Part IIc 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’s Current US Shipping Rates
Free Super Saver Shipping with $25 purchase
Many times, Amazon will offer Free Super Saver Shipping with a $25 purchase. So what do you do if the item you want to buy is $24.95? You head off to Filler Finder to find an item to help you make it to the threshold so you will qualify for Free Shipping.
Super Saver Shipping does state items could take 3-4 days to the leave the warehouse so this may be where some of the delay is happening when I read the comments that the shipping is slow. It could be because of the free shipping method. I really haven’t had a problem with shipping time with Amazon. I find that the item usually gets here before the estimated time.
You will notice at the bottom of my sidebar, there is a button for a free trial of Amazon Prime. I purchased Amazon Prime last year when I was doing last minute shopping and wanted FREE 2 day shipping! It was $79 for a year and I have gotten my money’s worth. I had some really big packages shipped for free and quick! (One was a tricycle, of course it was on sale for $20, and the shipping alone on that item would have been huge from any other site!)
You can also upgrade to next day shipping for only $3.99 when you are an Amazon Prime Member. You can also ship to any qualified address – which is great if you are shipping gifts! You will also not have to worry about meeting a minimum amount of purchase. Your order can be any size AS LONG as the item states “Qualifies for Prime”. I’ve noticed that mostly 3rd party sellers are the only items that do not qualify for Prime. I tend to now purchase only items that are listed as Amazon Prime.
It is something to think about during the Holiday Shopping Season. Depending on how much you buy on Amazon, you can easily get your money’s worth for Amazon Prime. It says 2 day shipping but I’ve noticed 1 day shipping with some items!
GuaranteedPrime.com is another great site for searching Amazon for Prime Eligible items.
For those of you with Prime memberships, here’s a good website for searching for Amazon Prime items:
http://www.amazanian.com
I bet it does depend on the time of the year on Super Saver Shipping. I’ve never had a real problem. I also if some of the issues are from 3rd party sellers and not Amazon.com?
A free trial? YAY! There is also a button in my right side bar for a free trial if anyone is interested! :)
Bargain Brianas last blog post..Winner of $25 Amazon Gift Certificate is….
I did the free trial for Amazon Prime last year and it was really cool! Though sometimes I wonder if having Prime will make you shop (and therefore spend) more than you otherwise would.
I’ve noticed a great improvement with the processing for Free Supersaver Shipping in the past year, where my orders with free shipping are shipped within a day or 2. Of course, this greatly depends on the time of year you’re shopping and the state of the economy when order volumes are lower (i.e. couple of months after Xmas).