I'm a business owner, blogger, father, and husband. I used credit cards too much and found myself in over $75,000 in debt ($50,000 in just credit cards). I paid it off, started this blog, and my financial life has changed. I now talk about fighting debt and growing wealth here. I run a WordPress support company to help business owners and bloggers who use WordPress get around tech challenges.
These are great tips Grayson.. I am really interested in #4. CamelCamelCamel sounds awesome.
You are welcome Liz. CamelCamelCamel is awesome!
Hi,
If you are logged in but open up on a new browser, Amazon will obviously know your a customer and show you the same high rice, right?
You have to use a browser in incognito mode (Chrome or Firefox do this). This is easier if you can get a friend in another town to look at the same product. That is when the price is usually different.
These are timely with holiday season approaching. Can you believe it? I just took my kid back to college and I’m talking about the holidays. Shiver…..
I don’t even want to talk about it Joe!
We’ve used #2 and #5 successfully but I wasn’t aware of the warehouse or the outlet. Thanks, Grayson!!!
#2 and #5 are good ones, but you will enjoy the Warehouse and Outlet section.
So I have been working on a very similar article and I planned to post it this week. I think I’ll wait! lol. What timing. These are great tips though. I didn’t even think about adding items to your shopping cart and waiting, even though I have been offered discounts that way before. That’s a great tip! It’s not 100% effective, like you said, but it’s worth a shot.
This seems to be a common topic lately. Sorry for taking your thunder, but I am sure the article will still rock.
I’ve used the cart trick and it’s worked several times but like you said it’s a hit or miss situation. But I learned something new about the Camelx3 site (too lazy to copy paste) – thanks for the post Grayson!
It definitely doesn’t hurt to try the shopping cart trick. Glad you found Camelx3 and hopefully it works for you!
I’ve heard of CamelCamelCamel but haven’t checked it out yet. I’ll have to give it a try sometime soon.
It is a great service that doesn’t take you any time, but can save you some serious dough.
I’ve never gotten a deal from Amazon and leave things in my cart all the time. You’d think they could show me some love! I had no idea about the outlet, so will check that out.
I want to start a website called Zebrazebrazebra. No idea what it would be about, but what a cool name!
Really! That is sad to see. I have used the add to cart trick many times and tend to get discounts. While it doesn’t work all of the time and as you show, it can work.
I would go to that site, but who knows what you would put on it.
It’s things like this that I’m shocked to learn I didn’t know! I love shopping on Amazon because of the deals and free shipping, but I had no idea that leaving things in my cart would force a promotion. I’ve done it before but never noticed. I am going to try this intentionally now. Thanks!
Now, leaving items in your cart won’t always force a promotion. Sometimes it can take a week or two to get a promotion. It really depends if Amazon needs to get rid of the item or if they are feeling generous.
Do these same warehouse deals pop up when you are doing a regular search for an item?
Not necessarily. While you can find the warehouse deals when you are searching as they are actually located in the Used section when on a product page. If you just want to search warehouse deals, then you can click on that category in the search box and then type in your search term.
I never knew about the shopping cart trick, thanks! We often shop and then wait a few days before pulling the trigger on a purchase so using that tip wouldn’t really impact our timeline. I’m not sure if my husband uses CamelCamelCamel but he does track prices for large purchases so I’ll mention it to him.
It doesn’t work all of the time, but the longer you leave the item in the cart, the better to chance to get it.
Awesome details on Amazon. Thanks for the tips. Going to start today!
You are welcome Lance! Best of luck saving money…
I do that with almost all sites I go onto. I will put things in the checkout bag and not buy the items for days/weeks. I’ll get promotions and coupon codes for days and this even goes to my tanning salon! When I don’t go back to certain places they will send me things to get me back in their facility.
It is a good method to use beyond Amazon for sure. I have used this at bigger stores with much success.
Nice Grayson! I like these ideas =) I shop on Amazon occasionally so I will definitely check it out.
You are most welcome Holly!
I love me some amazon and look forward to our subscribe and save shipment each month.
I always make sure to have enough items in each shipment to get the max discount.
We get snacks, cleanings supplies, dog food, and much more..
Subscribe and Save is awesome. Nice work on maximizing the discount. Sure you love the 15%!
That goes into my top 5 blogposts for sure! Wow, great lifehack. Thank you!
Thanks Renaud.
Oh, this is great! We buy most of our stuff either from Amazon or Costco, so I will definitely be checking out the warehouse and outlet. Thanks for sharing!
You are most welcome Mrs. Frugalwoods! I hope it can save you money.
Be careful with warehouse. Many, many items come in terrible condition, even when listed at the top levels of condition. I’ve ordered about 50 items over the past year and maybe 40 of them had some kind of issue, half of them being pretty bad. Lots of people have the same problems. If you only buy “like new” and are willing to deal with some returns/problems then its worth looking.
Warehouse items also have no warranty, and many cc’s wont extend the warranty of used/refurbed items.
S&S prices are not locked in from month to month.
