Is Amazon Prime for Students a Good Deal? Not only will I answer that question, but I also have some killer money-saving Amazon hacks specifically for tech-savvy college students, plus an opportunity to get a 6-month Prime Student trial membership. A trial membership that’ll not only get you free 2-day shipping, but will also save you a ton of money on entertainment costs while in college. Keep reading…

What Comes With Amazon Prime Student?

When going on the Amazon site it’s not really clear what you get with “Prime Student”. So to clear things up, here’s exactly what you get with your 6-month Prime Student trial membership.

I verified this information with Amazon personally as there has been some confusion recently about exactly benefits came with your trial membership.

Essentially you get almost everything that comes with the regular Prime membership with a few important omissions.

Here are the benefits you DO get with Prime Student:

1. FREE 2-Day Shipping.
2. Prime Video.
3. Prime Reading.
4. Amazon Audible.
5. Unlimited Photo Storage.
6. Prime Early Access Deals.
7. Exclusive College Deals.
8. Current guests on your membership will also have free shipping benefits.

So, yes, because of all of the above benefits, Amazon Prime for students is a great deal. Here are the only benefits you DON’T get with Prime Student:

1. Prime Music.
2. Kindle Owner’s Lending Library.
3. You’ll no longer have access to select shopping discounts such as 20% off diapers and 15% Baby Registry completion discount.

Click Here to Sign-up for a 6-month Trial to Prime Student.

Who’s Eligible for the Prime Student 6-Month Trial?

I’ve heard lots of discussion recently of who is actually eligible for the 6-month Amazon Student program.

Can teachers join? How about high school students?

Let’s answer these questions once and for all. Here are the requirement to join.

1. You gotta have an Amazon.com account.
2. You must be a college student actively enrolled in at least one course at a college geographically located in one of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico. No high school students or teachers can participate.
3. You must be able to provide proof of enrollment upon request. Note: Rarely do they ask for proof.
4. Gotta have a valid e-mail address that contains the domain suffix .edu. But if you’re a college student without a .edu email, you’re not out of luck. Simply call Amazon at 1 (888) 280-4331 and explain the situation to them. They’ll ask you a few verification questions, and in most cases, hook you up with your 6-month Prime Student trial.
5. Once your no-cost 6-month trial ends, you’ll have the option of keeping Prime Student for $59 a year. This is 50% off the normal Amazon Prime fee. You can pay this amount annually for up to 4 years, or until graduation, whichever comes first.

It’s also worth noting that Amazon may accept or refuse your membership at their sole discretion.

Also, you can’t use your student e-mail address for more than one Prime Student membership and you can’t enroll in Prime Student more than once.

What If I Already Have an Amazon Prime Account?

I’ve also heard a lot of scuttle and confusion from those that already pay for a full Prime membership, but want to take advantage of Prime Student. I called Amazon directly and got some answers for those of you wondering how it works. Here’s what you need to know:

1. While their stated policy is to refund you for the unused portion of your Prime membership, some folks have had trouble doing this.
2. If your regular $119 annual Prime membership is within a couple weeks or months of reaching it’s renewal date, you might have a hard time getting Amazon to give you money back on that membership when you enroll in Prime Student. You may want to just wait until your Prime membership expires then start your 6-month trial to Prime Student.
3. But if you’re only a few months in, you’ll want to enroll in Prime Student and they’ll refund the unused portion of your $119.
4. They were tight lipped with the exact details, or maybe the person I talked to was very unsure of their own policy. In either case, I definitely recommend asking them to refund the unused portion of your $99 fee, no matter how many months ago you signed up for Prime.

“Prime Student” Insider Money-Saving Hacks

I chose these Amazon hacks specifically for college students as they require a little more tech-savviness to pull off. I hope they help you save.

