4 Ways to Save Money on Amazon

This post may contain affiliate links which means we may receive a commission if you purchase through our links. For more information check out our Privacy Policy.

Amazon, a name that I’m sure you’re familiar with, is pretty much everyone’s go-to shopping resource. Even tight-fisted spendthrifts like ourselves do our online shopping at Amazon. Hell, it’s hard not to when they’ve got everything from home improvement supplies to electronics & supplements. However, just because you’re only shopping on Amazon doesn’t mean you can’t save more money. We are here to explain exactly how to do that with our 4 ways to save money on Amazon.

4 Ways to Save Money on Amazon

Like yourselves, we like to hang onto as much of our money as we can. We certainly don’t want to frivolously give a multi-billion dollar company more if we can help it.

However, as we mentioned before, Amazon has everything which saves you time shopping. As lifestyle optimizers, we are trying to save that time, while also trying to save money on Amazon.

The absolute easiest way to save money on Amazon is to make do with what you have and avoid making unnecessary purchases in the first place. Another tip would be to try to buy used first. Some easy items to buy used & save money are small appliances, yard tools, condoms, and bicycles.

However, we aren’t big enough assholes to actually count ‘Don’t buy anything’ as one of our 4 tips to save money on Amazon, so rest assured, that one’s a bonus.

Before we dive into the list of ways to save money on Amazon, we would like to shamelessly plug our Amazon link: rethinktheratrace.com/amazon 

This link will give you access to the same Amazon site, however, by using our link we may receive a small commission for any items that you purchase. There is no additional cost to you, so bookmark that shit and use it in the future.

CamelCamelCamel

No, this isn’t your great-aunt fiending for her favorite cigarette. CamelCamelCamel is an Amazon price tracking tool, and is likely the most effective way to save money on Amazon.

By signing up for a free account with CamelCamelCamel, you can track the price fluctuations of items on Amazon. This gives you a nifty little graph for products like our favorite vegan protein: MRM Veggie Elite

While graphs might overwhelm the average person, I know this one has just piqued your interest. The graph above illustrates the different prices that this item has had over the past 5 years.

If you squint enough, you may be able to see that the price was once as high as $40, and has been as low as $22.25. That’s a huge difference of $17.25, which would nearly buy you another jug at the lowest price.

A huge perk to this tool is the updates you can receive. If you’re looking for ways to save money on Amazon, all you have to do is sign up to get alerts when the price drops.

For example, you can set the site to alert you if the price for the protein drops below $25, which has happened three times this year. When it happens, you’ll receive an email with a link to the product. But, don’t click the link…you’re going through our Amazon link, remember?

This tool is excellent for tracking prices for anything. Want a new board game, but the price isn’t right? Setup the alert. Want to stock up on vitamins? Setup the alert.

The price of our Sleeper Sofa in our Airbnb has increased & dropped $296 over a few months. That adds up to some serious savings by just knowing that there’s likely a better deal in the future.

Amazon Warehouse

Many people don’t know this, but you can buy open-box items off Amazon. Anything from phones to vacuum cleaners. From grills to strollers, they’ve got almost every category covered.

This little-known section is known as Amazon Warehouse and is the next of our 4 ways to save money on Amazon.

One of the reasons why most people don’t know about this way to save money on Amazon is because they don’t make it easy to find. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that it might be purposeful, so they can continue to sell new & higher-priced items.

In their defense, most people aren’t clicking links unless it’s to a product that they’ve come there for.

The good news is that we are going to reveal the route to this section on the site so that you can take advantage of it and save money on Amazon.

From the main Amazon screen, click ‘Today’s Deals’

From there, you click ‘Warehouse Deals’ and peruse all the great discounted items that you can find.

An example of the price savings is the Google Pixel 3a. In our research for an Apple alternative, this phone seems to fit the bill, but how much are you willing to pay for ‘brand new’ vs ‘open box new’? The cost of a new Google Pixel 3a on Amazon is $333. However, on the Warehouse the same phone is $240.

