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.

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.

PRO TIP: CHECK OUT THE PRIME REWARDS VISA

The 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 $139 annual membership every year.

This card is a no-brainer if you fall into this category.

See Also: 7 Amazon Prime Benefits You Probably Had No Idea Existed

Use TopCashBack to Get $15 Off Prime

OK, I realize this tip won’t get you free Prime, but $15 off your new Prime membership is nothing to laugh at.

When you use the cash back website TopCashBack, and purchase Prime, you’ll score a $15 Amazon Gift Card for FREE.

So basically you get 1-year of Prime for $124 instead of $139 for a couple minutes of your time, plus you’ll get 2% cashback on all your Amazon purchases going forward.

Definitely worth it the effort.

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. 😉

PRO TIP: WAIT FOR 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.

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 $139 annually for Prime and still get free shipping.

Guess what? Amazon already offers free shipping on $35 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.

Get Prime Student for $7.49/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 $7.49/month or $69 a year for up to 4 years.

Major Amazon Prime Discount for EBT Holders

Recently Amazon offered a monthly discount of their Prime membership for EBT cardholders.

Here are the details:

1. Confirm Eligibility: Click here to confirm your eligibility, you’ll have to enter your EBT card number along with an image of your card.
2. 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.
3. Cancel at Any Time: You can cancel at any time and are not under any contract.
4. Cannot Share Your Membership: Unlike a regular Prime membership, you cannot share your Prime membership with family members.
5. 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.

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 did some research and came up with four clever ways to get free shipping at Amazon without paying for a Prime membership. While I’m personally a big fan of the 2-day free shipping that comes with Amazon Prime (free 30-day trial), and think it’s worth the $139 annual price tag, I understand that others would disagree.

Maybe you don’t shop much online, or maybe you have no need for the added perks that come with a Prime membership. I totally get that. These tips help you avoid the Prime annual fee and still score free delivery to your doorstep.

Score Free Shipping on Lightweight Stuff

Amazon quietly announced that they were going to start offering free shipping on thousands of small, lightweight, items like cosmetics, in-ear headphones, and mobile phone accessories.

No Amazon Prime membership required. No minimum order size required.

If you’re like most, and missed the memo, it’s a great option to start considering.

Be aware that because all items are fulfilled from their Kentucky warehouse, shipping will take between 4-8 business days, depending on how far you live from the blue grass state.

The single best way to discover these items that ship for free is to click on “Other Sellers”, from the product page, as those are the majority of eligible products.

PRO TIP: LEARN TO SEARCH FOR “FREE SHIPPING” ITEMS

Another great hack to quickly figure out which Amazon items ship for free is to do a product search, then refine your search by clicking on the “Free Shipping by Amazon” button (see image above).

You might not get the item delivered as quickly compared to having a Prime membership, but if you don’t need it right away, who cares?

Free shipping is free shipping, no matter how long it takes to reach your doorstep.

Add “Filler” Items & Get Free Shipping

If you’re not a Prime member, you’re probably already aware that Amazon offers everyday free shipping on $25 or more.

Plus, a ton of 3rd party sellers offer free shipping with NO minimum order size required. Always check the shipping incentives that “Other Sellers on Amazon” are offering.

Also, if you’re ordering books, you only need to spend $25 and your entire order ships for free.

But what happens if your order total comes up just a little bit short of the minimum order threshold?

Instead of either paying for shipping, or adding something to your cart you don’t really need, try using a site like Cheap Filler.com or Filler Checker.com.

This handy website allows you to enter the exact dollar amount you need to qualify for free shipping, as well as the product categories you might be interested in.

Pretty handy tool that helps you get free shipping on Amazon without paying for a prime membership.

The take-away here is to qualify for free shipping by only adding stuff to your cart you actually need.

Stuff that you can either use in your home, or maybe as a stocking stuffer or upcoming gift for someone in your life.

Also, it’s worth noting that you can buy Amazon gift cards to bump you up to the $25 threshold for free shipping.

Then you can simply use them on later purchases. (Thanks Becky for this tip!)

Update: After reading through the boilerplate on the Amazon site, it appears gift cards will not count towards your order total. Bummer.

PRO TIP: “AMAZON DAY” PRO HACK

Specifically, use Amazon Day to “Hold” orders and stack discounts.

Amazon lets you add items to your Amazon Day order throughout the week and deliver everything on your chosen day of the week.