• Learn to Hack an Amazon URL – Let’s say you’re looking for books on Amazon that are on sale. Start by doing a generic search for “books” then add “&pct-off=50-” to the end of the URL and Amazon will pull all books that are at least 50% off. Looking for books that are at least 90% off, add “&pct-off=90-” to the URL. Looking for books between 60% and 80% off, enter “&pct-off=60-80“. Example: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=books&pct-off=60-80. This will work for ANY shopping category and any percentage off. As far as I know, this is the only way to filter your search on Amazon by the percentage off.
• Turn Unwanted Visa Gift Card into Amazon Cash – Did you know that Amazon will let you buy an Amazon gift card by using an unwanted Visa gift card as your form of payment? Then you can simply spend the Amazon gift card whenever you’d like as they don’t expire. Simply log-in to “Your Account” and on your account page, under “Amazon Wallet”, click on “Add a Credit or Debit Card”. Next, just add your Visa gift card to your account like you would any debit or credit card. This hacks works great when you only have a few bucks left on a card and you know you’ll probably never spend it.
• Stop Using the “Add to Cart” Button NOW – The next time you’re tempted to click the “Add to Cart” button, first take a quick look at what other Amazon sellers are selling the item for. Turns out many of them come under the price Amazon wants you to pay. Many times it includes free shipping too.

Ask the Reader: When you consider the free 2-day shipping aspect, is Amazon Prime for students a good deal in your eyes? How do you save money in college? Is Amazon Prime Student worth the money after your 6-month trial expires?

Happy savings.

By Kyle James

Disclaimer: Amazon did not pay me to write this article and all opinions are my own. If you do sign-up for a Amazon Student trial I do get a commission, money I use to keep this blog up and running.

A lot of stores and retailers let you recycle unwanted items, but very few will actually reward you for doing so. Could be a coupon for future use, or it could be cold-hard reward points that you can redeem for significant savings. In either case, here are all the stores that’ll give you something simply for bringing in items to be recycled.

American Eagle

Keep an eye out for the recycle box at your local American Eagle Outfitters and score a cool reward. Just drop your old shoes or clothing into the box, they don’t have to be AE branded, and you’ll get a $5 off “text code” to be used on your next pair of AEO jeans. The recycled items are either reused or turned into recycled fiber.

Apple Store

Donate any Apple branded item to the Apple Reuse and Recycle Program and if the product qualifies for “reuse” you’ll get an Apple Store gift card equivalent to the fair market value of the item. To get started, check out this site to see what value your Apple item has. Shipping is completely free as well.

AT&T

From their website, “The AT&T Trade-in Program lets AT&T customers turn in old wireless phones and tablets to receive an AT&T Promotion Card.” All phones, regardless of condition, will be considered for a trade-in, so you got nothing to lose. They’ll let you mail in your device for free too.

Auto Zone

Got an old car battery laying around in your garage somewhere? Throw that bad boy in a cardboard box and bring ‘er down to your local Auto Zone and score a $5 Auto Zone gift card for it.

Best Buy

Best Buy has one of the better recycling programs that can definitely help you save money. For example, they’ll give you 10% off a new Samsung HDTV when you bring in and recycle a qualifying TV. They’ll also give you 15% off a HP Inkjet printer when you bring in ANY used printer to a Best Buy store for recycling.

H&M

From the L.A. Times, “any customer who donates a bag of clothing (of any brand) at one of H&M’s stores receives a voucher worth 15% off his or her next purchase.” The clothes get sorted and either reused, shredded for insulation, or turned into rags.

IKEA

While they don’t have a recycle program all the time, keep an eye out for the occasional program at IKEA. They’ve been known to give you rewards for recycling aluminum, glass, and plastic from their stores, restaurants, and vending machines.

Kiehl’s

Recycle and return your old or empty bottles to any Kiehl’s location and you’ll be rewarded with a free Travel Collection Product (2.5 oz). You must recycle 10 full-sized bottles to get your freebie.

Levi’s Store

Bring in ANY brand of clothing or footwear to your local Levi’s store, and you’ll get a coupon voucher good for 20% off any future regular-priced purchase. They only stipulation is that the item must be clean (and dry) in order to score you the free coupon.

