5 ways I save money on Amazon Prime

Due to the cost of living crisis, the best streaming services are losing subscribers as more and more people downgrade or cancel their subscriptions altogether. With more of a strain on our expenses, it’s becoming harder to justify the monthly cost but there are many tips and tricks that can help you save money on streaming services, including Amazon Prime.

If you’re new to Amazon Prime, it’s a paid subscription service which offers members access to Amazon services, including free delivery options, exclusive discounts, free access to books, music and streaming. For more details, check out our 5-star Amazon Prime review.

Amazon Prime has over 200 million subscribers worldwide and one of the biggest attractions of the platform is its streaming services. Members can stream Amazon Original series and films – like The Man in the High Castle, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and The Grand Tour – at no extra cost. Users can rent or buy old and new releases from as little as £2 and Amazon Prime also offers free 7 day trials on other streaming services through its platform, including Starz Play, Britbox and hayu.

As the date of Amazon Prime Day has been confirmed, now’s a great time to get started with Amazon Prime and take advantage of its benefits and savings. As an Amazon Prime member and a Deals Writer, I’ve been searching for ways to save money on Amazon Prime and have found some good tricks to keep your costs down. Here are 5 ways I save money on Amazon Prime, including streaming and shipping advice.

1. Pay annually instead of monthly

The first way to save money on Amazon Prime is changing your monthly subscription to an annual one. While most of us enjoy the flexibility of monthly payments, annual subscriptions are extremely cost-effective and can save you loads of money each year. Currently, Amazon Prime is £8.99 / $14.99 a month which if you pay each month for a full year, you’re paying roughly £107.88 / $180 a year. However, if you were to choose an annual subscription, you’d pay a one-off cost of £95 / $139 which is significantly lower than paying monthly.

These are the new prices which are coming into affect in the UK on 15th September 2022. This is the first UK price hike from Amazon in 8 years. Previously, the monthly price was £7.99 and the annual was £79.

2. Share your Prime account and split the bill

If you live with someone else and both want to use Amazon Prime, split the cost by sharing an account. For example, I live with and share an Amazon Prime subscription with my boyfriend and we split the monthly cost in half each month. However, if you and your partner or roommate both have an Amazon Prime account, you can join them together to share Prime benefits with Amazon Household.

Amazon Household allows Amazon Prime members to share their Prime benefits with their family. To share Prime benefits with Amazon Household, two adults (each with their own Prime account) must link their accounts together and agree to share payment methods. Both adults still keep their own account while sharing Prime benefits and can manage their children’s or families profiles by setting goals and time limits and selecting what content they can watch. Essentially, this means you can use all the benefits and services of Amazon Prime together so you don’t need to repurchase things or worry about switching accounts too much. According to Time, this can cut the cost of your Prime subscription and gives members of your family access to apps, games, eBooks, streaming and more.

3. Sign up to Prime before Prime Day

To save extra money and shop at discounted prices, you should definitely take advantage of Amazon Prime Day deals. Amazon Prime Day is an annual two-day event for Prime members to shop huge deals and discounts on a range of products and departments on Amazon. With Amazon Prime Day coming up in July, you’ll need a Prime account to shop the sales. Amazon Prime comes with a free 30 day trial for all new users and is free for 6 months for students, so I’d recommend signing up to Amazon Prime in July or a week before the event so you can shop the Amazon Prime Day deals without having to pay for your membership yet.

4. Make the most of Subscribe & Save

If you regularly buy repeat purchases on Amazon every week or month, you can save money with Subscribe & Save. This accumulates all your frequent purchases together like toiletries, cleaning products and beauty essentials, which makes checking out easier and offers up to 15% off the original price when you schedule repeat deliveries. Subscribe & Save not only saves you money but is also flexible, meaning you can choose your delivery time frame, skip deliveries if you don’t need them and cancel your repeat orders at any time at no extra charge.

5. Save with No-Rush delivery

All Prime members benefit from free premium, priority and same-day delivery with their membership. However, you can save extra money by choosing ‘No-Rush’ delivery if you don’t need your orders immediately. By selecting the no-rush shipping option, your order will be delivered within 3-5 days and Amazon will reward you with an automatic discount to your current order or on your next order.

There are many ways to save money while shopping on Amazon with an Amazon Prime membership, including shopping the Daily Deals, choosing pre-owned or open-box items from the Amazon Warehouse and even using Amazon discount codes.

For more money-saving tips, check out the best streaming service deals and Amazon Fire TV Stick deals for this month. Make sure to check out my guides on how to save money on Netflix, Disney+, NOW TV, Apple TV+, YouTube Premium and StarzPlay.