I signed up for Amazon Prime for a year for $80. I saved a lot of money for my family in various situations. It offers various shipping benefits, including free 2-day shipping for eligible orders. Members also get instant access to Amazon instant video and the ability to borrow books from the Kindle owners' lending library.
If you are a student or parent/caretaker, you can get a year of Amazon prime for FREE right now. Amazon student has 2 different options. You can get the free version with just the shipping benefits or you can pay $39, and get both shipping benefits and prime streaming videos.
Can you imagine buying individual items for less than $25 without any shipping costs? With prime it's possible. Think if you are purchasing below $25. You are tempted to do unnecessary purchases to become eligible for free shipping. Else, you just walk away and buy elsewhere for higher prices. Small purchasers, bulk purchasers and gift shoppers will benefit more from Amazon prime.
In such case, I have done price comparisons for items I bought. I collected some receipts of last few weeks of purchases and I compared them with Amazon. Since I am a warehouse club member I included in my comparisons. I examined Amazon's "subscribe & save" program on household products, where I have shampoo shipped to me every 2 months where I saved 5-15% off the actual costs. As a prime member, in addition, my shipping costs too vanished. This program allows you to set up repeat deliveries of products you need on a regular basis.
Next is Video streaming service. I cancelled my Netflix subscription as Prime is a deal- breaker for me. I saw Amazon prime content largely overlaps Netflix with minor additions. Netflix costs me $9/month, while Amazon Prime is $7/month. Prime saved me a lot. I've my PS3 registered with amazon prime and all the movies stream directly to my living room TV. My kids watch loads of cartoons from amazon, so much in fact I simply cancelled my cable connection. My cable bill is now $50 for cable internet, instead of $160 for internet and TV. That's $110 in my pocket EACH MONTH and still my kids do watch their favorites. That's $1320 a year in cable TV savings, if you're counting. Minus $80 for prime.... $1240..... Yeah! I would say that prime is paying for itself quite nicely.
The Kindle lending library is meant for avid readers like me. Note: you need an actual kindle, say, not the kindle app for ipad, to take advantage of it. The library's book collection is awesome and includes hits like hunger games trilogy, Harry potter series and Fast Food Nation etc. One free borrowed e-book per month from the Kindle owners' lending library. The library has over 145,000 hit titles to its credit.
If you think Amazon prime is a little bit heavy, then you have option of 'Amazon Prime Sharing' feature. Split the cost by sharing prime features with others. You can add up to 4 household members either family/ colleagues/ friends etc.
Amazon has daily deals called "Gold Box" deals. Take a look at the small golden treasure chest on the top of the site, labelled, "Today's Deals". Get discounts from 20-90%. Alongside this deal is another "Lightning Deals". It exists for few hours so grab it at once by daily checking the site. Sign-up them to be notified via text, e-mail, rss or twitter so that you never miss the golden opportunity.
Look out for coupon codes to add extra savings. You can find great bargains at outlet shopping page of Amazon. 'Today's Deal Page' of Amazon gives excellent deals on useful products. Also check out Black Friday deals on over hundreds of useful hot items.
Take advantage of freebies. Amazon gives many e-books, android apps, computer games, and music. It also offers credits for MP3s and instant videos. You sort by price within a category to find out freebies.
Go for Warehouse Deals of 30-day price guarantee. I purchased a Kindle fire for $299 in the year beginning. A week later it was discounted to $269. I called customer service and they put $30 back into my bank account within in a day. I couldn't find an official price guarantee feature anywhere; but, when they give a refund for the difference, they call it a "goodwill refund". The amazing thing was that I didn't have to escalate my concern to supervisor. The first person I spoke with was able to help me. Isn't that amazing these days?
The best Amazon money saving tip is use CamelCamelCamel.com . Amazon changes prices over time and this site tracks it and will send you an alert when an item hits your target price. If it's something expensive, the difference can be pretty big.
I usually 'window shop' by picking up things I want and then putting in my cart for later. Then I'll wait a bit to see if I really need the item. Many times I don't. "Save for later" is a great way to track changes in the prices of items you are buying. Amazon gives you an alert at the top of the screen indicating you of price changes since the last time you viewed your cart. This feature helped me realize when the price of an AC heater unit I wanted dropped, saving me $80.
Earn Amazon Gift Cards when you trade in electronics like old cell phones. Another way to get is use Swagbucks. Just download the Swagbucks toolbar and search the net as you normally do to rack up a lot of Swagbucks and later redeem these for free Amazon Gift cards among others. Else, shop sites which sells discounted gift cards to snag Amazon gift cards for discounted face value.
Use 'Amazon filler item finder' to find free shipping qualifying items, if your order falls below $25 minimum. Type the amount needed to reach $25, you get a list of qualifying items quickly.
Amazon sells groceries in bulk which warehouse stores like Sams club or Costco find difficulty. Normally I purchase groceries in bulk in Amazon like cereals, energy bars, bath items etc. Do the calculation and you will be amazed at buying from Amazon at huge discounts instead of buying from physical stores.
Whenever I make big purchases say more than $100 I readily go for Amazon, the net buyer's household name. I browse for users comments and forums there to get a both positive and negative feedback of intended purchase.
Wishlist is a super saving feature of Amazon. Add your favorite products to wish or gift list. You can generate multiple wishlist too. They can be sent to family/ friends/ relatives/ colleagues for various occasions like birthdays, thanksgiving, anniversaries, holidays etc. Through this method, you can avoid getting gifts you don't want and instead you receive things you've had your eye on for a while.
Before my Prime membership, I used the free super saver shipping option, where I could order any book or kitchen gadget for a great deal and get it within a week or two! However, to claim it , I have to buy things worth for $25+. After doing the math, I realized that I spent more money each year to avail free shipping. Initially I resisted Prime for the annual fee. But, considering the numerous benefits and conveniences I will be availing for a one time /year fee, this Prime membership is a worthy option I decide. After my Prime membership, I am now walking not on my feet. I saw excellent savings after a long overhaul. I haven't cancelled my prime membership until now as I realized many household products are cheaper than stores. Name any product and you get instantly in scores. I buy plenty on Amazon in a year to offset the $79 annual fee. The benefit of movies is a great bonus!
Till, none of the product I purchased here is out of impulsive buying. I put them in cart, monitor price changes, and when I think, they're at their lowest price, I buy them and get shipped in 2 days.
I recently indulged in a vanity item for myself using the points I had collected from the amazon prime credit card. Every dollar you spend in amazon results in 3 points that can be used towards your purchase on amazon like other usual rewards like travel. I am trying to watch what I spend and this has been a great tool. Though I hate to spend the annual cost of $79, still it's very much worth. I'll bet I've saved enough in gas as well.
The only thing that bothers me as a recycling fanatic and who takes her own grocery bag to the store, is all the cardboard packaging and plastic fillers I accumulate. If there is a good way to put back into the system, I'll be very happy.
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