Online giant Amazon is famous for its flagship Kindle, lightning deals, drone shipping, one-hour delivery and virtually anything you can buy online – including food, competing against the likes of Aldi and Asda.
The e-retailer is fast becoming one of the biggest places to shop online, owed to its endless variety of products and brands which allows consumers to compare products, hunt for the best deals, and save pounds through flash events like Prime Day which debuted in the UK back in June.
But, at the same time, as Amazon customers will know too well, shopping on the site, and bargain hunting, can be an overwhelming task, and with so many products to choose from, picking the best at the most competitive price can be a time consuming chore. If you are a fan of great deals and bargains, you can look to buy products from sites that tend to sell return pallets (if interested, check out liquidation pallets uk). These return pallets are generally those goods that are returned to Amazon by their customers, which can be purchased at wholesale price.
11 hacks to find the best deals and discounts on Amazon
1. How to get free 1-day delivery
If you shop a lot, or you know over the next month you’ll be doing a lot of discounted shopping, e.g. Christmas shopping or moving home, sign up to Amazon Prime’s 30 day free trial and get free unlimited one-day UK delivery.
Included in the Amazon Prime trial is unlimited access to their e-book store, one-day delivery and access to over 1,500 movies and TV shows which is great for people who love to binge watch and find out what is new on amazon prime. It usually costs 79 a year, however Amazon says it has no objection to users signing up for the free period only.
If you’re a student, sign up to Amazon Prime’s student trial can get free Amazon next day delivery for six months and half price Prime after the trial ends.
What is Amazon Prime? Find out in our FAQ here.
If you opt for the free trial, REMEMBER to set a reminder to cancel before the subscription ends, or you will be charged 79 for annual membership.
2. 20% off nappies with Amazon Family
Alternatively, mums-to-be can sign up to the Amazon Family 30-day-trial and redeem free and unlimited next day delivery on everything from buggies to fashion, access to thousands of movies and TV shows and 30% off cleaning products.
Amazon Family members also get 20% off nappies, 30% off Olay skincare and 30% off Oral B toothbrushes too.
3. 50% and more off fashion and technology
Want the biggest bargains? Use our special URL’s to find the cheapest products on Amazon.
- 80% – 99% off shoes: Havaianas flip flops, Dune London, Kurt Geiger, Moschino, Mountain Warehouse Reebok and Sketchers.
- 50% – 99% off clothing and accessories: Apple accessories, Debenhams, Surfdome, Austin Reed and American Apparel.
- 50% – 99% off technology: cameras, hi-fi systems, televisions, telephones and mobile phones, e-book readers and computers and Amazon Kindle.
4. Check out the clearance warehouse
Amazon has a clearance warehouse for returned goods – and promises ‘deeply discounted’ deals on everything from Xbox One Bundles to coffee machines.
Their bargain warehouse is where returned stock and damaged merchandise is sold off cheap – and new items are added to it everyday.
Items vary from returned goods to warehouse-damaged, used, or refurbished products that are in good condition but do not meet Amazon.co.uk’sndards as “new”. Occasionally, you’ll also spot “new and open-box condition” items – but you’ll have to be quick.
- See discounted video games and consoles in the warehouse
- See discounted mobile phones and accessories in the warehouse
5. Check out upcoming deals
If you’re thinking about buying an item, but it’s not urgent, like a laptop upgrade, check out Amazon’s Upcoming Deals page, where you can stalk what deals are coming up and how long they’ll be live for.
6. Deals of the day and Amazon lightning deals
Amazon also has a Deals of the Day section where they post a trio or so of the day’s best offers, on everything from food to fashion.
This can be as much as 70% off on baby monitors, watches, jewellery and fashion – most offers are live for 24-hours, however a few will be 4-8-hour specific. Amazon Prime members get 30-minute earlybird access on these deals.
7. Student discount
If you’re a member of Amazon Student and have a valid National Union of Students NUS Extra Card, you can apply an NUS Extra Student Discount Code to Your Account. NUS will provide you with two discount codes – one for clothing (15%) and the other for books (5% off).
Read more: How does Amazon Student work? How you can get the perks for free
8. Amazon discount codes
Amazon voucher codes do exist. We should say that first.
There aren’t many available though, so sign up to all the Amazon emails you can. You can create a new email account for this if you are worried about getting too many marketing emails, but do check it.
Students can get 10% off clothing and 5% off books and more using the NUS discount code.
Shoppers can also get 4 home and garden items for the price of 3 with promo codeHNG4FOR3 until Sunday 20 December 2015.
Categories include furniture, bedding, linens, home accessories, lighting, cooking, dining, small kitchen appliances, vacuuming and ironing, power and hand tools and garden storage.
Outside of Amazon, voucher sites carry regular offers from the online retailer, the likes of Voucherbox, Groupon, Coupons.com and HotUKDeals have some Amazon promo codes listed on them – although these frequently come with strings attached and are often no more than links to deals you could find on Amazon yourself.
9. Amazon Black Friday
Amazon is no stranger to Black Friday, having hosted the event for four consecutive days in the UK – and it remains a huge success.
Amazon.co.uk beat all sales records on Black Friday 2015, selling more than 7.4 million items at a rate of 86 items per second – up from 5.5 million items in 2014.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals go live every ten minutes on the day – all of which can be tracked on their Lightning Deals page.
10. Amazon Cyber Monday
In 2015, Amazon stretched out its Black Friday sales from Monday November 23 right up to midnight on Sunday November 29, where they were immediately replaced with another week of deals for Cyber Monday – which last for another whole week.
Amazon’s Cyber Monday deals are pretty much exactly the same as Black Friday – in essence, it’s your second chance to bag a saving (and Cyber Monday usually falls on payday).
The online retail giant’s Cyber Monday deals go live every hour – from games and toys, to kindles and consoles.
12. Amazon Boxing Day sales
It may be online only, but Amazon is no stranger to Boxing Day sales – and with their price match, you can get goodies for less than the high street – including designer fashion.
Starting Christmas Eve until December 31st, the online retail giant annually drops prices on dozens of items from laptops and tablets to camera gear and mobile accessories.
While we can’t tell you exactly what’s going to be in the sale just yet, we can share our top tips on how to make sure you wring the best out Amazon’s Boxing Day sales.