Photo: Cari Rubin Photography (Shutterstock)
Amazon really wants you to buy something next week. Less a holiday or sell-off than a collective mass hysteria, this year’s Prime Day takes place on July 12-13, and the mega-retailer doesn’t just create the illusion, it’s slashing prices on thousands of products (the which you probably don’t need), it also offers free money (in the form of credits that can only be spent on Amazon) in exchange for jumping through some digital hoops. If you’re buying stuff anyway and not taking advantage of these promotions, that leaves Amazon’s money on the table, and you should snatch as much of their dirty profit as possible.
Below is every Amazon credit promotion I could find, along with a little bit about how they work and how much credit you can get by using them. Caveat: Amazon is a big company so I may have missed some promotions. If so, leave them in the comments so we can all benefit.
Download the Amazon shopping app and order for $5 for the first time
That probably won’t apply to you – I know it didn’t apply to me – but if somehow you’ve never installed the Amazon Shopping app and ordered something on your phone before, now is the time to do it. The first time you install the app and make a purchase, you’ll get a $5 discount off your next purchase as long as it’s more than $10. Here are the terms and conditions.
Free money count: $5
Complete Amazon Prime Stampcard for $10
Amazon’s “Prime Stampcard” promotion gives people $10 worth of Amazon credit for completing four Amazon-related tasks – it’s like a scavenger hunt, but more annoying. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, gives you until July 13 to:
- Make a Prime eligible purchase
- Stream a show on Prime Video
- Listen to a song on Amazon Music Prime
- Borrow an e-book on Prime Reading
You’ll need to download the free Kindle app to borrow a book (unless you own a Kindle) and subscribe to Amazon Music Prime to hear the song, but as long as you cancel the music subscription before the free week is up, it’s fine will cost nothing.
Free money count: $15
Take advantage of Prime Day promotions for $42 (give or take)
In addition to short-term bargains, Amazon is offering time-critical free credit campaigns on Prime Day. Right now there’s $42 total available for things like buying a ticket for the Elvis movie or checking out Amazon Affirm on Prime Day, but keep an eye out for promotions to add and subtract as we get closer to Prime Day . However, you might as well benefit from a potential $2 reward just for clicking this link to Amazon’s “Affirm” page.
Free sum of money: $57
Choose unrushed shipping for $1.50 per order
When you checkout after a qualifying purchase shipped through Amazon Prime, you can save $1.50 by clicking the No Hurry option. This credit will either apply to your current purchase or appear as a credit in your account.
Free sum of money: $58.50
Join Amazon’s Buyer Panel for $10 per month
If you don’t mind sharing the details of your non-Amazon purchases with Amazon, you can join the company’s Shopper Panel program and earn $10 every month. Amazon says it’s “by invitation only” and requires scanning and uploading 10 retail receipts per month to the company. So if you want to put in a little work to help Amazon with market research, do it. (I suggest you confuse the system by only submitting receipts for butt plugs and hair extensions.) If you weren’t invited, you can download the app (iOS, Google Play) and wait to be chosen. In the meantime, start buying butt plugs.
Free sum of money: $68.50
Reload an Amazon gift card for $10
Eligible Amazon users can get $10 when they “load” at least $100 onto an Amazon gift card. Amazon doesn’t make it easy (or seemingly possible) to know who’s eligible before you review it, but if you’re logged into Amazon and click this link, you’ll get your verdict. (Sorry, I’m not authorized.)
Amazon often offers credit for purchasing gift cards (which you can send to yourself) and entering certain promotional codes, but the codes appear to only work for a limited time, and it’s not clear which codes are current. Amazon is a mysterious and capricious god.
Free sum of money: $78.50
Discounted Prime membership for students and others
Amazon Prime membership gives you free shipping on many Amazon items and access to Prime Video’s vast selection of movies and TV shows for $14.99 per month or $139 per year (worth it for the beach party selection alone films from the mid-1960s). If you’re an eligible student or receive EBT or other government benefits, Prime will only cost you $7.49 and $6.99, respectively. Be sure to take advantage if you qualify – although we don’t include that in the count.
Total potential free Amazon credits: $78.50
There you have it: If you take advantage of any of the credit promotions here, you could have $78.50 on Amazon Prime Day. But remember: Amazon offers so many types of “free credit” promotions with limited availability windows. With invitation-only status and unclear eligibility requirements, it’s difficult to know exactly how many will apply to you – so my apologies if these offers end between the time this post is published and the time you read it .