When budgets are tight, we all appreciate saving money on the everyday products that we purchase on a regular basis.
From food and drink to toiletries and baby products, these costs soon add up but, fear not, help is at hand with Amazon Subscribe & Save!
1. What is Amazon Subscribe & Save?
A fairly new service from the online shopping giant, Amazon Subscribe & Save is an online version of the loyalty card which rewards customers for making regular purchases.
Customers receive a 5% or 15% discount on selected products when they set up regular deliveries of that product from Amazon’s site.
Customers can choose the frequency of their deliveries which will automatically be shipped to them on a set date.
As well as discounts on regular purchases, Amazon Subscribe & Save customers receive free shipping on their orders.
In addition, Amazon Prime members are able to receive up to 20% discount on some items.
2. How does Amazon Subscribe & Save work?
To begin saving money with Subscribe & Save, first you need to sign up to the service as follows:
- Log onto your Amazon account
- Search for the product you wish to subscribe to in the ‘Subscribe & Save Store’ – you can find this HERE
- Select the quantity you wish to purchase
- Select the frequency of your delivery – from once a month to every six months
- Submit to create your subscription
Once you’re all set up, you’re not tied to a contract or commitment – you can log onto your account to change your delivery settings or to miss a delivery, whenever you like.
To amend, simply click onto ‘Manage Your Subscriptions’, go to the product you wish to amend and then click onto ‘Confirm’.
All orders will automatically receive the 5% discount but, in order to receive the 15% discount, you will need to add a minimum of five separate items to your subscriptions within your account.
Once you have your subscriptions set up, Amazon will send you reminders by email and will let you know when your delivery will be despatched and, how much money you will save.
You can cancel your subscriptions quickly and easily by clicking onto ‘Manage Your Subscriptions’ then clicking ‘Cancel Subscription’ followed by ‘Confirm Cancellation’.
3. Which product categories are included on Amazon Subscribe & Save?
This service is fairly comprehensive and includes, amongst others, the following categories of products:
- Household products – save time by receiving regular deliveries of toilet rolls, cleaning products and toiletries.
- Beauty products – Amazon stocks a huge range of make-up and cosmetic items which can be added to your Subscribe & Save account.
- Baby products – this service is great for all the things your baby needs including diapers, food and other disposable baby items.
- Groceries – Amazon offers a wide range of food and drink items that can be added to your Subscribe & Save account in order to lighten the load on your trips to the store.
- Office supplies – for the small business, this service is great for making sure you never run out of paper, pens and other office sundries which can be added to your Amazon Subscribe & Save account at a cheaper price than elsewhere.
You can either search Amazon by keyword for the product you require or, browse the Subscribe & Save Store by category.
4. Pros and Cons of Amazon Subscribe & Save
If you’re new to Subscribe & Save and are unsure as to whether to sign up, the following pros and cons will help you decide:
Pros
- Savings – product purchases through Amazon Subscribe & Save deliver savings of between 5% and 15% which can be extremely beneficial in the long term.
- Convenient – when adding regular purchases to Amazon Subscribe & Save, you no longer have the hassle of having to remember to buy them – or the frustration of running out of essential items at crucial moments!
- Flexibility – for each product added to Subscribe & Save, you can choose the frequency of delivery, meaning that you can receive some items every month and others only every few months.
- Freedom – Amazon Subscribe & Save does not require you to commit to a long term delivery plan, allowing you to amend or cancel your subscriptions whenever you need to.
- A helping hand – parents can sign up to the Amazon Mom or Family Program in conjunction with Subscribe & Save to receive even more savings and offers.
- Coupons – applicable coupons and vouchers can be used alongside Subscribe & Save for even more savings.
Cons
- Variety – products in some categories of Subscribe & Save can be quite limited and so you may have to be prepared to settle for an alternative to the item you particularly desire.
- Inconvenient – products are often marked out of stock at short notice meaning that you’ll then need to make that trip to the store after all.
- Delivery – subscriptions are not eligible for Prime two-day delivery.
- Commitment – although there is no long term contract, customers do commit to the service on a delivery by delivery basis – this means that, if you run out of a product before your next delivery and have to go out to buy it, you’ll still need to pay for your next delivery of that product when it’s shipped to you.
- Pricing – prices on items bought through Subscribe & Save can be confusing and, are often, subject to change.
- Multiples – multiples of the same item are not included in the five separate items to receive the discount, meaning that if you order five packs of diapers, you’ll only receive the discount on one of the packs.
- Value – many items included in Amazon Subscribe & Save are priced considerably higher than elsewhere, making the discount worthless.
5. Amazon Subscribe & Save Hacks
As with so many things, Amazon Subscribe & Save is often a case of trial and error and you’ll need to experiment and explore in order to maximize the savings that can be had.
To get you started, we’ve put together our top tips for becoming a Subscribe & Save Pro!
- Coupon Clipping – visit the Subscribe & Save Coupon section in order to find out which, if any, coupons are available for the products you wish to purchase. By being coupon savvy, you can grab significant discounts on top of the 5% to 15% off that you’ll already receive.
- Loophole – as mentioned, multiples of the same product do not count toward the five items in your Subscribe & Save account. You can, however, get around this by adding the same item five times separately with a quantity of one.
- Sneaky – if, during your last order, an item was out of stock or canceled, reactivate it for next time as this will be included in your discount even though the product was not shipped or billed to your Amazon Subscribe & Save account. This will help to offset the discount being reduced to 5% if only four out of five of your items are available for delivery to you.
- Newsletter – sign up to receive the Amazon Subscribe & Save newsletter as this includes daily deals and special offers exclusive to Subscribe & Save members.
- Review – Make sure that you review your subscriptions at least every couple of months to make sure that you’re receiving the most savings possible.
Another way to save on Amazon
It is indeed easy to look out for coupons before shopping on Amazon as there are many ways to save your time on this.
Cashbackbase is one of the websites that offer up to 100% cashback or coupon codes for Amazon orders.
It is not a mandatory site for review, but if you do, you have a bigger chance to apply more 100%-off products successfully.
Once you enroll in it, you will find out how useful it can help save your hard-earn cash.
It is easy to use the site. Check the following video of 5 easy steps to claim free/discounted on Amazon.
6. Conclusion
As you would expect, with Amazon Subscribe & Save, the more you spend, the bigger savings you make.
This is a great service for those who already buy items from Amazon on a regular basis as it really is a win-win in terms of money-saving and convenience.
Those who benefit the most from Amazon Subscribe & Save are parents as the child and baby care product selections available are comprehensive and varied and the savings will soon add up.
It’s a good idea to constantly review your subscriptions to make sure that you’re not paying over the odds, thus making the discounts obsolete.