So when a price drops before your selected delivery day, you’ll want to cancel and reorder at the lower price without extra shipping fees.

Stack this with Amazon’s clipable coupons (which sometimes change daily) to lock in extra savings while still getting free shipping.

See Also: 6 Brilliantly Slick Ways to Get Amazon Prime for FREE

The “Pre-Order” Free Shipping Hack

A sneaky little-known way to get your Amazon shopping cart over $25 is to consider adding items only available for pre-order.

This is because they count toward your $25 minimum order requirement for free shipping.

The really cool part is that you won’t actually be charged for the pre-order items until they become available and ship.

So if you change your mind, or don’t actually want the item, just cancel the order before it ships.

The best product categories to search for pre-order items include books, video games, Blu-ray movies, and smaller tech items.

Word of warning: Don’t abuse this trick as you’ll get caught and end up having to pay for all your pre-orders. But you can definitely use it a couple times a year without raising any red flags.

PRO TIP: THE “GHOST CART” MANIPULATION

Amazon tracks your abandoned cart and if you leave stuff in your cart for 24-48 hours, Amazon sometimes emails a free shipping offer to get you to complete the purchase.

If you DON’T have Amazon Prime here’s how you trigger this:

1. Add items just under the free shipping threshold.
2. Leave them in your cart for 1-2 days.
3.  Check your email—Amazon may send a “Come back and get free shipping” offer.
4. Works best on: Non-Prime accounts and random household goods.

See Also: Here’s How to Find an Amazon Return Store and Save Money

Use Subscribe & Save

We all have items in our life that we need to replenish on a fairly regular basis.

Think about things like shampoo, soap, diapers, dog food, laundry detergent, trash bags, toilet paper, I could go on and on.

Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program is free to join and lets you get these items really cheap AND delivered to your doorstep for free.

Again, no Prime membership required.

Plus, by taking advantage of Subscribe & Save, you’ll get up to a 15% discount on the regular everyday Amazon price.

From the Amazon site, here’s exactly how it works:

1. Choose from thousands of eligible products in the Subscribe & Save store.
2. Select your delivery frequency and create your subscription.
3. Skip your deliveries or cancel your subscriptions at any time by visiting Your Account > Your Subscribe & Save Items.
4. In advance of each delivery, we will send you a reminder email showing the item price and any applicable discount for your upcoming delivery. The price of the item may decrease or increase from delivery to delivery, depending on the Amazon.com price of the item at the time we process your order.

There’s no commitment once you subscribe, and Amazon will send you an email reminder before your order ships.

Ask the Reader: How do you get free shipping on Amazon without paying $99 for an annual Prime membership?

By Kyle James

I got three kids at home who eat more than I do. The result is a grocery bill which can be ridiculously high if we don’t shop smart and look for savings. It’s with this in mind that I present some brilliantly simple ways to save money at the grocery store, especially for those who’d rather not spend their evening with a pair of scissors clipping coupons. I hope they help you save, I know they really help us on a monthly basis.

Gotta Have a List

I remember my single days when I would go to the grocery and come home with maraschino cherries, beef jerky, olives, tooth picks, bag of potatoes, and a box of corn flakes.

I would get home and realize that I still have ZERO ingredients for a “real” meal and just pick up the phone and order a pizza.

Just make a dam list during the week as you run out of things.

Then if you want to plan some meals, just make sure you have the ingredients, if you don’t, barter with your neighbors.

PRO TIP: THE “HALF PRICE” TRICK ON BAKERY & DELI ITEMS

Many grocery stores discount bakery and hot food items 50% off after a certain hour (e.g., after 7 pm at some Safeway and Kroger stores).

If you want cheap rotisserie chicken, fresh bread, or deli meals, go just before closing.

See Also: The 14 Cheapest Grocery Stores in Your Town (Hopefully)

Shop Store Brands

The quality of most store brands has really been increasing the last few years, this is especially true with the Costco Kirkland brand.

In most cases you’ll never know the difference.

I actually like the store brand cottage cheese better than the name brand from our local Winco grocery store.

Yes I like cottage cheese, and no, I am not 85 years old.

PRO TIP: USE PRICE MISTAKES TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

Grocery stores make pricing errors all the time—mislabeling items, failing to remove expired sale tags, or scanning items at the wrong price.

Many stores, including Albertsons, Safeway, and Vons, all have a “price guarantee” policy, where they’ll give you an item for free or at a massive discount if the price is incorrect. Always check your receipt before leaving the store.

