Out-Of-The-Box Ways to Score Amazon Prime for Free or Cheap
Aside from the obvious 30-day free Prime trial, there exists some highly clever ways to get an Amazon Prime membership for free, or at least really CHEAP. Even the most loyal Amazon shoppers have no idea many of these Prime discounts exist. From credit card and cell phone companies offering a free membership, to Amazon themselves giving you a free Prime extension in certain circumstances, these clever tips will keep you from forking over $119 for a Prime membership for years to come.
Here are 6 ways to get Amazon Prime for free…I’ve also included 3 bonus tips at the bottom so be sure to scroll all the way down.
Get 1 Free Month of Prime if Package Arrives Late
If you’re a current Prime member, and your package doesn’t arrive within the 2-day guaranteed window, you need to start holding Amazon’s “feet to the fire”.
This is also true if you pay the shipping upgrade for 1-day delivery (see above chat session).
In many cases, when this happens, Amazon will extend to you 1 free month of Amazon Prime as a peace offering.
The free month won’t kick in until your current Prime membership expires, which is way cool.
To make it happen, simply contact Amazon customer service and politely explain the situation.
If they won’t give you a free Prime extension they should at the very least give you a $5 credit added to your account.
See Also: 7 Amazon Prime Benefits You Probably Had No Idea Existed
30-Day Free Trial Expired?
Out of curiosity, I started a live chat session with Amazon and asked how many free 30-day Prime trials a user was eligible for.
I figured they’d say one per email address or one per mailing address.
Much to my surprise, she confirmed that you can simply open a new Amazon account after your 30-day free Prime trial expires and “then try the Prime on that account”.
You’ll need a different email address to open a new Amazon account, but that’s not a problem for most shoppers.
The Amazon rep also informed me that if you don’t renew your Prime membership after your trial period ends, they’ll typically email you another free trial opportunity after a certain amount of time.
Buyer beware on this one.
This loophole surely won’t last very long and has the long term unintended consequences of Amazon raising the cost of their Prime membership and offering poorer customer service overall.
BTW, before you ask, my wife’s name is Aimee and her name is on our Amazon account. 😉
Snag Free Prime With Metro by T-Mobile
Another smart way to get Prime for free is to check out Metro by T-Mobile.
They recently launched a new $60/month cell phone plan that includes a free 12-month Amazon Prime membership.
It’s called the $60 Unlimited High Speed plan and is available to both new and current T-Mobile customers.
If you’re already with T-Mobile, or considering switching providers, it’s definitely a no-brainer.
It’s also worth noting that this offer is only available to new Prime members.
See Also: 4 Ways to Get Free Shipping at Amazon (Without Paying for Amazon Prime)
Skip Prime Altogether and Still Score Free Shipping
Perhaps the best way to get the service for free is to simply not fork over the $119 annually for Prime and still get free shipping.
Guess what? Amazon already offers free shipping on $25 or more, a threshold that’s much lower than most online retailers.
Many of which require you to spend $75 or $99 to qualify for free delivery.
Clever Hack Alert: If your Amazon order falls just short of the minimum order required for free shipping, simply add a “pre-order” item to your cart to get over the hump.
You’ll get your entire order shipped for free and then once your order is shipped you can cancel your “pre-order” item before it gets shipped and not be charged.
Don’t do this too often or you run the risk of Amazon catching on and making you pay for the pre-order items, or worse case, cancelling your account.
Use TopCashBack to Get $10 Off Prime
OK, I realize this tip won’t get you free Prime, but $10 off your 12 month Prime membership is nothing to laugh at.
When you use the cash back website TopCashBack, and purchase Prime, you’ll score $10 in cashback.
So basically you get 1-year of Prime for $109 instead of $119 for a couple minutes of your time.
Definitely worth it, especially if you can use TopCashBack to get money back on all of your online shopping moving forward.
Get Prime Student for $6.49/month
If you’re currently enrolled in college and have a .edu email address be sure you DON’T pay full-price for a Prime membership.
Amazon Prime Student offers you 50% off the regular cost of Prime and you still get free 2-day shipping, Prime Video, Prime Reading, and a bunch cool “student only” discounts.
What exactly will you get? You’ll score everything that comes with Prime EXCEPT Prime Music and the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library.
Still not sure if Prime Student is for you? No worries, as you can take advantage of their FREE 6-month trial and you’ll know for sure once your trial expires.
Once your 6-month trial expires, you’ll have the option to sign-up for Amazon Prime for only $59 a year (essentially $4.92/month) for up to 4 years.
See Also: Amazon “Prime Student” Hacks (Plus a Free 6-Month Membership)
Bonus Tip #1: Major Amazon Prime Discount for EBT Holders
Recently Amazon offered a monthly discount of their Prime membership for EBT cardholders.
Here are the details:
- Confirm Eligibility: Click here to confirm your eligibility, you’ll have to enter your EBT card number along with an image of your card.
