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Amazon changed electronic commerce in Spain forever when it landed in our country back in 2011. It is still the reference in online commerce, so if you often buy at Amazon we will show you some tips and tricks to save money.
With permission from Alibaba, Amazon is the largest online trade in the world. In its catalog there are, literally, millions of products. Millions of people in Spain buy habitually in Amazon. Although it maintains good prices throughout the year, there are some tips and tricks to buy cheaper in this online store. You can save yourself a lot of money, if you’re a regular buyer.
Amazon is so big and offers so many variants (with the same account you can buy in other Amazon, or in third-party stores), that there are different tricks and tips to buy cheaper on Amazon and save money. We have compiled them in this article.
The tricks work whether you are a member of Amazon Prime, or if you only buy assiduously. They are easy to apply, and although some require a bit of patience, they avoid compulsive buying, so they are even beneficial…
The extravagant is cheaper
In articles of clothing and accessories, getting out of the ordinary can save you a lot of money.
Why do we say this?
You may like the pants, or a pullover, in white or black, but if in the color selection you click on the pistachio, the orange or the bright yellow, possibly cost a little less.
For example, here we can see how the same bag sold by the same seller, has a difference of up to 20 euros, depending on the color:
In the case of shoes, the average sizes that exist in some models (a 37.5 for example), also usually cost less.
If you do not mind dressing a bit more extravagant than usual, a good trick to buy cheap on Amazon is to choose bright or unusual colors, which sell less and sometimes are cheaper.
And eye, that this also applies to mobiles, speakers, and many other products, with different colors. It does not always happen, but it is frequent.
The secret code of offers
Imagine that you want to buy a very common product, of which there are dozens or hundreds of brands and models. For example, a thermal shirt woman.
Hundreds of products will appear on the screen, some reduced and others not. How to find the best deals?
There is a little known code that serves to filter the Amazon offers that we are interested in. It’s this: & pct-off = Min-Max
Just substitute Min for the minimum bid that we want to search, and Max for the maximum. For example, if you want to filter offers between 60 and 99% off, the code will be: & pct-off = 60-99
Simply paste it at the end of the URL of the list that we are consulting, and press the Enter key or Enter on the keyboard:
Do tests with several values, until you find the best offers.
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Find similar products
At Amazon, millions of products are sold, and the competition is huge. It is normal that there are many variants of a product, manufactured by different brands. For example, it is the case of hard drives, SD cards, TVs, etc.
If you have found a product that seems interesting at a certain price, it is quite likely that another similar product from another brand will cost the same, or even less. When you see something you like use the search engine or enter the product category, and look for similar items. If for example you want to buy a 2GB external hard drive, look for similar models from another brand. You are likely to discover better prices.
Never buy anything at the first price, especially with highly demanded products.
Attentive to the offers … of the competition
One of the most controversial things about Amazon is that it does not usually do the big promotions carried out by the competition, such as days without VAT, 2×1, etc. It is especially true in categories such as video games, DVD and Blu-ray movies, music, etc.
Amazon argues that it has low prices all year round, and that’s why it does not do that kind of promotions, in certain products.
However, what Amazon does, and with a surgeon’s meticulousness, is to match competitive offers. What does this mean?
When you see a promotion in FNAC, El Corte Inglés, or another important chain of stores, look for the discounted products and look for them in Amazon. In the cases mentioned (video games and movies, mainly), there is a good chance that the Amazon price will fall to match the competition’s offers.
Check the price history
Sometimes you find Amazon products at a good price, but you really do not know if it’s a bargain. Maybe it took 10 euros cheaper months, and the bargain was a few days ago, and not now. How to know when a price is cheap or expensive? Easy, checking the price history of that product on Amazon, in the last months or even last years. If you can see what was worth a week, a month or a year ago, you will know if it is a bargain now, or has gone up.
Amazon does not provide this information, but you can bring it to light with applications or browser extensions such as CamelCamelCamel or Keepa, which add a graph in the Amazon product listings, showing the evolution of the price:
Add those extensions to Chrome, Firefox, Opera or Edge, and when you see the product tab in a hole the previous graph will be shown, with the price history.
Use the filters
When you check lists of products, especially if they are all similar to each other, you should use price filters. In the upper right corner of the list you will see a pop-up menu. Select Sort by price from lowest to highest, or Discount: descending order, if it is a list of offers:
The items with the highest discounts will appear first. It’s a good trick to buy cheap on Amazon.
With Amazon products, wait for promotions
Amazon sells hundreds of items under its own brand. Whether electronic devices such as the Amazon Kindle, basic items in the Amazon Basics range, or the popular Amazon Echo smart speakers:
If you plan to buy one of them but you are not in a hurry, our advice is to wait, but be attentive. Amazon discounts its brand items on a regular basis, every one or two months.
With a little patience you can buy an Amazon Echo or a Kindle, with 20 or 30% discount.
Buy reconditioned products
Amazon maintains a significant selection of reconditioned products, discounted price.
So call the items that have undergone some manipulation, but are completely new and work perfectly. Normally the problem is that the box is a little broken, or is an article from a return but has no problem, or perhaps has a small mark that does not affect its operation.
It is convenient to take a look from time to time, because sometimes there are very cheap products. Did you know that they even sell reconditioned iPhone?
You can buy them with total confidence, because they all have a minimum guarantee of one year.
The shopping cart … always full
Is there something you want to buy, but are not you in a hurry? Log in with your account, put it in the shopping cart, and complete all the steps except the last one (that is, do not pay).
Amazon will detect that you have not completed the order, and will send you emails notifying you. Sometimes you lower the price a little or even send you a discount coupon to tempt you to complete the order.
It’s a good trick to buy cheap on Amazon.
Take advantage of the other Amazon stores
One of the great advantages of Amazon, that many people do not know, is that with a single Amazon account, you can buy in any store in the world (with some exceptions, such as Amazon Japan, where you must create your own account).
This means that you can identify yourself with your Amazon Spain account at Amazon United Kingdom, for example. And language is not a problem. Amazon Germany can be seen in English, and if you are going to buy at Amazon France or another store whose language you do not understand, there is a very simple trick.
Amazon websites in the different countries are practically identical, so when you want to buy in one whose language you do not understand, simply simulate the purchase of a product in Amazon Spain, and repeat the same steps in the foreign Amazon. You can complete an order without knowing a word of the language. And when reading emails, use the Google translator, and ready.
If you want to buy cheap on Amazon it is important to get used to buying at branches in other countries.
When you see a product you want to buy, if it’s worth a respectable amount of money, look it up in Amazon Germany, Italy, or France. Although foreign affiliates charge shipping costs to Spain, it may even compensate you, if you find that product very cheap.
