23 Secret Ways To Save Money on Amazon

Visit Amazon, and you’ll likely find tons of deals on your favorite items — from electronics, books and toys to clothing, jewelry and home goods. Although you’re probably already getting a good deal on an item if you buy it on Amazon, there are still other ways you can save money when shopping at this online retailer.

Check out 23 secret ways to get the best deals on Amazon.

Sign up for the Amazon “Subscribe and Save” program to get discounts on thousands of everyday items, like laundry supplies and baby products. Not only will you get free shipping, but you can also save up to 15%. Save money instead of throwing it away.

Shoppers can sign up for a 30-day, free Amazon Prime trial, which offers free two-day shipping and special discounts. You can take advantage of the freebies and offers before the trial runs out, and then cancel before the $139 annual fee or $14.99 monthly fee is automatically charged to your card.

Amazon’s Everyday Essentials tab offers savings on everything from groceries and household items to baby care and pet supplies. Shopping with your Prime membership can allow you to score discounts such as 20% off toilet paper and 25% off sunscreen, allowing you to save big while shopping from home.

The “Today’s Deals” link is usually at the top of most Amazon pages and typically includes Amazon “Deal of the Day” offers, “Lightning Deals” and other limited-time Amazon offers.

Amazon shoppers can find coupons on useful items, including cleaning supplies, groceries, household items, supplements and more. Simply click the “Clip Coupon” button and add the item to your cart to use the Amazon coupons.

If your local area has Amazon Fresh access, make this your new supermarket. You can save up to 30% on hundreds of grocery items each week, score free pickup on your order or get unlimited grocery delivery for $9.99 per month.

Prices for items on Amazon can go up and down, so sites like CamelCamelCamel.com will alert you when an item you want drops in price. This website also offers millions of items’ pricing histories to help you determine when is the right time to buy.

If you’re a college student, you can sign up for a free six-month trial of Prime Student, which offers free two-day shipping, access to unlimited photo storage and other benefits. After your free trial ends, Prime Student costs just $7.49 per month.

You might have to pay sales taxes on items sold by Amazon and its affiliates that are shipped to states with sales tax. However, you won’t be hit with sales taxes when you purchase gift cards.

Rakuten is an online shopping site that offers cash-back rewards on your purchases. While no cash back is currently offered for standard Amazon purchases, you can earn $4 cashback on Amazon Music by simply clicking through the Rakuten portal to make your purchase.

To make sure you’re getting the best price on an Amazon item, install a price-checking plugin, like Honey. It instantly checks prices at other retailers to help you find a better deal.

Instead of letting your loose change sit at the bottom of your purse, bring it to a Coinstar kiosk. After putting in your loose change, you can get an Amazon gift card. Best of all, you won’t pay the usual Coinstar fees if you convert your change into a gift card instead of cash.

Amazon Prime members who choose free no-rush shipping instead of free two-day shipping earn digital rewards on future Amazon.com purchases or immediately receive discounts. Once the item ships, your rewards are automatically added to your Amazon account.

Through its Trade-In program, Amazon offers 20% off qualifying Amazon devices, plus an Amazon gift card to customers who trade in certain items such as tablets, phones, books and video games. You won’t get actual cash in hand, but considering you can buy pretty much anything on Amazon, a gift card is the next best thing.

Amazon sells tons of everyday, affordable “add-on” items, including vitamins and toiletries, that you can add to your cart with any purchase with $25 or more of items shipped by Amazon. 

All return-eligible items that weigh under 50 pounds and are sold by Amazon have at least one free return option. As long as these items are in new and unused condition, they can be returned up to 30 days after purchase. 

If you’re an Amazon Prime member, there’s no need to pay for Kindle books. Your membership automatically grants you access to Prime Reading, which lets you read from a selection of over 1,000 books, magazines and books with Audible Narration for free.

Amazon Prime members love the free two-day shipping other Amazon customers can’t take advantage of. You can share the love with your spouse or kids by visiting the Amazon Household page and inviting household members to share your Prime benefits. Your Amazon Household can include up to 10 members total.

Amazon Resale is Amazon’s store for open-box items, including TVs, tablets, laptops, home goods and more. It usually features items that have been returned or used or have cosmetic damage. Items are sorted by condition, so you’ll know if the item you purchased is in good shape. If you’re not satisfied with the quality of the product when you receive it, you can return it within 30 days.

Add Dash Buttons to your Amazon account for the items you order the most frequently, and your item will be shipped with one click. Buttons are free to use for Prime members and can be added and deleted at any time. Dash Buttons make it easier to spend your money on Amazon.

When you shop on Amazon.com with an Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card, you’ll get 3% back on Amazon.com purchases. Additionally, cardholders get 3% back at Whole Foods, 2% back at restaurants, drug stores and gas stations, and 1% back on all other purchases. 

Even better — eligible Prime cardholders earn 5% back at Amazon and Whole Foods Market, as well as 10% or more on a constantly evolving group of items and categories. With no annual fee, shopping with the Prime Rewards card could really pay off for frequent Amazon shoppers.

You don’t need to pay an annual Amazon Prime membership fee to enjoy free shipping. The site offers free shipping on all qualifying orders with at least the stated minimum of eligible items. Simply add the eligible items to your cart and select the “FREE Shipping” option at checkout. Orders typically will be delivered five to eight business days after all of your items are available to ship. Offering free shipping is a clever way Amazon gets you to spend more.

Before you pay to up the photo storage on your smartphone, consider taking advantage of Prime Photos. The Amazon photo storage service is free for Prime members and allows you to store unlimited photos and up to 5GB of videos. Photos can be accessed from your desktop, browser, Fire device or mobile device. You can also invite up to five friends or family members to receive photo storage in your Family Vault.

Jennifer Taylor and Gabrielle Olya contributed to the reporting for this article.