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)
- Part I: Amazon Affiliates
- Part: IIa: Shopping for the best deals at Amazon
- Part IIb: Price Protection
- Part IIc: Shipping & Amazon Prime
- Part III: Selling on Amazon
- Part IV: Extra Tips & Tricks
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”.
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.
If you are in the market for Prime Eligible items, check out GuaranteedPrime.com. It provides accurate, Prime-Only results.
For those of you with Prime memberships, here’s a good website for searching for Amazon Prime items:
http://www.amazanian.com
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….
I thought I was a good shopper till I read some your articles. I will be logging in the Friday to view the specials.
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.
I got so many great Christmas gifts using the Friday sales last year!
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I’m back again :)
I love Amazon Gold deals and even found a Christmas present for my father-in-law!
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!
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. :)
Wow, I need to camp out on Amazon.com! Thanks for the great info!
Thanks for all of these special promotions offered on Amazon.com. I didn’t know about one of these. Cindi