- Prime at a Discount: Once you confirm eligibility, you’ll get Amazon Prime for only $3.50/month for the first 3 months then $6.99 per month after that.
- Cancel at Any Time: You can cancel at any time and are not under any contract.
- Cannot Share Your Membership: Unlike a regular Prime membership, you cannot share your Prime membership with family members.
- Must Re-Validate Your EBT Card Every 12 Months: Also, you can only re-validate your card 4 times. After your 4 years of discounted Prime are over you’re stuck paying full price.
Important Note: You cannot use your EBT card to pay for your Prime membership.
Do You Get All the Same Prime Benefits?
Yes.
With this EBT Amazon Prime discount you get all the awesome benefits that come with Prime.
In addition to the free 2-day shipping on millions of items, you get everything else that comes with Prime.
This includes Prime Music, unlimited photo storage, Prime Video, Twitch Prime, Prime Kindle Reading, and free Amazon Audible channels.
Do You Still Get a Free 30-Day Trial?
Yes. If you have an EBT card you still get a 30-day free Prime trial.
So you really have nothing to lose. Try it out for 30 days and cancel if it’s not for you.
You’ll never be charged the $5.99 if you cancel within 30 days.
What Exactly is an EBT Card?
EBT stands for Electronic Benefits Transfer and the card works just like a debit or credit card.
The card is issued by the government and allows state and federal programs to easily add funds to your card.
You’ll probably qualify for this Amazon Prime discount if you’re enrolled in any of these programs:
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
- Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Other programs vary by state.
Bonus Tip #2: Apply for Amazon Prime Rewards Visa
The new Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card pays you 5% back via reward points on all of your Amazon purchases plus you score a free $50 Amazon gift card when you get approved.
So basically if you order at least $165 from Amazon every month, this Prime Rewards card will pay for your $119 annual membership every year.
This card is a no-brainer if you fall into this category.
Bonus Tip #3: Wait for Amazon Prime Day
Typically in July, Amazon Prime Day is the one day every year where Prime often goes on sale.
If you don’t need Prime right away, it could be worth waiting.
If it doesn’t go on sale this year, pay attention to other days where it will.
Every year Prime goes on sale at least once, often to commemorate something “special” that Amazon has accomplished.
Ask the Reader: Have you found a way to get free or cheap Amazon Prime for an extended period of time? If so, let me know your strategy.
By Kyle James
I started Rather-Be-Shopping.com in 2000 and have become a consumer expert and advocate writing about out-of-the-box ways to save at stores like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Costco to name a few. I’ve been featured on FOX News, Good Morning America, and the NY Times talking about my savings tips. (Learn more)
Unbelievable that you suggest things like opening back to back trials based on a single discussion with most likely an offshore holiday temp customer service rep. You cannot possibly be that unintelligent to see that it’s abusing the system but you see, those of us that actually DO pay wind up paying for your abuse……
When they raise my Prime membership cost yet again, this is why.
When they think twice or even fail to give me a credit or make something right when I call in a month from now and ask why that genuinely important shipment is late, this is why.
When they change the pre-order system to pre-charge my card early, this will be why.
There’s nothing “slick” about advertising a couple loopholes that cost those of us that pay. It’s freeloading and I for one hope Amazon finds a way to identify those of you that do such blatant things to abuse the service and ban you for life from Amazon – I’d be curious to know if you couldn’t shop at Amazon ever again in your life if then maybe you would consider using common sense and acting responsibly in your blog posts.
I’m just telling it like it is. I’m sure Amazon will close this loophole in the near future, and as my article suggests, I was very surprised with what I was told. Personally, I wouldn’t do it, as it’s more hassle than it’s worth and has unintended consequences. But for me to somehow be the morality police and tell others what they should and shouldn’t do is not my job.
Honestly, there is a name for this in the world of Cybersecurity, “social engineering”. Claiming that you are not the “morality police” is like saying “well yeah, I bought those minors alcohol, who am I to tell them not to drink it? That’s their decision”.
What you’re suggesting is illegal. What I talk about in this article was told to me by an Amazon employee.
Regardless of the topic, great reply Kyle. 🙂
I have been scammed by one of Amazon’s sellers that was listed on their site AND I paid through Amazon and they still won’t help me out, so if I really need to buy something through Amazon due to the best price, I have no qualms scoring a round their system and getting it for free. I played fair and they didn’t so maybe if they ever scam you, you will change your opinion but don’t go blindly bashing others.
He didn’t say to lie about the late shipment! Obviously Amazon would know you are lying in most cases being there is tracking on pretty much everything now….
Amazon screw entire countries out of millions in unpaid tax… so yeah if I can screw amazon like they screw my country I’ll scam them out of free stuff as much as I can.
exactly… amazon are using loopholes to get out of paying taxes in many countries.
they owe millions to the uk. unfortunately our government suck up to the big corporates so havent got the balls to fuck them off out of the uk, which is what should be done.
pay or fk off out of uk.
unfair competition.
smaller businesses with less buying power and also tax payers are going out of business because of low life corporates like this… then we’ll all be paying morw via amazon when thwy have no one to compete with…do you think theyll remain cheap or good value..?
