Getting free shipping on Amazon

[disneysteve]

This has probably been shared before but since I just used it, I thought I'd mention it again.

If you shop on Amazon you know that they have free shipping on most items if your order is $25 or more. What if you aren't quite there? You can end up paying several dollars extra because your order only totals $23.50 or $24.72.

I just put together an order and when I went to check out, the shipping was going to be $11.55. I added everything up and the items eligible for free shipping came to $24.87, just $0.13 short. So I went to http://www.filleritem.com. You can search for items by price and they'll list stuff you can buy to fill in the gap to get you to $25. I typed in 13 cents. There was nothing quite that cheap but I was able to buy some brass fitting thing for $0.18. So by spending an extra 18 cents, I saved $11.55. Can't argue with that.

[Like2Plan]

DisneySteve,
That is too funny... I can see where that would be really handy. Thanks for the tip!

[fiveace]

There were times I used to struggle looking for things I didn't really need in order to reach the $25 threshold, buy then I got smart and joined Amazon Prime. For $75 a year you get unlimited two-day shipping on most stuff with no minimum purchase, and if you need it quicker you can ship overnight for just a few bucks. The free Kindle rentals and on-demand movie streaming are a few of the extra perks. Too bad the days of tax-free internet purchasing appear to be coming to an end.

[disneysteve]

There were times I used to struggle looking for things I didn't really need in order to reach the $25 threshold, buy then I got smart and joined Amazon Prime. For $75 a year you get unlimited two-day shipping

I suppose that's good if you buy a lot of stuff or make a lot of small orders but there's now way the $75 fee would save me money. We bundle our purchases to get free shipping. This was a very rare occasion where we were under the $25 and there were a couple of items in the order that we needed promptly.

[Blessed]

Awesome tip! thanks!!

[Satrap]

Thats actually a great idea. I always try to add another product or two, but I didn't know about the site you mentioned. Thanks.

[DayByDay]

I just add a food item that we eat regularly anyway, such as a 6-pack of cereal. It's one less thing to remember at the grocery store.

[sam042013]

Does this still work up to now?

[feh]

I just did this a few weeks ago, although I didn't use filleritem.com. I bought a package of pens for a $1 or so to get over the $25 mark.

[cschin4]

I love Amazon. I buy tons of stuff from there. I used to just shop and put stuff in my cart and then wait till i hit the $25 mark. Most of the time there wasn't anything i "needed' that couldn't wait a bit until i needed something else. Well, i bought my daughter a Kindle for Christmas and signed up for Amazon Prime which has free shipping on a lot of stuff. I got a discount and got it for $59 a year, it is usually $89. Now, there are tons of even small items on free shipping.

[dawnwes]

we have this too.

Last year I placed 200 orders with Amazon. Yikes! Many were under $25 though.

And with the 12 free loaner Kindle books and some streaming, I saved well over $75.

I agree it isn't worth it if you aren't a heavy user of Amazon though.

Dawn

There were times I used to struggle looking for things I didn't really need in order to reach the $25 threshold, buy then I got smart and joined Amazon Prime. For $75 a year you get unlimited two-day shipping on most stuff with no minimum purchase, and if you need it quicker you can ship overnight for just a few bucks. The free Kindle rentals and on-demand movie streaming are a few of the extra perks. Too bad the days of tax-free internet purchasing appear to be coming to an end.

[fiveace]

I just add a food item that we eat regularly anyway, such as a 6-pack of cereal. It's one less thing to remember at the grocery store.

Be careful with this strategy as food is often ridiculously overpriced on Amazon. There were times I almost bought 6/12-pack bulk items until I did the math and realized it would be much cheaper to buy the items individually at the grocery store. Always scrutinize perishable purchases on Amazon.

[disneysteve]

Be careful with this strategy as food is often ridiculously overpriced on Amazon.

I've found this to be true as well. I've looked to buy food items to use up gift cards I had but could never find anything that was even close to supermarket prices and certainly not less than what I pay locally. Groceries seem to be the one category where Amazon can't compete on price. The margin on groceries is very slim and when you add in shipping, I guess that kills the deal.

[DayByDay]

Be careful with this strategy as food is often ridiculously overpriced on Amazon. There were times I almost bought 6/12-pack bulk items until I did the math and realized it would be much cheaper to buy the items individually at the grocery store. Always scrutinize perishable purchases on Amazon.

Hmm, the particular cereal I order seems to be a good price. Also, the stores within several miles around me no longer carry it, and I'm not going to drive all over the county looking for it. It works for me to get the cereal and be bumped up to free shipping. But I agree; comparing when you have choices is always good.

[joshuaking]

Amazon prime is great. I use the free movies and tv shows a lot, saves me from getting a netflix account. Plus 12 free books a year, and free shipping always. AND, I have a student account, so it's only 40/year. Can't beat that.