Lush

From the LUSH site, “Bring back 5 empty, clean black LUSH pots to your local shop for recycling and we’ll give you a Fresh Face Mask, FREE!” They’ll then turn around and recycle them and turn them back into usable pots.

MAC Cosmetics

MAC has made a strong stand on being environmentally friendly in recent years and this continues with their recycle program. Return six [6] M·A·C containers to a M·A·C counter or M·A·C Cosmetics online, and you’ll get a free M·A·C lipstick of your choice. Cool deal.

Madewell

The denim recycle program at Madewell is nothing to scoff at. Bring in your unwanted jeans to your local store and they’ll give you a coupon good for $20 off a new pair of jeans. Doesn’t matter what brand either as they turn the denim into insulation for homes. Fun fact: It takes between 500 and 1,000 pairs of jeans to insulate the average home.

Microsoft Store

Bring in your old technology to any Microsoft retail store and get it appraised. If it’s deemed to have value, you’ll score a store credit for the value. The cool part is you can bring in ANY brand for appraisal. They’ll accept laptops, tablets, cell phones, digital-audio players, video-game consoles, games, cables and even remote controls. Find a Microsoft store near you.

The North Face

The North Face has a recycle program called “Clothes the Loop” that has been keeping clothes out of landfills for years. All you have to do is drop off ANY clothing or footwear item to any The North Face Retail or Outlet location. The condition of the item doesn’t matter. When you drop something off, they’ll give you a $10 reward to be used on any future $100+ in-store purchase.

Office Depot/Max

Whenever you recycle your old ink or toner cartridges at Office Depot or Office Max, they’ll give you 200 reward points per recycled cartridge. Once you get to 1,000 reward points, you’ll get a certificate which basically entitles you to a $10 gift certificate. Not a bad deal for recycling something you had no use for to being with.

Staples

Become a Staples Rewards member for free and you’ll be eligible for $2 in rewards for every empty ink or toner cartridge you bring in. You also need to spend at least $30 on new ink in order to use your $2 reward, which shouldn’t be too difficult given the cost of new ink.

Ask the Reader: Have you discovered any other retailers who’ll reward you for recycling? Let me know and I’ll get them added to this list.

By Kyle James

Photo credit to Kevin Dooley.

If you’re a loyal Old Navy shopper, you probably already have a couple money-saving secrets up your sleeve. But are they “bad-ass”? From knowing the best day of the week to shop, to clever hacks that’ll score you a coupon, to cracking their price tag code, these Old Navy insider secrets will change the way you shop. Go forth and save money my friend.

Shop at Old Navy on a Monday or Tuesday

A couple years ago my wife was shopping at Old Navy on the weekend and was disappointed with how picked-over the clearance section was.

So on a whim she asked an employee when they do their clearance markdowns. Much to her surprise, the employee was very open with the information.

She told her to come in on a Monday or Tuesday as they typically have all of their markdowns done by Monday evening.

My wife took her advice and has found MANY terrific clearance deals over the years because of it.

See Also: Old Navy Return Policy: Here’s Exactly How It Works

You’ll Find Better Coupons Online Vs. In-Store

When it comes to scoring coupons for Old Navy, they always have better online coupon codes compared to coupons you can redeem in-store.

Almost weekly you’ll find a 30-40% off coupon code to be used on your online purchase, where maybe once a month they’ll have this offer available in-store.

Free Shipping “Secret” When Shopping In-Store

Very few people know about this one. When shopping at OldNavy.com, you have to spend at least $50 to qualify for free shipping.

But when shopping in-store, you can get free delivery to your doorstep on any order over $25.

You can make it happen when you’re unable to find your size or desired color in-stock. Just tell an Old Navy associate and they’ll order it for you and have it delivered for free when your total surpasses $25.

See Also: 28 Online Retailers Offering Free Shipping and Returns

Stack Coupons on their Website (Sometimes)

After a quick call to Old Navy customer service, I discovered that you can indeed stack coupon codes when shopping online.

The only caveat is that the code must state that you can combine it with other offers.

So when you get your hands on a combinable coupon, make sure you save it and use it when they also have a flat 40% off coupon to maximize your savings.

