If you ever buy items online, Amazon is likely to be one of the first sites you go to.
And it’s easy to understand why: on a single website, you get access to millions of products across almost every conceivable category, complete with a comprehensive reviews system.
The convenience is amplified if you get a Prime subscription, which adds free next-day delivery on many items, plus access to Prime Video and a range of other benefits. After a free 30-day trial, it costs £8.99/$14.99 per month or £95/$139 per year.
But whether you have Prime or not, you’ll probably be on the hunt for a great discount. And by following these 9 tips and tricks, you can maximise your chances of getting brilliant deals.
Occasionally, Amazon offers promotions and discount codes for specific items or product categories, although you won’t always be eligible.
To save you regularly trawling the web for them, just head to the personalised promotions page on the Amazon UK website and sign in to your account. Some may be exclusive to Prime members, but not all.
Unfortunately, there’s no equivalent page on Amazon US, but that doesn’t mean similar promotions don’t exist. You’ll just have to work harder to find them.
2. Use the Amazon Outlet
Just like any major retailer, Amazon has excess stock of many items. Instead of hoping they sell in the usual way, the company often heavily discounts them in its Outlet store.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
Discounts vary significantly between products, but you can get savings of up to 70%.
Head to the Outlet on Amazon UK or Amazon US and see what you can find.
3. Make the most of returned and refurbished items
Of course, when an item has been bought and returned, it can no longer be sold as new. But that’s good news for you, as you often find discounted products that are in near-pristine condition.
Finding these products can be difficult, but a useful tool on Money Saving Expert (the inspiration for this article) helps you track them down in the UK. Search for a specific item or category, then sort by condition, brand or price. By default, the biggest savings will be shown at the top of the page.
Alternatively, you can buy refurbished products under the Amazon Renewed banner. Amazon promises that they’ve been “professionally inspected, tested and cleaned by Amazon-qualified suppliers”, and offers a one-year money-back guarantee with all purchases.
Each product will also be assigned a condition – premium, excellent, good or acceptable – details of which can be found on the Amazon website.
Head to Amazon UK or Amazon US to see what’s available.
4. Look out for vouchers or coupons
Amazon has an unusual approach to vouchers/coupons. Rather than a specific code you enter at checkout (as is the case on many other sites), the most common way to secure a discount is by ticking a box on the listing page – which can easily be missed.
These are usually small 5% or 10% savings, but occasionally they’re more significant. Look out for the orange ‘Voucher’ (UK) or ‘Coupon’ (US) text and tick the box next to it.
Alternatively, head to the Amazon Vouchers or Amazon Coupons pages and click the button below each offer to automatically apply it.
5. Make sure it’s a good deal
Amazon is often the cheapest online retailer for products, but not always. Before proceeding, it’s worth double checking if the item you’re looking at is cheaper elsewhere.
Head to Google Shopping in the UK or US and search for the product you’ve seen on Amazon. Usually, the cheapest listing at a trustworthy retailer will be shown. But if any obvious ones are missing, it’s also worth checking these manually.
Once you’re satisfied that Amazon has the best price, it might be worth seeing if the deal advertised is as good as it looks. Go to CamelCamelCamel and search for the product or paste the Amazon link into the search bar.
To make things easier, this tool is available as a browser extension for Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Just search for ‘The Camelizer’ to add it.
6. Wait for a big sales event
If that ‘deal’ doesn’t seem as good as it once was, consider whether you can wait for bigger discounts in the future.
The period around Black Friday and Cyber Monday (the weekend after Thanksgiving in the US) is usually the best time of the year for deals on Amazon, but the company also holds its own sales events throughout the year.
In general, look out for a spring sale in March, Prime Day (where discounts are exclusive to Prime members) in July, an autumn/fall sale in October and Boxing Day (26 December) onwards. However, these dates can vary from year to year.
Amazon
Amazon
Amazon
7. Experiment with different colours and configurations
On some products, the colour you choose can have a big impact on price.
If you don’t mind which colour of a product you have (or will cover it up with a case anyway), click through all the options to see which is cheapest.
And even if you’re set on a particular configuration (of a smartphone or tablet, for example), it’s always worth checking another model to see if it’s discounted.
8. Subscribe & Save
Buying household items via Amazon on a regular basis? It’ll probably work out cheaper to set up a regular subscription.
The service, known as Subscribe & Save, also sometimes offers one-off additional discounts.
If you’re looking for a specific product, head to its listing page and see if there’s an option for Subscribe & Save.
Alternatively, a selection of eligible products can be found on Amazon UK or Amazon US.
9. Get money back if discounted after purchase
Ever bought a product at what seemed like a good price, only for it to be discounted soon after? It’s very frustrating, especially if you didn’t need it urgently.
However, you might still be able to get the saving if you bought it on Amazon. There’s not an official policy on this, but there are reports of it working for some people, so it’s worth a try if you want the potential extra cash.
To get started, head to the Amazon UK or Amazon US customer service page, click ‘Something else’ from the list and then choose ‘Contact Us’ to begin a live text chat.
