Ever since the fee for Amazon Prime membership went up to $119 a year, the big question has become whether it’s worth the cost.
Free two-day shipping is Prime’s most famous benefit, but membership has a bunch of other perks that can help you get your money’s worth.
Are you using Prime to its full potential? Not if you aren’t taking advantage of at least some of these less-obvious cost-shaving perks.
[See: 6 Ways to Treat Yourself on a Budget.]
Prime Samples. Amazon has a samples site, stocked with tiny versions of beauty products, snacks, protein powders, pet treats and more, exclusively for Prime members.
Rather than waste money on a full-sized bottle of shampoo or bag of dog food, you can try sample sizes for just a couple of dollars each to make sure you like the products. You can also buy sample boxes (priced between $7 and $20), containing a variety of beauty products, sunscreens or other product categories — and receive an equal credit toward a future purchase of one of the products you sampled. So, try several shampoos, choose which you like best, use your credit to buy the full size and save the rest of your samples for travel.
Prime Wardrobe. If you’re too busy to shop for clothing in a store, Prime Wardrobe lets you try on clothing for free at home. Instead of plunking down a bunch of money up front and waiting weeks for a refund, order up to eight Prime Wardrobe items at a time and try them on for seven days with no money down. Pay only for what you keep.
Prime Photos. Don’t pay for a photo storage service. Prime lets you store an unlimited number of photos.
Storing your photos with Amazon unlocks some cool features. You can share your photos with loved ones via the Groups feature, manage your collection across devices and ask Alexa to show your photos on your TV screen.
Prime Photos also meshes seamlessly with Amazon Prints, Amazon’s photo-printing service. Use your photos to create calendars, photo books and wall decor and, as a Prime member, get free standard delivery on orders of less than $15 and free expedited delivery on orders of $15 or more.
[Read: 7 Ways to Save Money on Your Internet Bill.]
Prime perks for families. Prime has exclusive perks for parents. If you’re signed up for at least five monthly subscriptions via Amazon Subscribe & Save, which lets you set up regular deliveries of certain products, Prime membership gets you an additional 20 percent off diaper and baby food subscriptions.
Plus, if you want to subscribe to FreeTime Unlimited (a service that gives access to thousands of kid-friendly games, educational apps, books and shows), Prime gets you a discount. Family access for up to four kids normally costs $119 per year, but costs $83 a year with Prime.
Prime Reading. Get thousands of books, magazines and comics for no additional cost with your Prime subscription. Available titles include fiction and nonfiction best-sellers, as well as a selection of popular magazines, such as Good Housekeeping, Entrepreneur and Travel + Leisure.
So before buying a book, e-book or magazine as an impulse buy, see whether it’s available on Prime Reading.
Prime Video. Trying to cut down on the number of streaming services you’re subscribed to? You may be able to take care of many of your entertainment needs via Prime Video, complimentary with your Prime membership.
Hundreds of movies and TV shows are available to watch instantly with Prime Video, including most Prime Original series, several BBC shows and a variety of Hollywood blockbusters.
Want to watch something that’s not included with Prime? You can rent many movies for $5.99, giving you a cheaper option for movie night than the theater. You can also buy episodes of not included shows for $3.99. Plus, via Amazon Channels, you can temporarily subscribe to channels, including HBO, Showtime and others for $4.99 to $14.99 per month and cancel any time.
[See: Cord-Cutters, Consider These Video-Streaming Services.]
Amazon Music Unlimited discount. Want access to Amazon’s streaming library of tens of millions of songs? Without Prime, you’ll pay $9.99 per month for Amazon Music Unlimited. With Prime, the cost falls to $7.99 per month. If you don’t want to pay anything for streaming, Prime membership alone gets you access to the Prime Music library of 2 million songs.
Membership Sharing. Moving in with your significant other? Streamline your costs by merging your Prime accounts into one household account. Two adults can share Prime benefits and digital content. That means, in addition to paying for just one Prime account, you can share any e-books, audiobooks and music one person has already purchased.
Companies and products mentioned in this article may be promoted on www.offers.com.
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8 Lesser-Known Money-Saving Features You Get With Amazon Prime originally appeared on usnews.com