Look For Prices Ending in $0.47 or $0.97

Back when I cracked the price tag code at a bunch of major retailers, Old Navy was one of my first sleuths.

I discovered that prices ending with .47, .49, .97 or .99 were killer deals. If the price ends with any of these, then the item is marked as clearance or discontinued and is probably the best price you’re going to get.

See Also: Learn To Crack the Price Tag Code at These Major Retailers

Take Advantage of Price Adjustments

Did you know that Old Navy will give you a 1-time price adjustment if the price of something you bought drops within 14 days of purchase?

True enough, so hold on to those receipts. Unfortunately you can’t get a price adjustment on clearance items or stuff you bought with a coupon code, unless it was a free shipping coupon.

See Also: All the Stores that Offer Price Adjustments (32 Retailers and Counting)

Think BIG on Black Friday

My wife and I regularly stock up for our 3 kids on Black Friday at Old Navy and save A LOT of money in the process.

We’ll buy a size or 2 up and store the clothes until the following spring or autumn. With savings in the 75-80% off range in the clearance section it just makes sense.

Plus, if you prefer to stay at home on Black Friday and sleep in, just shop on Cyber Monday at Old Navy when you’ll see their best online coupons of the year.

Shoot for at Least 40% Off

When it comes to shopping at Old Navy, not only should you shoot for never paying full-price, but you should make it a goal to get savings of at least 40% off your total order.

Totally do-able, especially when you use a coupon code in conjunction with a store-wide sale.

Text Old Navy for an Instant Coupon

Just text Old Navy at 653-689, with the message OLDNVY to score a $5 off $35+ coupon.

Once enrolled, they’ll only text you a new coupon or deal alert on a weekly basis. Don’t have your phone with you? You can sign-up via their website.

Also, if you sign-up to be on their email list, they’ll typically shoot you an instant coupon code (via email) good for 30% off your online purchase.

See Also: All The Stores That’ll Send Out a Coupon (Instantly) When You Subscribe

Their Credit Card Doesn’t Suck

Most store credit cards suck out-loud and are nothing more than a way to bombard you with advertising, but not the Old Navy card.

Once approved, you’ll get 15% off your first purchase, then earn 5 points for every $1 spent which’ll allow you to score free gift certificates on a quarterly basis.

Plus, you’ll get 1 point for every $1 spent anywhere Visa is accepted. It also has no annual fee. Just be sure to pay off your balance every month as it comes with a hefty 24.99% APR.

See Also: The 11 Best Credit Cards for Savvy Shoppers

Keep an Eye Out for “1-Day Deals”

The single best day to shop in-store at Old Navy is on a day they’re offering a “1-Day Deal”.

They typically offer them a couple days per week and they’ll often get you 50% off a specific item. Could be jeans, could be dresses, could be shorts, etc.

The best way to know when these 50% off 1-Day Deals are going to happen, is to follow Old Navy on Facebook as they typically update their feed with the full scoop.

Look for Old Navy “Super Cash”

If you’re already registered with Old Navy, you’re eligible to ear “Super Cash” and it’s awesome.

For every $25 you spend, online or in-store, you’ll earn $10 in free cash. Unfortunately, you can’t combine Super Cash with a coupon, but you can combine up to 3 Super Cash rewards on a single transaction.

Maximum $30 Super Cash per transaction in-store, and $50 per online order. So if you have three $10 rewards, you can make a $35 purchase in-store and only pay $5 out-of-pocket. Winning.

Always Buy Discounted Gift Cards

Another terrific way to save money at Old Navy is to buy gift cards at less than face value.

For example, the popular site Raise.com is currently selling a $150 Old Navy gift card for $131 (12.5% savings).

If that’s more than you want to spend, they are also selling a $25 gift card for about $23. Obviously the bigger the gift card, the more you’ll save.

Ask the Reader: How do save money at Old Navy? Let me know if you have a bad-ass tip to add. Thanks.

By Kyle James

Photo by Mike Mozart.