Nearly $100 difference for an opened box? Sounds like a steal to me.

Amazon Warehouse also has grocery items & consumables like toilet paper, ziploc bags, and tons more. Now, these aren’t ‘open-box’ items, so I’m not sure why the hell they’re so cheap…but they are.

A 16 oz bag of organic cold-brew coffee is 1/2 the price ($5.02 vs $10.04) on Amazon Warehouse vs Amazon’s normal site. Identical items, but 50% savings by clicking a couple of links. Super simple & easy way to save money on Amazon.

Subscribe & Save

Amazon is great at implementing design features that not only make life seem easier for you but also helps them receive recurring income. One way that Amazon excels at getting your money is by creating as little time & effort for you to make purchases.

This is apparent with the Amazon Dash and the Subscribe & Save features that they have. But, only one of these is a great way to save money on Amazon.

If you aren’t familiar with Amazon Dash, essentially they’ll send you a button to put with your favorite consumables. When you realize that you’re running low on that particular item, you press a single button and within a day or two, you’ve got a whole new pack of whatever from Amazon.

As long as you’re pressing the button, they know you aren’t comparison shopping, picking cheaper alternatives, or getting the item from a competitor. They’ve got you hooked.

However, you can exploit another tool that Amazon has created to do almost the same thing: Subscribe & Save.

Occasionally, when you’re purchasing consumable items, you may notice a “Subscribe & Save” option on the top corner. Amazon offers anywhere from 5-10% off if you subscribe to buy the item from once a month to once every 6 months.

The problem is a lot of items we get we are trying for the first time. Consequently, we don’t want to commit to getting one every month, especially if we might hate it in the end.

As you can see below, we’ve done this for another variety of vegan protein. Let’s call it market research…

By subscribing, we’ve saved 5% on the item, or $1.6o. It seems silly, but this trick can add up to a lot if you’re purchasing multiple consumable items.

Next, we wait a few hours until we receive the email of the shipping confirmation, and then go to cancel the subscription. If you cancel the subscription too soon (before the shipping email) they’ll cancel any pending orders that aren’t in the process of shipping.

Below you’ll find the super simple step-by-step process to cancel the subscription.

1. On the main menu, find the Subscribe & Save category.

2. From there, click ‘Your Subscribe & Save Items’

3. Next, click the ‘Edit’ option over the item that you want to cancel.

4. Finally, you click ‘Cancel Subscription’ and it’ll give you a dropdown list to choose from of reasons why you want to cancel.

It doesn’t matter what you choose as long as the damn thing’s canceled and you aren’t on the hook for months of this stuff.

And there you have it, yet another of the easy ways to save money on Amazon.

No-Rush Shipping

To wrap up our list, we have the easiest way to save money on Amazon. The other ways to save money on Amazon will net you more, but they’ll take a couple of minutes to perform. This one is likely one click and can get you anywhere from $1-5.

Amazon typically defaults to the free 2-day shipping if you’re a Prime member. However, if you aren’t in a rush to receive the item, you can select ‘No-Rush Shipping’ and receive the item within 6 business days.

By selecting the no-rush shipping, you’ll receive a perk.

Sometimes, the perk is an immediate discount. However, you can also earn credit for future orders. Amazon typically alternates between these two options.

The credits are typically for digital items, but you can also use them toward AmazonFresh grocery purchases & Prime Now purchases.

All you have to do is show a little patience and you can receive a credit that’ll cover Kindle e-books, music downloads, movies, tv shows, or even bananas & every millennial’s dream: avocados.

Again, one click can save you money on Amazon, either through this purchase or future items including groceries.

Ways to Save Money on Amazon

These ways to save money on Amazon are super simple & easy. None of them will take more than a couple of minutes & can save you anywhere from hundreds of dollars to a few bucks.

If you have any other tips on saving money on Amazon, be sure to drop them in the comments.

If you found this information useful, and even if you didn’t, don’t forget to use our Amazon link: rethinktheratrace.com/amazon

Now, get out there and save some money on your future Amazon orders!