Don’t Shop When Hungry

Self explanatory.

If you’re hungry you may very well come home with the following: pre-made Jell-O cups, Jell-O pudding pops, the large red vines bag, Drumsticks, 3 frozen Sara Lee pies, and Entenmann’s doughnuts.

If you have 4 of these currently in your kitchen take a pic and send it to me, I’ll send you a prize.

Plan One Large-Ass Trip

Save money on gas and time by not going every day or two.

By reducing the frequency of trips to the grocery store you also reduce the amount of temptation created.

If you don’t want to bust your grocery budget then stay out of the store.

You can’t spend if you ain’t there. You’ll never spend money on groceries if you never eat. OK, I’ll stop now.

PRO TIP: FIND “HIDDEN CLEARANCE” SECTIONS

Most grocery stores have clearance sections hidden in random aisles (not just the end caps).

Walk around the store and look at bottom shelves and tucked-away areas where managers put overstock or seasonal leftovers.

Items without price tags or those placed away from their usual sections can also be indicators of hidden clearance deals.

See Also: Costco Employees Tell Me The Single Best Day to Shop

Shop Alone

Call at least a week ahead of time and rent out the entire grocery store.

No, but seriously, try and shop by your lonesome as you’ll be less distracted and less tempted to buy those white Oreo cookies your “dependents” have been “asking”….I mean begging for.

Use Manufacturer Coupons

Before you yell at me for mentioning the word “coupons”, I do have one tip that I just got to share.

The key to clipping coupons is to ONLY clip coupons on things you would have bought anyways.

Too often people get caught up clipping every coupon they can find even if they’ll probably never use it. TOTAL waste of time.

If you start buying processed food and junk food just because you happen to have a coupon, you’re doing yourself a disservice, both financially and health-wise.

PRO TIP: KNOW WHEN TO STOCKPILE

Grocery stores strategically rotate discounts on staple items like cereal, pasta, and snacks, meaning that if you miss a sale, the price will likely drop again in about 6 to 8 weeks.

Tracking these cycles at your favorite stores can help you stock up at the right time and avoid overpaying. If an item is perishable, consider freezing extras to stretch your savings even further.

When something hits its lowest price, buy enough to last until the next sale. A good rule: Never buy an item at full price unless it’s urgent.

Walk Quickly by the Free Samples

You do realize why those people are there giving out free samples, right?

They are NOT there to help you save money and they are NOT there to help you make good buying choices.

There sole reason for existing is to get you to buy crap you don’t need.

Companies know when they get you to touch, smell, lick, and ingest their products they have won. Many will make the impulse purchase.

Running In For Milk and Eggs? Try This

DO NOT grab a cart or basket.

Carry your milk and eggs in your hands. That way you won’t be tempted to throw impulse purchases into your cart.

You can’t buy what you can’t carry.

A related tip, try not to shop with cargo pants or parachute pants from the 1990’s. M.C. Hammer could have easily stuffed a cart full of groceries into his drawers.

Do NOT Be Brand Loyal

When you get caught up in specific brands you tend to neglect pricing.

I realize some brands are non-negotiable.

For example, somebody that likes Best Foods mayo is not going to buy Miracle Whip just to save .50 cents.

But when brand is not a big deal, always opt for the best value, even if that means buying generic.

You never know, you may actually like the cheaper brand better.

See Also: The 9 Alternative Brands That Are Cheaper But Just as Good

Double Check your Receipt

Make sure your items were scanned correctly and make sure all your coupons were accounted for if you used any.

I have lost count of the number of times that sale items did NOT ring up correctly.

After you’re handed your receipt, step to the side so the cashier can start with the next customer, and examine your receipt.

If you notice an error kindly ask the cashier for clarification.

If the store is completely swamped, and your cashier is frantically trying to keep up, try the customer service desk at the front of the store.

It’s your money so make sure you get what you deserve.

See Also: 5 Ways to Make Money From Your Grocery Receipt

Bonus: Use a Rebates App

I’m a huge fan of the free Ibotta app. Essentially the app gives you money back on purchases (via instant rebates) that you’d be making anyways.

The cool part is you’ll even get money back on generic things like eggs, milk, and a loaf of bread.

See Also: Ibotta Review: Insider Tips on Using the App to Save Money

Ask the Reader: Any tips I may have missed? Looking forward to your comments.

By Kyle James

Photo credit to Chris Waits.