As I delve deeper in the world of photography and videography, and want to experiment with new ideas, I’ve definitely got a major case of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). So, you’ll usually find me on Amazon.com.
Along the way, I’ve discovered ten tips for finding promos & discounts that I’d like to share with you.
You probably already know that Amazon.com offers:
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- Consistently lower prices on new products.
- Excellent shipping times
- Free shipping on orders over $25 for most items. (Amazon Prime membership not needed.)
But do you know:
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- What are the best days of the week to shop?
- How to avoid price customization?
- How to find special offers?
- How to do price research?
If not, then keep reading to learn how you can start saving even more money on Amazon.com.
Table of Contents
Amazon Tip #1: Shop on Weds, Thurs, or Fri
According to one theory, online retailers tend to put items on sale on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays to compete with brick and mortar stores that customarily put items on sale on Friday in anticipation of the weekend crowd. Online retailers advanced their sales up a few days to compete. I tested this theory by tracking the price of a Canon 50 mm f/1.4 lens for a week, and was surprised to see that the price really did drop on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as seen in the graph below. Have a little patience and see if this trick works for you.
Amazon Tip #2: Price Customization
Did you know that online shopping is more like buying a car where each individual customer may not be offered the same price for an identical product?
Based on background information like buying habits, one Amazon customer may be offered a higher price than another customer for the same product, much like a car dealer would mostly likely offer a higher starting price to a customer dressed in an Armani suit versus another customer in ripped jeans and a t-shirt.
Online sites such as Amazon.com track the amount you’ve spent on similar items in the past and may adjust prices accordingly. This is called price customization and could affect you negatively in cases where Amazon offers you a higher price for a product as compared to other shoppers.
CNN offers a more in depth review of the topic, including it’s legality. Some Amazon customers have also speculated that if they are Amazon Prime members, they are being shown higher prices for products.
How Do You Prevent Negative Effects of Price Customization?
To prevent negative effects of price customization first check the price of a product when you are signed into your Amazon account. Next sign out of your account and clear your Internet cookies.* Search for the desired product and check for a price discrepancy as compared to when you were signed in.
*Please note that if you click on an Amazon link on my blog and purchase an item, I will receive a small commission (with no extra cost to you). However, if you clear your cookies prior to purchasing an item, I will no longer receive the credit. Knowing this, I’m still posting this tip because I believe in putting forth the best content over making money.
Amazon Tip #3: More Buying Choices
If you’ve never noticed before, on each product page there is a section called “More Buying Choices.”
I’d always assumed that Amazon automatically displayed the cheapest vendor price on the main product page if a product was “fulfilled by Amazon” or eligible for Free Super Saver Shipping. Wrong! I’d also mistakenly assumed that the “More Buying Choices” were only for refurbished or used product listings.
In reality, the More Buying Choices section displays used and refurbished items in addition to different vendors offering the same new product. Many times these vendors will have their orders fulfilled by Amazon so that customers can still qualify for free shipping. And sometimes these different vendors offer cheaper prices!
I’m not sure if it was because I was logged into a Prime membership account and was a victim of price customization, but in just a few moments of searching on Amazon.com, I found an example of when the More Buying Choices offered me a better deal than the main product page. In the screenshot below, you can see that the main product page offers the lens for a price of $112. But in the “More Buying Choices” section, the product is offered by two different vendors for cheaper, and both still offered free shipping.
(Update, the “More Buying Choices” section now appears to be listed as “Other Sellers on Amazon.”)
Amazon Tip #4: Price Trackers
Don’t you just hate it when you purchase something and the very next day the price drops? With the use of price trackers you can reduce the risk of this happening. There are many free websites out there that will let you track Amazon prices. My personal favorite is camelcamelcamel.com, and not just because of the cool name*.
Camelcamelcamel.com is simple to use and no sign up is necessary. You just enter the Amazon link into the search box or you can search for the product directly.
Camelcamelcamel will then provide you with a price graph if they have information available for that product. The graph will quickly show you the lowest and highest prices offered for the product.
Camelcamelcamel isn’t the most accurate. Many times Amazon’s current price varies from camelcamelcamel’s price. However it’s a good place to research and view the general price trends. For example, if you see an Amazon price below the lowest listed price on camelcamelcamel then you’ll know it’s a good time to buy.
Additionally, Camelcamelcamel.com lists the last 5 price changes and on what dates these changes occurred. If you see a product is selling for slightly higher than normal but it has had price changes every day for the last 5 days, you might want to wait a little bit to see if the price drops.
On the other hand, if a price has remained stable for the past few months, it’s not likely that the price will drop any time soon. So you can probably purchase comfortably knowing that you probably WON’T have to kick yourself tomorrow when you see the price drop.