Shadap.
oh get your pantys out of a bunch . there is always going to be people beating the system and us that pay will always have to deal with the price hikes . not worth being such a dick to a guy that obviously pays and works hard to write these blogs
I for one love saving money. Thanks for helping me free load.
Well, the individual that does this would not be assured of this policy in the future, whereas you do not have to be concerned about it. It’s like I tell everyone who complains of folks on welfare – hey, if you put yourself into that position, you could get it too, so it’s not unfair at all.
Get some stupid man to pay for it.
I’ve read that Clever Hack Alert before, and I have to say it has never worked for me. I’ve preordered a book, DVD, or CD, at least 3 times in the last year and a half. The preorder has always been 4-8 months before the release of the item. I’ve always legitimately wanted the preorder. In each case, I never met the free shipping threshold (I do not have Prime), so I’ve added other stuff I wanted to make up the difference. And, every single time the entire contents of my order remained on hold for the full duration until the preordered item was released. There’s nothing more disappointing than waiting 6 months for a can opener! (Especially since, once it does ship, they don’t all arrive in the same box necessarily..)
http://www.filleritem.com/
I have an existing Amex card and called to ask if there was a promo I could use to extend my prime membership and they said it was a promo for new amex cards only.
That’s what I was just told as well.
I quit Prime almost a year ago. I find that many items can be ordered from 3rd party sellers with FREE shipping, no matter what the order total. I just ordered some mechanical pencils for $13 and got free shipping. This is not always the case though. I plan on adding up my shipping costs after a full year to see if it totals more than $99.
Maybe the cost of the ‘free’ shipping is included in the price?
It’s included. I’ve searched for the same items without using Prime and every single time I found the item for a lower price, usually $4+ less. I concluded that people are actually paying shipping in the price of the item
Interesting Nicholas. Did the items include free shipping or did shipping costs make it a wash?
I’m nor impressed with the ‘Hack Alert” art of this post. It is duplicitous, immoral and it games the system. That is not OK
Boo hoo
Ok, for those who are complaining this is wrong to do, why did you even bother reading the article if you had no interest in how to get/scam a free memberships? Just to come on here and write negative comments and bash others? Also, what if someone doesn’t use Amazon much except to order things once in a while but the shipping is a lot. What if they don’t use any of the other MANY features Prime has to offer except the free shipping? Why pay $99 just for the free shipping? This is when the numerous free memberships come in handy. Not to mention, the Amazon rep even told the customer how to get another free one. If they felt it was so wrong and forbidden they would leave it at “No, only 1 free month with your account.” No other suggestions or ideas.
People do not realize that unless it is “illegal” there is nothing wrong with enjoying a few perks that you were smart enough to squeeze through the loophole to get! First of all don’t think they won’t get you if they have the chance to legitimately do it. Secondly, prime is not a bad thing to have.
If it were shipping only, I would definitely cancel it; however, I have amazon prime fire tv stick and watch a very large amount of movies and series both old and new for free. There is shows that you can rent and watch that are not included on prime but they don’t rope you in to any subscription fees. You simply purchase a 39 dollar amazon tv stick and plug it in to the wall and usb port on your tv.
Just depends on how addicted you are to your own tv and the convenience of it. Actually it is a great way for someone living on a limited income to have at least some of the luxuries such as cable that so many take for granted.
Thanks Sheryl,
I’m one of those people who’ve had to discontinue my cable due to the exorbitant costs. I can only pay for the internet so this is a great tip!
P.S. I don’t miss TV commercials at all, lol!
You just roasted Jeanette
Thank you!
This information is really helpfully informative thanks. How do I save the whole article for later
thank you its working
Not sure if this is still going on but I received my first year of Amazon Prime free when I signed up with Frontier for my internet service. 🙂
Gaming the system means your account will be notarized with information of your abuse, which will be used to offer you further discounts, rewards and invite only status onto select products.
The Amazon order system is very well documented and captures those who employ the following theft tactics.
No one else has mentioned the Amazon credit card which not only gives you 3% cash back but can be used to pay for your subscription.
Any other tactics are simply monitored.
Literally nothing happens. Amazon is too busy trying to fix it’s fake reviewer fiasco it gives f-kall about people trying out prime memberships month to month. The proof is in the fact there is nothing that prevents you from re-signing up meanwhile amazon is literally manually wiping accounts of paid reviewers lol
Try getting one month intro free and $75.00 free prime credit card and cancel within 30 days because u do not use Amazon enough
I ordered stuff from Amazon over $100.00 and paid for next day shipping. Not only did they mess up my order but, my order never arrived on time for my son’s Birthday!
Hey Thanks Mary for the filleritem.com link. That is SO Helpful!
Thanks for sharing this trick, its working
I’m a NEW customer. Why was I NOT offered Amazon Prime FREE Trial, They gave me a $1.99 Trial instead for ONE week.