With news of Amazon’s Prime Day being slated for June 21-22, one of the biggest sales of the year is suddenly three weeks away. The only catch is that the sale is for Prime members only…or is it? There’s actually a way to get Amazon Prime deals without paying for a membership—here’s how you do it.
Sign up for a free 30-day trial, then cancel
If you’ve never signed up for Amazon Prime on your Amazon account before, you can get it for free for 30 days, after which you’ll be charged $12.99 per month for a total of $155.88 annually (a reduced rate of $119 is available if you pay for a year upfront). Thing is, you can easily cancel your Prime membership before you have to pay the monthly charge. This way you can load up on Prime deals without committing yourself to a membership.
To sign up, you can head over to this page. Note that you’ll have to provide a valid form of payment before you get your account, and that you’ll get charged if you don’t cancel the membership before the trial ends.
And since we’re talking about Amazon Prime deals, note that you can claim a six-month free trial if you’re a student, after which you will be charged a reduced rate of $6.49 (you can sign up here). Also, if you receive government assistance like programs like SNAP or SSI, you’ll get a reduced rate of $5.99 per month, although there’s no free trial (you can sign up here).
Why would you want to avoid a Prime membership?
Aside from the cost, you can already find good deals on Amazon when there isn’t a sale. For example, one of the perks of Prime is free two-day delivery, but you can still get free delivery on items that cost more than $25 without the membership.
And as The Krazy Koupon Lady points out, if you’re not a big Amazon shopper already, Prime might not be worth the bother. Considering that the shipping charge is usually $5 for non-members, you’d have to pay for 24 purchases before the $119 membership starts saving you money on delivery. That’s not to say that Prime doesn’t have exclusive offers, like free Prime Video, Whole Foods discounts, free music, and photo storage—it’s just that these services might not be something you’re interested in and therefore isn’t worth the monthly cost. Either way, there’s no harm in signing up for a free trial, provided that you remember to cancel it within 30 days.