Black Friday / Cyber Monday mania is over, but you still have last-minute holiday gifts to purchase, not to mention all the day-to-day stuff you can't live without (toilet paper, laundry detergent, nail polish). Amazon is the best because you can order almost anything without leaving your couch. It might also be the worst precisely because you can order almost anything without leaving your couch. And who hasn't done a little drunk Amazon shopping? The site has nearly everything you could ever need, so it's natural you'd want to shop there frequently. And it's often the cheapest game around. But, there are still a few easy ways to save even more: Amazon offers deep discounts on big-box items, one-cent books, and grocery deals.
Click ahead for seven Amazon savings hacks that will let you shop without stressing about the funds in your bank account.
Maybe you already belong to Amazon Prime, so you can binge-watch Transparent, but there are so many more cost-saving ways to take make sure that $99 membership is worth your investment. Of course, you can't not love the free two-day shipping on all orders. If you shop online a lot, this will pay for itself in a few months. You also get access to Prime Music (one million free songs and thousands of ad-free playlists) and Amazon Instant Video, so you can watch Amazon originals and newer movies like Obvious Child or While We're Young. WithPrime Pantry, you fill a virtual box with grocery-store buys like food, household items, and toiletries, and it’s a flat delivery fee of $5.99 per box. There are also weekly deals and coupons, so if you’re too busy to go to the grocery store, it might be a good option. Finally, Prime members also have access to the Kindle Lending Library, and you can “borrow” books and read them for free on your Kindle e-reader, Fire tablet, or Fire phone. Prime members and adults in the same house can borrow one book from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library per month. There are over 300,000 books to pick from, so chances are you’ll be able to find something to read every month.
Say you have a Visa gift card that has $5.43 or $24.95 left on it, and you're always forgetting to use it when you go out. You can convert that money to an Amazon gift card and use it to buy things off the site. If you’re prone to losing half-used gift cards, it’s a good way to make sure that money doesn't just disappear. It's simple: You just buy an Amazon gift card using the Visa or American Express gift card (which pretty much works just like a debit card). Once you buy the card, you can redeem the amount under the "Gift Card Balance" tab.
Do you have a $100 Abercrombie & Fitch gift card you're never, ever going to use? The siteCardpool will allow you to trade it in for an Amazon gift card worth $90.10. Sure, you've lost some money in the deal, but if you'll actually use the money at Amazon, it makes more financial sense than leaving the A&F card lingering in your wallet.
You use credit card points on flights and hotels or get cash back — and you can use them to buy things on Amazon, too. Chase Ultimate Rewards gives you $1 at Amazon for every 100 points you accumulate. You can also link your American Express, Discover, or Citi card to Amazon to use accrued points. Don’t rack up your credit cards just to get stuff on Amazon, but if you already have the points from your everyday spending, go for it.
If the price drops on an item you ordered off Amazon within the past week, you can request a refund for the difference. This only works for items sold and shipped by Amazon, not third-party sellers. You can also check out CamelCamelCamel.com— weird name, cool site. It lets you set price alerts for Amazon products (to see if something you bought goes on sale, or to check if something you want becomes cheaper before you buy), making it a nearly foolproof way to find dips in prices, so you can easily snag the savings.
In the Grocery section on Amazon, you can check for clickable coupons. The site also divides its coupons into categories (grocery, books, vitamins, etc.), so you’re not spending two hours searching for a coupon for something like gluten-free Bisquick pancake mix. Just go to the Gluten-Free Foods section, and there it is.
With Amazon Warehouse, you can get huge discounts on used / open box / discontinued items like laptops, TVs, and cameras. You can also find sporting goods, power tools, and things for your car, like tire chains or pressure gauges. There are open-box kitchen items, too, so if you need a microwave but want to save some cash (and don’t want to deal with Craigslist), check out Amazon's stash.
Amazon has some pretty good deals for books, but you can also search for whatever book you want to read; as long as it’s not something wildly popular and new-ish, you might be able to buy it for a penny. One single penny! You can probably find a couple of those in your couch cushions. Sure, you'll have to shell out a few dollars for shipping, but it's still cheaper than buying new.
Editorial Correction: In an earlier version of this story we said you could transfer the balance of an unwanted gift card to your Amazon account. While that isn't a feature offered on Amazon, you can use the site CardPool to buy and trade unwanted gift cards in exchange for cash or Amazon gift cards. We've updated the story to reflect the correct information.
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