While you’re shopping on Amazon you might notice that some items have an extra option for ‘Subscribe & Save:’ when buying. This is allows you to set up a regular schedule for repeat purchases at discounted price. You might be thinking “I don’t need to schedule these things”, or “It’s just not worth it”, but there are some interesting things worth knowing about this service.
Firstly, you get a 5% discount on anything that is bought through Subscribe & Save. This discount is increased to 15% if you have five or more items delivered, to a single address, in any given month.
We use Subscribe & Save for about a dozen different products that we have delivered (we have items such as deodorant, kitchen roll, cooking sauces, breakfast cereal, insoles, cookies, noodles, detergent, and more among our list of subscriptions). Some each month, some every two or three months.
Example Subscribe & Save option on an Amazon item page.
The scheduling is a lot more flexible than you might imagine. You can add any number of items into your Subscribe & Save list and choose the frequency of delivery for each item separately. For example, things you use every month can be delivered every month, other things could be every two or three months if you don’t use them up so quickly. Not only that but you can alter each schedule pretty much whenever you want (up to a few days before your next delivery is due). You could choose to skip a month for a given item or bring something forward. You can even add an item to your delivery, get the discount, and then not repeat that order. Essentially you can get the repeat discount on one off purchases as long as you're happy to wait for your next delivery date (delivery dates can also be amended).
You’ll be sent an email reminder in time to review and change your options before a delivery. You’ll be informed of any changes to item pricing, from previous deliveries, that might alter your decisions. You’ll also be told if anything in your subscription is likely to be delayed or becomes unavailable.
Here’s a quick tip. If an item is repeatedly delayed, consider leaving it in you delivery schedule, it will still count as an item to be delivered and could be one of the five that earns you the 15% discount (obviously, only do this if you are still happy to receive - and pay for - the item should it become available again).
As always, use your own common sense when making your purchasing choices. Just because something is available at a discount doesn’t mean it couldn’t be bought still more cheaply elsewhere. Some of the things we have subscriptions for could be had cheaper but the convenience is worth the marginal difference.
Click the button below (or here) to see which items are currently available for Subscribe & Save :
Amazon Subscribe & Save
Another list of things we purchased. This time DIY and loft related.