of whatever it earns you.
24. Get a Price Drop Refund from your Credit Card
Many credit cards offer price protection, like the Barclaycard Arrival Plus and the World Elite MasterCard.
This means that if you purchase something and the price of it later drops, then the bank will refund you the difference, as long as it’s within a certain amount of days.
25. Get a Refund if a Delivery Misses its Guaranteed Date
Many products on Amazon have a guaranteed delivery date. If the item doesn’t arrive by this date, you can actually get a refund on your shipping costs.
If your shipping was through Amazon Prime, then you could be eligible for a free one-month extension of your membership. All you need to do is contact customer service.
Final Words
If you do a lot of your shopping through Amazon, then it is definitely worth trying out some of these money-saving methods to get deals and discounts on Amazon.
Mustard Seed Money
These are awesome ways to get Amazon discounts. I also utilize Slickdeals.net to alert me of things that I’m not always in the market for but are incredible deals. Thanks for sharing!!!
Satrap
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it. Slickdeals is a great tool as well.