Another great feature of camelcamelcamel is that you can set up free email alerts to notify you when a product’s price drops to or below a set price. At first I was hesitant to take advantage of this because I was afraid of receiving spam emails. However, I gave in and surprisingly did not receive any spam emails. I only receive email notifications when I set up a price alert and when my product drops to my targeted price. Also, it’s easy to delete these notifications once you purchase the product or decide you don’t want it.
If camels aren’t your favorite animal, or you just prefer an easier workflow, then you can also check out the Keepa browser plugin which provides similar capabilities.
*Author’s note: I’m in no way affiliated with camelcamelcamel.com or Keepa, so this is an unbiased recommendation. Please note, that I do receive a small commission if you click on any of the Amazon ads on phototipsy.com and purchase anything (with no extra cost to you). However, I do not receive any credit if you click through the Amazon links on camelcamelcamel or Keepa. Knowing this, and at the risk of losing potential earnings, I’m still posting these tips for your knowledge. I believe in putting out the best information as a priority over making money. But if this post has helped you in any way, and if you so desire, please click on one of my ad links right before you purchase an item. Thank you!
Amazon Tip #5: Sign up for deals
On the top of the Amazon.com home page you’ll see a link to “Today’s Deals.” Click on that link or just go to https://www.amazon.com/deals to be taken to the deals page. There are often good deals to be found here. It’s like the bargain bin of Amazon.
Amazon.com offers a variety of deals, including:
- Lightning Deals: These are time-limited deals that are usually available for a few hours and are often limited in quantity.
- Coupons: Amazon offers digital coupons on a variety of products that can be applied at checkout.
- Amazon Warehouse: Sells open-box items, refurbished items and returned items
- Amazon Outlet: a section of the website where you can find overstock, clearance and reconditioned items at reduced prices.
- Prime Day: Amazon’s annual sale event offers exclusive deals for Prime members.
- Early Access Deals: Prime members can access select lightning deals 30 minutes before non-prime members.
Amazon offers you the choice to sign up for their daily deals email list to be notified of deals. And if you’re afraid of spam, you can set up a separate email account just for mailing lists. That way you can keep your personal email spam free (well besides those “send this to ten people” chain mails from your relatives). Or if you have a gmail account then you could also just use the trick of adding a “+” to the username of your email address. The email will still be delivered to your email, but you can then filter out those emails easily. For example, if my email were “iluvphotos@gmail.com,” then I could sign up to the amazon daily deals email list as “iluvphotos+amazon@gmail.com.” You can enter whatever text you want after the “+” and gmail will ignore it and only see your true email address. Pretty cool!
Additionally, follow Amazon.com on social media to get additional discounts. For example, “Like” Amazon.com on Facebook.com. By following Amazon on Facebook, I was able to get a free Kindle edition of Les Miserables, $5 off a $25 purchase, and other great deals.
Amazon Tip #6: Offers and product Promos
On the main product page there may be a section just below the product features called “Special Offers and Product Promotions.” If available, you can find some special offers and savings, like a free mp3 download with your purchase. In the past, Amazon has offered 2% back in rewards on select camera products.
Sometimes the offers and promos can be difficult to spot, so make sure to take a close look at the product page before pushing that Buy button.
Amazon Tip #7: Get a Rewards Card
Whether you’re a frequent or semi frequent Amazon shopper, consider getting an Amazon Rewards Visa card. There’s no annual fee, and once approved, you’ll usually get some kind of instant incentive, such as a $50 gift card. The approval process is lightning quick. When I applied, the approval process took less than a day. By taking just a few moments to fill out the rewards card application, I’ve already gotten over $200 back to purchase more gear on Amazon.
So how did I earn that money back? When you use your Rewards card on Amazon.com, you get 3% back for every Amazon or Whole Foods purchase. (If you’re a prime member then you can get 5% back for Amazon or Whole Foods purchases.) You can also get 2% or 1% back for non Amazon purchases as outlined on the Rewards Card page.
Amazon Tip #8: Memberships
Amazon Prime, Amazon Mom, and Amazon Student are different membership programs offered by Amazon.com that you might consider. Each of the programs have their own eligibility requirements, promotions, and offer free shipping (no minimum price) for varying periods of time. I’ve listed the highlights of each program below:
- Eligibility: Current membership fee of $139/year (subject to change). However, you can get a 30 day free trial.
- Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of eligible items
- Unlimited instant streaming for select movies and tv shows
- Access to a free Kindle book to borrow each month. (If you don’t have a Kindle, you can use the free Kindle app to read Kindle books).
