! Copyright © 2017 MakeUseOf. All Rights Reserved ®. ! The Amazon Shopping Guide Written by Joel Lee Published November 2017. Read the original article here: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/your-unofficial-amazon-trail- guide/ This ebook is the intellectual property of MakeUseOf. It must only be published in its original form. Using parts or republishing altered parts of this ebook is prohibited without permission from MakeUseOf.com. Copyright © 2017 MakeUseOf. All Rights Reserved ®. ! Table of contents 1. Shopping 4 1.1. Navigating Amazon’s Site 4 Browsing 4 Searching 5 Navigation Bar 5 1.2. Understanding Product Pages 6 1.3. Reading Product Reviews 8 1.4. Finding Deals and Discounts 9 1.5. Setting Up Wish Lists 9 2. Orders and Payments 10 2.1. Managing Payment Methods 10 2.2. Managing Shipping Addresses 12 2.3. Saving on Shipping Fees 13 2.4. Managing Orders 13 2.5. Leaving Product Reviews 14 3. Digital Content 15 3.1. Managing Ebooks and Media 15 3.2. Managing Apps, Games, and Gifts 16 3.3. Managing Music and Video 17 4. Tools and Extensions 18 4.1. Tracking Price Histories 18 4.2. Obtaining Promo Codes 19 4.3. Checking Fake Reviews 20 4.4. Finding Filler Items 22 More Ways to Take Advantage of Amazon 23 Copyright © 2017 MakeUseOf. All Rights Reserved ®. ! Ever feel like you aren’t taking full advantage of Amazon’s online shopping? There are so many hidden features and benefits, there’s a good chance you haven’t exploited all the little tricks. But the good news is, you’ve found this guide. By the time you reach the end, you’ll be a smarter Amazon shopping master. What’s covered in this guide: tips and tricks for shopping, payments, digital content, rewards, personalization, and more. What’s not covered in this guide: setting up your own Amazon Store, hosting data on Amazon Web Services, or anything related to the business side of Amazon. 1. Shopping 1.1. Navigating Amazon’s Site Amazon is an online “department store”: its massive inventory is categorized into dozens of departments, which are meant to make it easier for you to find what you want to buy. You can either browse or search. Browsing First things first, check out the Full Store Directory. Here you’ll find every department (e.g. Sports & Outdoors) as well as each department’s sub-departments (e.g. Team Sports, Camping & Hiking). If you don’t have a particular item in mind and just want to window shop, this is the best way to do it. You can also get quick access to each department by going to the top left and mousing over the Departments menu. As of this writing, Amazon has 11 major departments and close to 100 sub-departments. When browsing, you can use the left sidebar to filter inventory results to match only what interests you. For example, when browsing for TVs, you can filter by screen size, display technology, price range, model year, brand, etc. Don’t underestimate how much time these filters can save! Copyright © 2017 MakeUseOf. All Rights Reserved ®. ! Searching When you know exactly what you want to buy, or the general kind of item you want to buy, then use the search bar at the top. Simply type what you’re interested in and Amazon will do the rest for you. By default, searches are performed across all departments. But if you’re already browsing within a department or looking at a particular item, then the search will limit its results to within your current department. You can change which department is searched by clicking on the left-side dropdown menu. We recommend switching to All Departments whenever you want to search. Some items do get miscategorized from time to time, and you don’t want to miss out on them just because you were limited to a certain department! Navigation Bar In the top-right area, there are some quick access navigation items that are always there no matter where you are on the Amazon site. The Account & Lists dropdown lets you jump to any account-related page in just one click. Get used to this as you’ll use this often. The Orders button takes you straight to your order history page, which is great when you want to check the status of a pending or shipped order. The Prime menu grants quick access to Prime content (it’ll show as Try Prime if you aren’t a Prime member). And also the Cart. Copyright © 2017 MakeUseOf. All Rights Reserved ®. ! 1.2. Understanding Product Pages Amazon product pages can be pretty overwhelming, packed with so much information that it can be hard to digest. Fortunately, you don’t have to pay attention to all of it. Here are the most important elements. 