I have purchased close to 100 items through the warehouse and never had any issue with them. I don’t really care much for the warranty, especially for the items I bought, but you still bring up a good point.
This is the game you play with warehouse items though. They were returned, used, or didn’t make the “new” cut, so you have to be careful. That being said, it is still a great way to save at Amazon.
Did I indicate S&S was locked in? If I did, that was not my intention. While that would be awesome to have it locked in, I don’t think any business would do that for a subscription plan like this.
The best part of camelcamelcamel is the Chrome browser extension. Whenever you are on an Amazon product page, you can click on the little icon at the top of the browser and see the pricing history for that item. That’s great info, and can help decide whether the current price is a bargain or not.
You are correct. That browser extension is awesome. My default, I don’t put any extensions on my browser, but that is because I don’t like it being loaded down. Nothing against the extension though, it does work.
Nice tips, thanks. Additionally, I would surmise that CamelCamelCamel is a play on the “humps” that the website’s graphs create, but that’s pure speculation.
I think you might be right Eli!
Great article! Thanks for the tips. I left something in my cart a few months ago and came back a day or two later to find that it had been marked down. At the time I thought it was a bit too coincidental, but I didn’t realize it was “a thing.” I just can’t help but pass along a couple of grammar tips in return. Please note that “setup” in #4 should be two words, and “everyday” in Bonus #1 should be “every day.” The one-word version of “everyday” is an adjective, for example “These are my everyday shoes.” If the phrase “each day” would also work in the sentence (i.e. “I do this each day”), then it’s “every day” that you want to use. I see this mistake online almost every day. It’s apparently contagious.
Hello Rochelle,
Thank you for the tip, I will update the article. There are times when I’m writing quickly and don’t think those two through.
Thank you! I use many of the aspects you’ve listed. Lately, I’ve noticed many items have a lower price before I click on the item. When the items info page opens, the price is higher. I’m wondering if that has something to do with your bonus #2 info. Which brings me to a question about bonus #2. if you found an item, by using a second browser, and add it to your cart there, does they discounted price hold once you log into your account to make the purchase? Thanks!
The price depends on the merchant selling it. You can see a lower price before you click in, but sometimes Amazon will switch the merchant selling the product. If you want to look at all prices, make sure to head over to the area on the right side where it shows more merchants.
I have added items to my cart at the lower price and gotten it when logging into my account.
I think you should probably mention that you’re giving affiliate links to Amazon.
You are right, I am using affiliate links and there is a nice disclaimer of my amazon affiliation in the footer on every page. I get compensated for my time and providing information. Affiliate links or not, the information is still the same.
A while ago I was looking for a new DSLR camera. The price was still too high so I ended up just going to the page almost every single day. Then on Sunday morning after I hadn’t checked it for a while, the price surprisingly went down quite substantially. I thought it was a good deal, since I couldn’t find anything better than this, so I bought it. The next morning, the price went up again. Could it possibly be the time of the week also matter?
That’s hard to tell. Timing of sales is entirely up to Amazon and I haven’t seen any definitive answer there.
As an alternative to PriceJump, try PriceBlink. It can be installed as an extension in a Chrome browser. Whenever you find something you like on Amazon, or any website, PriceBlink will list other places where the same product could be purchased cheaper. It appears as a pop up at the bottom of the browser tool bar. No need to copy and past URLs, just search for items normally, and PriceBlink alerts you.
Thanks for the suggestion Chris. I appreciate any tool which helps me save money and I am sure my other readers will as well!
Hi Grayson, Such a great post and Thanks for the tips.. when i buy from amazon want to get discount then i normally visit CamelCamelCamel, but sometime i also use one of your tips Subscribe and Save..
Nice to hear it Noah!
These are some pretty useful tricks. Actually, I didn’t know any of these. They’ll be pretty handy… so thanks.
Glad I’m able to provide a few useful tricks for you.
Wow these are awesome tips! I knew about Camel Camel Camel (nice name? lol) and recently started using so do not have an opinion on that yet. However I did not know about Price Jump and am totally going to check it out!
I don’t mind you putting your site in the URL section, but when you put a comment out that talks about an Amazon savings widget which is actually built by BeFrugal.com, I have a problem. I am well aware of the widget and can put the same thing on this site.
I just thought it was a cool little widget and a great way to save (which is why I put it on my site) and thought I would share. I apologize if i offended you. You can remove my comment if you like.
It is a cool widget, but your comment was more about promoting your site than actually commenting on my article.
I am sorry it came across that way as that was not my intention. I really enjoyed your article.
#6: Woot.
I stumbled across them by accident. They’re a side branch of amazon like warehouse or outlet that feature discount deals and savings.
Woot is good, but I don’t consider that Amazon. Amazon bought Woot and you can only score deals on very specific items. While it is a good site, it’s not Amazon.com and you can only save on a small, very small subset of products.
Ha! These are interesting. I like the “add to cart and wait” strategy. Will give this a try!
