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Ways to Earn/Save Money with Amazon: Part IIa Shopping at Amazon

by Bargain Briana on August 25, 2008

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Part IIa of my series Ways to Earn/Save Money with Amazon - to coincide with my $25 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway - Be Sure to Enter every day for a chance to win!!! (Ends 8/31)

Amazon offers so many products, it is just incredible. You can find almost anything and everything on Amazon. I don’t buy everything on there but I always use it as a price check. For example, recently I was searching for a IPOD charger/car tuner. I checked on Apple and it was $99. I then searched Amazon and found the exact same product for HALF the price! So it is usually worth it to do some comparison shopping on the internet. There have been times too when I’ve found Amazon was more expensive. So do your research. Don’t just assume they have the lowest price!

Gold Box Deals

Every day Amazon will offer a certain item at extra savings. Sometimes up to 75% off. Get in the habit of checking this everyday. You can find it by clicking on the treasure chest labeled “Today’s Deals”.

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Lightening Deals

These are deals that are only available for 4 hours or until the qty specified is sold out. They are items offered at an additional discount. Similar to the Gold Box deals.( Fractured Toy had a good point - these are equivalent to a Blue Light Special - Anyone remember those? For those of you who aren’t old enough to remember, to old to remember (ha ha!), check out Wiki to see what company was “known” for their Blue Light Specials.)

Best Deals

You can see all of the sales, promotions, and markdowns on Amazon in this spot. (It is also under “Today’s Deals”. You can then sort by the highest percent off, sale price, etc. It is fun to look and see what the highest % off item is for the day. I’ve noticed that prices on Amazon can change daily and check the original price to make sure it isn’t inflated to make the % off look better!

Friday Sale

On Friday, Amazon offers 100 or more products at additional discounts. Special one day pricing.

Movers & Shakers

This was one of my favorite ways to find the best deals last Holiday Season. Amazon’s Mover & Shaker’s list. It will tell the items sales rank. Usually, once an item hits rock bottom price it will move up the list! For example, here is the Games & Toys Mover & Shaker List. You can also subscribe to these feeds in your reader if you want to keep up to date. (Sometimes you have to snatch these up quick before they sell out!)

These sites also have the deals broken down a little better:

If you don’t like the prices of the items new, you can also look on Amazon to see if there are any items used for sale. Sometimes you can get a better deal. Make sure to check the person’s rating like you would on Ebay and see if there is any notations about the product. Just click on the link beside the product description that says # used & new for sale. Do note, that if you have Amazon Prime, these items may not qualify for free shipping. We will discuss Amazon Prime a little later.

Black Friday & Holiday Super Sales

Last year, they changed their policy on the Black Friday & Super Sales deals. They took a vote on item/price/qty. Obviously, the deeper discount items had less quantity. Then if that item won, they selected people who were eligible to buy that product. You were only able to buy the item if you voted for it. Thanksgiving they will have a huge internet sale. Good luck on getting in on it! I’ve tried before and the site is always super super slow on those days! I believe they did this once a week for around 6 weeks last year. They will probably do something similar again this year.

Pre-Orders

Amazon will allow you to pre-order items, sometimes at a discount.

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Related posts:

  1. Ways to Earn/Save Money with Amazon Part IIc: Shipping & Amazon Prime
  2. Ways to Earn/Save Money with Amazon: Part I Amazon Affiliate
  3. Baby Alive $29.99 Shipped
  4. Ways to Earn/Save Money with Amazon: Part III: Selling with Amazon
  5. Ways to Earn/Save on Amazon Part IIb: Price Protection

{ 2 trackbacks }

Ways to Earn/Save on Amazon Part IIb: Price Protection | Bargain Briana
08.26.08 at 6:21 pm
Ways to Earn/Save Money with Amazon Part IIc: Shipping & Amazon Prime | Bargain Briana
08.27.08 at 8:42 pm

{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Cindi 08.25.08 at 11:42 pm

Thanks for all of these special promotions offered on Amazon.com. I didn’t know about one of these. Cindi

2 CanCan (Mom Most Traveled) 08.26.08 at 3:30 am

Wow, I need to camp out on Amazon.com! Thanks for the great info!

3 Penelope @ Our Fourpence Worth 08.26.08 at 5:47 am

I have my gold box page bookmarked on the links toolbar of my browser so I can quickly check what my Quick Picks of the day are when I’m in the mood. I have actually purchased a couple of Quick Picks items I’d had my eye on and saved a few dollars. :)

4 Jess 08.26.08 at 11:11 am

Thanks so much for the info! I knew about some of these but I had no idea about the mover and shaker list! Now I’ve subscribed to the toy list that you put a link to up so I can keep an eye on it for Christmas shopping! My kids will thank you too!

5 Bobbi Hyrman 08.26.08 at 11:23 am

I love Amazon Gold deals and even found a Christmas present for my father-in-law!

6 Cassi 08.26.08 at 1:38 pm

I’m back again :)

7 kristen 08.26.08 at 6:59 pm

I got so many great Christmas gifts using the Friday sales last year!

kristens last blog post..Blog Carnivals

8 Bronwyn 08.26.08 at 11:16 pm

The new “day” begins at midnight Pacific Time. If you want to get a sneak peek at what the Lightning Deals will be, go to http://www.lightningdeals.com. They don’t post the lightning prices, but you at least know if you need to check back later to grab the deal. If you want to test yourself, Amazon gives a little clue before the deal is available.

9 Vikki P 08.27.08 at 4:05 pm

I thought I was a good shopper till I read some your articles. I will be logging in the Friday to view the specials.

10 Bargain Briana 09.02.08 at 9:49 am

Bronwyn - Thanks for the tip! :) Hey, do you know me in person? I’ve only known one Bronwyn in my life…just wondering if you were the one with the cute accent?

Bargain Brianas last blog post..Winner of $25 Amazon Gift Certificate is….

11 ChrisV 09.12.08 at 7:26 pm

For those of you with Prime memberships, here’s a good website for searching for Amazon Prime items:
http://www.amazanian.com

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