How to save money when shopping at Amazon

Amazon shopper? Here's how to save a bundle when you buy from the online retail giant.

If you shop at Amazon regularly, these expert hacks will save you a fortune.

Check out the refurbished store

Amazon has a certified refurbished store selling things like tablets, smartphones and laptops with up to 35% off.

The range is made up of electronics that have been refurbished, tested and re-packaged by the retailer and all come with a one-year warranty.

Beat delivery charges  

The minimum spend in order to trigger free delivery on Amazon is £20 (unless you are buying books when a £10 minimum applies).

If your order is under the threshold, you’ll have to pay a delivery charge, which can vary from £1.49 to £6 depending on what you purchase.

So try and do a big shop rather than lots of little ones.

Items from Amazon’s Marketplace will count towards your free delivery threshold as long as they are marked as ‘fulfilled by Amazon’.

Earn cashback on your shopping with a cashback credit card

Hit the minimum spend

A simple way to beat delivery costs is to spend a bit more to hit the minimum spend with a filler item.

If you can’t think of anything you need, the handy Super Saver Delivery tool can help you find something to boost your order value.

You should do the maths to work out if buying an extra item will save you any money versus what you were going to spend and the delivery charge.

Generally, if you are spending between £14 and £19.99 the tool can help.

Use Prime

Another way to avoid Amazon's delivery charges is to use Prime.

This is an annual or monthly subscription service which costs £79 a year or £7.99 a month and gets you unlimited free one-day delivery as well as other benefits like access to Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Photos cloud storage and access to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

You can get a free one-month trial of the service, which you can cancel before you get charged the subscription fee.

Don’t assume Amazon is cheapest

Amazon is a giant online retailer offering pretty much everything with a reputation for being cheap, so it can be tempting to head straight to the site for all your purchases.

However, Amazon might not be the cheapest place to buy what you’re after.

Take a few moments to compare prices online to ensure you are getting the best deal from Amazon before making a purchase.

Sites like PriceSpy help you compare prices across hundreds of retailers, so you can find out if that deal really is as good as Amazon claims.

Demand a better offer

If you find Amazon is the cheapest, see if you can beat the price of the item you are after with Flubit.

You just need to copy and paste the Amazon link to your item and the site tries to create a better offer.

Win £500 by signing up to the loveMONEY newsletter. Click here to find out more

Check who you are buying from

When you shop at Amazon, items can be sold direct or by third-party sellers via Amazon Marketplace.

When purchasing through Amazon Marketplace delivery can cost more. That’s because items from third-party sellers aren’t eligible for free Super Saver Delivery.

Also if there’s a problem with your order or the item you receive, you need to go through the seller rather than Amazon itself.

Marketplace purchases are covered by Amazon’s A-Z protection guarantee, which gives you money back if goods don’t arrive or aren’t as described, up to a maximum of £2,500.

But marketplace purchases you make with a credit card over £100 don’t qualify for protection under Section 75.

That’s because Amazon takes the money and then passes it onto the retailer – if you bought directly from the retailer, you would still be protected. Read more about this loophole in our guide to Section 75.

Get the price you want to pay

Amazon’s prices move up and down all the time, so nailing the perfect time to make your purchase can be tricky. Luckily there are tools out there that can help.

CamelCamelCamel is a website dedicated to tracking Amazon prices. It allows you to enter the maximum price you would be willing to pay for an item and alerts you when Amazon hits your target or goes even lower.

Zeezaw is another website that helps you keep a track on the best deals on things you want. Again you just need to put in what you want to buy from Amazon and the maximum you want to pay, then sit back and wait for your alert.

Check other Amazon sites

Amazon’s European sites can be a lot cheaper than Amazon UK, though this is less likely with a weak pound.

You can compare prices across Amazon France, Germany, Italy and Spain with a site called Curiua. This handy tool converts the costs of items into pounds so you can see if you could get a better deal.

