7. Click Through Ebates
By shopping through Ebates.com you can further get money back. You can do this for all your online purchases and receive a check that they mail to you every couple of months. It’s simple and it’s not a scam. Just start on Ebates, search for Amazon, or any other retailer, and click through. How does it work? Retailers pay Ebates for the advertisement, and Ebates shares some of the money with you.
The downside is that the average rebate is only 1.5%, so don’t expect any large amounts anytime soon. Furthermore, only some of the Amazon departments participate in the cash-back site. Currently, the categories offering cash back include clothing, jewelry, music, and sporting equipment (some exclusions apply), and a couple of others. That said, it’s still a great deal, especially with some departments offering twice their normal cash back amount.
8. Reconsider Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is becoming less and less of a good deal. Basically, you have to pay $99 to be able to pay $6 to have items that used to ship under Prime free. Also, now your products may not even come in two days. Amazon guarantees “2 day shipping” until the sale is completed, then it becomes “delivery expected on”. Those two days shipping depend on when Amazon ships and they don’t always ship the same day you order. Some may also notice that each Prime sale is a few dollars more than regular sales…
If you do shop often though, and depending on your location and how useful the other Prime benefits are to you, Prime has its uses and it can save you money. Among others mentioned here, one particular way is by buying Amazon gift cards at an office supply store with the “right” credit card and then using Prime with “slow” shipping to buy digital items at a discount or even for free.
Whether Prime is saving or costing you money depends on how many of its benefits you are using and can only be determined by you. However, now would be the “prime” time to reconsider it (pun intended)!
9. Use Honey Browser Extension
Honey is a browser extension that automatically finds and applies coupon codes when you shop online. You can stop searching for coupon codes and sales, and allow the app to do that for you. After installing the extension, you can find the Honey icon on the upper right corner of your browser. Click on the Honey button during checkout and Honey will automatically apply coupon codes to your shopping cart. You can also see all the coupons and sales available for the supported store. Currently, Honey supports shopping sites in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and India.
Find Honey at: https://www.joinhoney.com/
10. Buy Less
Our last secret to saving on Amazon? Buy less stuff. And this secret is not exclusive to Amazon as well. You can save tons of money by doing a simple test. After placing all of the desired items in the shopping cart, ask yourself if you really need that specific item or want it bad enough to pay for it. Consider shortly what else can be done with the money and if this is smart spending. Then just take out the items that don’t pass the test and see what is left. Chances are you already have more personal possessions than you can use and you can save a lot of money by refraining from impulse buying. After all, you are only saving if you intended to buy the discounted item in the first place.
Generally, when saving, try to wear things out, look for used if possible, and review whether it is really important, or if something else can be re-purposed. The last thing on the menu is buying new.
Well there you go folks; those are our secrets to saving money on Amazon. Remember, Amazon is not always cheaper than other on-line retailers (and sometime not even from your local brick and mortar stores), so a bit of a research is due. Also consider sales taxes and shipping fees.
If you order anything from Amazon and you are not satisfied, don’t be afraid to return it. You can call in and request a refund. On occasion, you might be able to have your money back AND keep the item, if Amazon considers the return and resale untenable (it’s rare though and always for lower cost items).
What are your secrets to saving on Amazon? Share them with us!
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