Price history is only part of the equation, you should also comparison shop between stores.
I’ve been using price zombie for both. The browser extensions are where its at. If an item is $90 at Bestbuy, I can see what it costs at Amazon, as well as the historical price ranges at each store.
This post is to show how to save on Amazon.com. It’s for those who shop on Amazon for a majority of their products and want to save while shopping there.
Wow, thanks so much! I didn’t know about any of these. I’m going to add the thing I want to buy next to my cart right now! =D
Good luck with that trick. Out of all of them, that is the least likely to work, but it has worked for me in the past. It just has a lower success rate.
I actually used your advice on ways to save money when buying products in Amazon. I found great deals on Amazon Warehouse Deals. I was lucky to have gotten a refurbished laptop! Thanks Gray!
I have accidentally left items in my cart without thinking about it and have gone back to find the price of an item lowered. I will have to start doing that on purpose now! 🙂
Yep, that’s how it works!
These are amazing tricks that i must try. I am a frequent amazon shopper but honestly, i did not know any of these. I will try all of these. They sound interesting Bell.
Great Article!
I just checked with Amazon Prime, I’ve shared my prime with my wife and she can have all my benefits but I can choose what I would like to share with her, as well, we can’t see each other orders information but payment methods.
That is good to know, but you still need to share payment methods. Most people won’t do that with friends just to save a little money.
Oh my gosh! I did not think anyone had found out about that. Yes, I have found that amazon will give people a promo if they look at an item, usually a re-targeted ad on Facebook( which is where I usually see them). Nice share!
Don’t forget free websites like ‘Fast Discount Finder’ to find the best (mostly hidden) discounts on Amazon. Saved me thousands!
I would check that tool out, but their web hosting has been suspended.
I checked this website but it doesn’t seem to be working. Ya I totally agree that using coupons and promocodes can save our money and help us to purchase products easily. There are also many other free websites that provide latest Amazon Deals. One can subscribe to their newsletter in order that not to miss any deal in future.
I actually use the amazon wish list to save myself a lot of money… I tend to make impulse purchases because I see something I like, but then I’m afraid it’ll be gone before I can get it. For instance, a few years ago, there was a special necklace I wanted that was $300 because it was pure silver. I didn’t want to spend that much on it for fear of losing it. I pinned it on one of my boards. A couple of years later, I checked etsy.com and found a very similar necklace for only $15.00. By waiting a while, I saved myself over $300.00 by waiting for the best value. Also, I often realize I didn’t really want the item, and I delete it from my list. That has saved me a ton of money.
Huh, I leave stuff in my cart all the time. I will get an email saying that I still have something in my cart but have never been offered a discount. I leave stuff in carts all the time, it is kind of like buying it but without the remorse. I figure that if I still really want it after the initial “excitement” has worn off then I actually want it and will use it. Sometimes stuff sits in the cart for weeks, until I go in to add something else and delete it. I’m not feeling the love from Amazon now!?
I did not know about the warehouse and stuff, thanks for that info!
It doesn’t work all of the time. Amazon puts certain products on sale at random times and you never know when they need to sell more of a certain item. It does work, but it’s not full-proof.
Some good tips!
Even though the article is already a few years old, everything is still valid.
I would add to the warehouse deals section that there are now tools to track warehouse deals like WareWolf so that you never miss out on the newest warehouse deals.
Thanks for the article.
Hi guys. I just came across this thread. I also found a great tool, its called cheaperthanxyz and its on the google chrome store. Its not as clunky as camelcamel which I also used. Also I didn’t have to copy or paste any links it just found the best price for that product. Let me know if you guys found it helpful as I really liked it!
Could I add one to the list? Chose No-Rush shipping at check out. It will delay your package by a day or two but you are often compensated in Amazon credits. Today I got $5 off my first Amazon pantry order just for being patient and choosing No-Rush Shipping. That was a great Article though! thanks for sharing it.
Great Article… This was a very informative article and I’m sure it will help a lot.
Amazon Prime clients pay more for a similar thing. For one thing, any individual who has Amazon Prime and acknowledges paying more for a thing is a sham. Amazon touts that you get “free 2-day shipping on Amazon Prime”. This basically is valid, yet they do raise the cost of the thing itself to balance that “free” surge shipping. By and by, I’m happy this article is still here sharing the misdealings of Amazon. When I found that Amazon does this, I scratched off my Prime participation.
Are you comparing the Amazon price to the price of a third party seller? If so, you can’t really do that. That’s not a fair comparison. Go pay for two-day shipping at any store and you’ll likely pay nearly $20 to get that item shipped. If you use Amazon prime often (I do), then you’ll see the math of their $99 yearly fee and even if their product is $2 more than the next seller, still a win to get it in two days. Heck, I get most of my stuff the next day and pay for next day air at any other store. Likely over $50 to ship it.
The best way to Save Money at Amazon.com is still to not shop.
Only buy stuf when you really need it,
and only if you can’t borrow the item
for the often limited time that you need it.