Amazon Austria and Amazon Netherlands don’t feature on the Curiua tool, but are also worth a look.

Pay close attention to shipping costs to work out the actual savings and don’t forget about the different plugs on electrical items which will require an adaptor to use.

It might also be worth checking out Amazon’s sites outside of Europe, like Amazon US. Priceonline.eu compares Amazon US as well as Amazon’s European sites.

But you should bear in mind you may need to pay customs duty when making purchases from the US and your consumer rights vary by country.

Earn cashback on your shopping with a cashback credit card

Get cashback when you shop

You can earn money back when you shop with Amazon with cashback websites like Quidco and TopCashback. They work by tracking your purchases and paying a percentage back on what you buy.

If you’re being super savvy you might also use a cashback credit card to pay for your purchases as well as using a cashback site. For some of the best deals take a look at: The best cashback credit cards.

Take advantage of student perks

Amazon Student allows university students to get the benefits of Amazon Prime for half the price.

All those who are aged over 18 and in higher education can get a free six-month trial of the service, which will give access to unlimited free one-day delivery, Prime Video, Prime Music and Prime Photos cloud storage as well as student offers.

After the six-month free trial students pay £39 a year (instead of £79) and will gain access to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and Kindle First.

Earn credits by using ‘No-Rush Delivery’

Amazon Prime and Amazon Student members (including those on the 30-day or six-month trial) can earn credit for digital content by opting for Amazon’s ‘No-Rush Delivery’.

When you get to the final order page, select 'Free No-Rush Delivery' under delivery options and you can get £1 credit for every qualifying item you buy. Items bought via Amazon Warehouse Deals or from third-party sellers on Amazon Marketplace aren't eligible.

The credit will be applied to your Amazon account and will be redeemed on your next digital purchase.

Use hidden Amazon vouchers

Amazon Vouchers lists a whole load of discounts for various categories that you might be able to take advantage of.

You just need to select the ones you want to use and the discount will be automatically applied to your basket when you check out.

Check out Amazon Warehouse Deals

Amazon Warehouse Deals offers deeply discounted prices on open-box goods, returned items, used products and warehouse damaged merchandise that are in decent condition but can’t be classified as new.

All the products are backed by Amazon’s satisfaction guarantee however, the products do not generally come with a manufacturer’s warranty.

Snap up daily deals

Amazon offers ‘Deals of the Day’ which run for 24 hours from 12am to 11.59pm, as well as flash ‘Lightning Deals’ which can be posted at any time and last for just a few hours.

You can find the offers on the Today’s Deals page or sign up for the Deals Newsletter.

Save up to 15% on regular buys

With Amazon’s Subscribe & Save service you can save by signing up to get items you have to order regularly.

You can choose from items like pet food, coffee, nappies, loo roll, wet wipes and more and save 5% by opting for Subscribe & Save rather than a one-off delivery. If you sign up for five or more subscriptions, Amazon will boost the discount to 15%.

There is no minimum subscription length and you can cancel when you want. However, you should make sure Amazon is cheapest each month to ensure you’re getting the best deal.

Reclaim music collection on MP3

If you’ve bought CDs or vinyl from Amazon you can now get the MP3s for free, but Amazon also backdates your music collection for anything you've bought since 1999.

Log on to your Amazon Music library to see what tracks are in there. You can then stream or download them.

Combine savings for nappy discounts

The Amazon Family club gives members all the benefits of Amazon Prime plus exclusive offers and discounts, as well as 15% off nappies for £79 a year.

You can boost the nappies discount to 20% or even 35% by combining the deal with Subscribe and Save.

Earn vouchers with online surveys

You can earn Amazon vouchers by doing online surveys.

If you have the time to answer questions on anything from celebrities to the latest mascara some sites allow you to choose to be rewarded in Amazon vouchers.

Websites like Swagbucks, i-Say, Toluna, Crowdology, MySurvey, Valued Opinions, Survey Friends and Opinion Outpost all offer Amazon voucher options.