One day I was planning to buy some personal care items. On a whim, I checked if they were available at Amazon.com. To my surprise, many of the items were listed. And to my delight, they were cheaper at Amazon.

The good news turned out to be even better. Some of the items qualified for Amazon’s Subscribe and Save option. The Subscribe and Save option means an extra 15 percent or so discount and such items always ship for free.

The offer sounded great, but I wanted to try it out before sharing with all of you. I have tried Subscribe and Save for a few months and I am very pleased with it.

I want to share my experience so you can decide whether it will be useful for you too.

How Amazon’s Subscribe and Save works

One thing I have really enjoyed is the Amazon Subscribe and Save option is very easy to choose and manage.

Here is how it works:

You select an item eligible from Amazon’s Subscribe and Save store

You choose a quantity and delivery schedule (every 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, or 6 months)

You buy the item using a credit card and entering the shipping address

You click “sign up” for the program

You can manage your deliveries and orders from your account

Now here is the good part. With the Subscribe and Save program, you will often get 15 percent off your item. You will also get free shipping. This is true even if your order is below the normal $25 minimum.

Naturally I loved the “save” part of the program. But I was originally worried about the “subscribe” part. It turned out my fear was unfounded.

The “subscribe” part is really a misnomer. I’ve discovered a few useful strategies to make the most of this offer.

You can cancel without penalty after your first order.

You may be able to customize your delivery schedule for total flexibility like I did

Let me explain a bit more about these.

You can cancel any time

At first, I was worried about the delivery schedule. When you order, you have to specify shipments every 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, or 6 months. That felt like a commitment I was not willing to make.

What if I was trying a new product and I hated it? What if I got sick of something? What if I just changed my mind later? Was I still obligated to a future delivery?

Luckily, there is no issue here. There is no commitment with the Subscribe and Save program. It is possible to cancel a subscription at any time penalty-free.

I have done this myself. And it is also mentioned on the site:

How do I cancel my subscription?

There are no commitments. Cancel your subscription any time, online, 24 hours a day using Manage Your Subscribe & Save Items through Your Account. You will only be charged for orders that have shipped.

*Source: Amazon FAQ

How could you practically use this information?

Well, let’s say you are trying a new product. You may want to select a 6-month delivery schedule so you have ample time to test it out. If you don’t like the product, it will be easy to cancel before your next shipment.

This is a virtually error-proof strategy, as I can attest to. Once I completely forgot to cancel an item I disliked. But it turned out just fine. Amazon sent me an email reminder about an upcoming shipment, and consequently I could log in and cancel from my account. It was really easy and made me feel a lot happier with the program.

You may be able to customize delivery



The last strategy was all about ordering less. But what if you really like an item? What if you originally picked 6 months but now you need more at month 4.5?

I learned something cool: I was able to order more or less depending on my needs. Essentially I could customize my delivery schedule.

In my experience, I was able to do two things with my items:

–I could order more if I was running low, even before the next shipment

–I could skip a shipment if I had enough on hand

These options appeared under the “manage your subscribe & save items” section in my account.

These features really took the cake for me. I was able to get deliveries when I wanted them, and for free, at an incredible price.

*I will hedge this strategy because it is not mentioned in the official terms of the program. But I suspect it is possible with many items.

How to get started:

There are two ways you can get started with Subscribe and Save.

One way is to browse the list of eligible items in the Subscribe and Save store. This is great if you want to see what is available and browse popular items. The most popular items seem to be packaged groceries like coffee or health bars, baby and child care like diapers, and health care like antacids.

The other way is simply to search for a product you want on Amazon as you regularly would. If the product is eligible for the Subscribe and Save program, you will see a blue textbox indicating so under the product description and next to the area you buy the item. It will be obvious enough.

Update February 2012

I received this information from Amazon to share with you guys. The program is especially beneficial if you have 5 or more subscriptions:

Hi Presh, I wanted to share some updated information on the Amazon Subscribe & Save program that I thought would be of interest to your readers. Amazon is now offering up to a 15% discount .

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"All will be well if you use your mind for your decisions, and mind only your decisions." Since 2007, I have devoted my life to sharing the joy of game theory and mathematics. MindYourDecisions now has over 1,000 free articles with no ads thanks to community support! Help out and get early access to posts with a pledge on Patreon. .

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on your entire monthly delivery when you have 5 or more subscriptions delivered in the same month.

Let me know your thoughts

Before writing this article, I searched around and amazingly very few websites and forums discussed Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program. Many were filled with more questions than answers. And for some of them the authors had never even used the program!

That is why I felt it necessary to share my opinion and clear up some of my confusions. I would love to hear other experiences as well. If you have used this program, please share your thoughts so others can make an informed decision. I am especially curious about not so great experiences since these are the ones we can learn the most from. Thanks!