- Eligibility: Must be a student enrolled in a college or university with a valid .edu email
- Free six-month trial of Amazon Prime: Students get access to free two-day shipping, streaming of movies, TV shows, and music, and more.
- Discounted Prime membership: After the free trial, students can continue their Prime membership at a discounted rate of 50% off.
- Exclusive deals and discounts: Amazon Student members have access to exclusive deals and discounts on a variety of products.
- Free shipping: Student members receive free shipping on eligible items.
- Textbook rental: students can rent physical textbooks for the semester and return them for free at the end of the term.
- Unlimited photo storage: student members get unlimited photo storage with Amazon Photos.
- Twitch Prime: student members get free games and in-game content, a free channel subscription every 30 days, and more with Twitch Prime.
- Free welcome registry box filled with goodies tailored for welcoming a new baby.
- 15% completion discount on your baby registry.
- Exclusive discounts and deals
Amazon Subscribe & Save is a program that allows customers to subscribe to regular deliveries of household items, personal care products, and other items, and receive a discount in exchange. The benefits of Amazon Subscribe & Save include:
- Discounts: Save up to 15% on regular, recurring orders for eligible items.
- Convenience: Subscriptions can be set up for delivery on a schedule that works best for you, such as monthly, every two months, or every six months.
- Automatic delivery: Subscribed items will be delivered automatically, so you don’t have to worry about running out of essential items. During the pandemic, it seemed that toilet paper/ cleaning wipes/ masks Subscribe and Save orders were fulfilled as a higher priority than customers just trying to place a single regular order.
- Easy to manage: You can easily view, edit, or cancel your subscriptions through the “Your Subscribe & Save Items” page on Amazon.
- No commitment: You can cancel or change your subscriptions at any time, with no penalty.
- Combine with other offers: Subscribing and save discounts can be combined with other offers, such as coupons and subscribe and save coupons.
Amazon Tip #9: Use (But Don't Abuse) the Return Policy
So you used the previous 8 tips and went crazy buying gear on Amazon.com and now you realize that this product wasn’t quite what you wanted or you have buyer’s remorse on that other product. That’s ok! If the product hasn’t yet shipped, you may be offered the option to cancel the order. Just log into your account, view your orders, and see if cancelling your order i one of the available actions. If the product has already been shipped, that’s still ok! Learn to return!
I always find it difficult to return items from online stores because of the fact that they don’t refund the original shipping price. But guess what? With Amazon, most of the stuff I purchased comes with free shipping, so no money lost there! For the few times that I’ve returned items, Amazon paid for the return shipping and there was no restocking fee. All I had to do was sign into my Amazon account, report that I wanted to return an item and follow the directions.
Oftentimes, I could just return the item to Whole Foods and not have to worry about repackaging the item, printing out a mailing label, etc. Amazon has the motto “Returns Are Easy” and the return policy truly lives up to this moniker.
At least in my experience it appears that electronics tend to require a UPS drop off or pick up instead of being able to return at Whole Foods. But this process is still fairly easy. The only trouble I’ve has is when trying to return items with batteries and UPS refusing the accept the item. I just contacted Amazon support, and they refunded me, and let me keep the item for free with not too much of a hassle!
Note that you can get banned from returning too many items. So make sure you really do want the items that you purchase. Also note that the shipping policy varies so make sure you check the return policy before purchasing an item.
Amazon Tip #10: Trade in or Sell
Amazon’s return policy is great and all, but what if you dropped the ball and forgot to return your item within the allocated return period? Amazon offers two options for you to get some money back: trade in or sell. You don’t even have to have purchased the item from Amazon in order for you to trade it in or sell it on Amazon.
With Amazon’s trade in program, you can trade in your item for an Amazon gift card. To see if an item is eligible for trade in search the trade in store. On the product page, you’ll see a little box that says “Sell Us Your Item” with the gift card amount that Amazon is willing to give you for the item. If that works for you then click the button to “Trade In” and follow the prompts. Make sure that your item to trade in matches the product description exactly.
Whereas you get a gift card when you trade in your item, you actually get money back when you sell your item on Amazon. I personally have not yet sold anything on Amazon.com but I have a few friends who have successfully sold items and have recommended it to me. One good thing I’ve heard is that unlike eBay, Amazon.com doesn’t have listing fees. However, there is a fee if your item sells. The details of selling on Amazon is much too intricate for this post, so if you’re interested in the service you can check out Amazon’s website.
"What's the best way to make money in photography? Sell all your gear."
Well that wraps up the Amazon.com tips that I have for now. I hope they help to save you some cash and get you some good freebies.