1. Product photos. Pay attention to these to make sure you’re buying what you think you’re buying. Not all sellers put up high-quality photos, but most reputable ones do. Some high-profile products even have videos! 2. Product name, price, and quality. Ignore the “List Price,” which is just the recommended retail price set by manufacturers. The “Price” is what matters, and don’t be deceived into thinking it’s on sale! When a product is on sale, you’ll see a third price labelled “Sale Price.” Prime-eligible items will show Prime here. 3. Product description. This is the quickest way to get a sense of an item and whether it fits your needs. Make sure to pay attention to whether the item is “In Stock” (green) or “Out of Stock” (red). 4. Purchasing options. Don’t bother looking here until you decide to buy something. If you do decide to buy an item, you just have to select whatever options are most relevant to you, then click Add to Cart. Not all products have a “From the manufacturer” section, but high-profile products from reputable brands usually do. This is where they can put in-depth product descriptions and dive deep into all of its features, benefits, and reasons to buy. We always recommend reading this section whenever it’s available. Copyright © 2017 MakeUseOf. All Rights Reserved ®. ! The “Compare to similar items” section is great when you aren’t sure if this item is right for you. Product comparisons are often done within the same class and price range, with a little leeway up and down, so you can see what you’re missing out on (compared to slightly better items) and what extra you’re paying for (compared to slightly worse items). The “Customer questions & answers” section is arguably the most helpful section of all. If you have reservations about an item, just ask about it here. It’ll alert everyone who has ever bought Copyright © 2017 MakeUseOf. All Rights Reserved ®. ! it, and some of them may be compelled to answer your inquiry. But first, browse through the already-asked questions! In fact, this section is the best way to ensure you don’t accidentally buy incompatible hardware or get ripped off by the seller. 1.3. Reading Product Reviews Never buy an Amazon product without looking at its reviews. And don’t just look at the star rating! While the star ratings are useful at a glance, you need to delve into the actual reviews to get a feel for what’s good and what’s bad about an item. Due to how users behave, 1-star and 5-star reviews are the most unreliable because these kinds of reviews tend to lack constructive insight. They’re either overly positive or overly negative, with no critical thinking. Instead, pay attention to the 3-star reviews and read what they say (2- star and 4-star are okay too). Copyright © 2017 MakeUseOf. All Rights Reserved ®. ! I recommend sorting reviews by Most recent instead of Top rated because sometimes products change (especially items like soaps and lotions, which can have new formulas) and older top- rated reviews can be outdated. Don’t forget to filter by Verified purchase only! One last note: when a product has multiple models, versions, flavors, scents, or sizes, reviews are labelled for whichever model/version/flavor/scent/size it was written. Bear this in mind because sometimes, for example, the Large version might be great while the Small version is too restrictive. 1.4. Finding Deals and Discounts Amazon’s base prices are already some of the lowest around, but you can save even more money by taking advantage of Amazon’s special sales. Fortunately, they’re all consolidated on the same Gold Box page. Types of Amazon deals include: • Deals of the Day: Every day, a handful of items go on sale. These sales only last for 24 hours and can save you anywhere from 20 to 90 percent off their normal prices. But each day’s selection is very limited. • Lightning Deals: A Lightning Deal is a limited-time, limited-quantity sale that ends when the time runs out or when all available stock are claimed. The savings are incredible, often in the 60 to 80 percent off range. Prime members get a 30-minute head start on all Lightning Deals. • Savings & Sales: A listing of all sales and deals, including “Buy X Save $Y” deals. • Coupons: Yes, Amazon has its own coupon system. You have to “clip” them to take advantage, but it’s very simple: just click Clip Coupon on an item to apply the discount. Coupons tend to be for smaller household and pantry items. In addition to the above deals, you also have the Amazon Outlet (for reduced-price overstock items) and the Amazon Warehouse (for reduced-price items that are used or refurbished).