How to Get Free Shipping on Amazon: Best Tips & Tricks

Amazon has risen to become a global retail titan, evolving from a modest online bookstore into the most valuable brand on the planet. It's your go-to virtual marketplace for a vast array of items, including but not limited to books, apparel, toys, electronics, groceries, and beyond. Leveraging Amazon coupons is a savvy way to reduce your expenditure, and capitalizing on free shipping opportunities can further enhance savings.

While shipping fees are typically attached to Amazon purchases, savvy shoppers can employ a variety of strategies to secure free shipping on their Amazon orders.

Reach the $25 Threshold for Free Shipping

Amazon offers complimentary standard shipping on orders that total $25 or more. Once your cart hits this price point, free shipping is automatically applied, with delivery typically occurring within a week for most locations.

If your items don't quite make the $25 mark, a common tactic is to include "filler items" in your cart. These are inexpensive additions that help bridge the gap to the free shipping threshold.

Tip:

Utilize tools like Cheap Filler or Filler Checker, websites dedicated to helping you find small, appropriately priced items to secure free shipping without overspending. Just be mindful to select filler items that are practical for you to avoid unnecessary purchases and to ensure you're truly saving.

Regarding Gift Cards and the $25 Minimum:

Purchasing a gift card won't contribute to reaching the $25 threshold for free shipping on other items, as gift cards are already eligible for free 1-day shipping and are not applicable towards the minimum for standard shipping.

Consider Third-Party Amazon Sellers

When shopping on Amazon, it's not mandatory to purchase items directly from Amazon itself. The platform hosts a multitude of independent businesses and third-party sellers who set their own shipping fees. As a result, many of these sellers offer free shipping on their products—a detail that can sometimes be overlooked.

Occasionally, you might find that Amazon lists a shipping fee for an item, such as a book or DVD, yet an alternative seller provides the same product with complimentary delivery. Therefore, it's beneficial to review the "Other Sellers" section on a product's page to explore your options. It's quite possible to discover that another seller not only has the item you're seeking but also includes free shipping.

Use Subscribe & Save

Amazon's Subscribe & Save program is a complimentary service designed for customers who frequently purchase the same items. By subscribing, you can have these products automatically delivered to your doorstep on a recurring basis at no additional shipping cost. Additionally, this service offers a discount of up to 15% on each item.

How to Benefit from Free Shipping with Subscribe & Save?

Explore the Subscribe & Save Store: Navigate to the Subscribe & Save store on Amazon's website to browse products eligible for the program, or look for the Subscribe & Save option on the pages of items you're interested in purchasing.

Initiate Your Subscription: When you've chosen a product, select your preferred delivery frequency and establish your subscription to start receiving the item regularly.

Control Your Subscriptions: Amazon provides the flexibility to modify, skip, or cancel your subscriptions at any time through your account settings. They also send reminder emails before each shipment to help you manage your orders and avoid receiving unwanted items.

The Pre-Order Trick

Amazon allows users to pre-order certain items that haven’t yet been released, and you can use this to save on shipping costs. This is because any item you pre-order counts towards the minimum $25 value of your shopping cart that you need for free delivery. So, if you’re ordering something right now for $10, you can pre-order an upcoming video game worth $60, giving you a total order value of $70, which is more than enough for free shipping.

The best part is that you won’t be charged for your pre-order until the item actually comes out and ships, and you have time to cancel any pre-orders that you decide you don’t want.

Attention: It’s important to not simply keep pre-ordering and canceling items, as Amazon will detect this and potentially charge you or stop you from being able to pre-order in the future.

Sign Up for Amazon Prime

How Much Is Prime Membership 2024?

Amazon Prime membership costs $14.99 per month or $139 per year, plus tax. As long as you’re a Prime member, you’ll qualify for free shipping on every item you buy directly from Amazon. So, if you’re someone who uses Amazon a lot and places many orders, this can be a cost-effective method for getting free delivery and could help you save a lot in the long run.

How to Get Amazon Prime for Free?

Try to make the most of any Prime free trials you can get. Amazon offers 30-day free trials of Prime to new users, and sometimes you can get additional trials later on with the same account. This lets you get all of the Prime advantages, like free, fast shipping, without any commitment, for the full 30-day trial period.