6 strategies for saving on Amazon.

Recently, Amazon started charging sales tax on purchases if you live in Texas. Which I do. This is a new agreement between Amazon and the State of Texas. What does it mean for you, the consumer, who lives in Texas? You're going to be paying more at check-out, much like you do at most other on-line retailers.

But, never fear, I've got some strategies for getting the best deal on Amazon.

New Sales Tax may drive consumers to their neighborhood stores.
If you shopped Amazon because you were enjoying that little discount of not having to pay sales tax, then perhaps you'll be considering shopping your nearest big box (Target and Walmart) or other specialty retailer instead. All things being equal, if you're paying the tax either way, is getting your hands on your merchandise right now instead of waiting for it to ship to you an incentive to shop local?

Strategies for still keeping your check-out amount at it's lowest on Amazon.
Amazon Clubs
Join Amazon Mom, Amazon Student, or Amazon Prime to get free shipping on all, many, or specific items that you purchase on a regular basis on Amazon. If you have to pay taxes now, figure out how to get free shipping to offset that cost.

Super Saver Shipping
Choose items that offer Free Super Saver Shipping. Many items on Amazon have free shipping if they are over $35 in price, called Super Saver Shipping. You can even narrow your search to just this category of items. Other smaller items can be grouped together to hit the $35 total and get the free Super Saver Shipping.

Subscribe & Save
Subscribe & Save items have extra discounts. I stock my sack lunch pantry with cases of items from the Subscribe & Save grocery on Amazon. Chips, fruit snacks, drink boxes, cases of macaroni and cheese, peanut butter, crackers, etc can all be had for an extra discount when you sign up to get them at intervals like once a month, once every three months, and once every six months.

You'll still be paying the new sales tax on these items, but they always come with free shipping, and that extra Subscribe & Save discount, which may offset the sales tax for you. You may still be able to get these types of items cheaper in bulk than you would buying them individually at the grocery store.

Amazon Coupons
Yep, there are even Amazon Coupons for household items. Check them out every week here, and see if things you buy have an extra coupon code you can use at check-out for an extra discount. This discount may offset your sales tax, and still give you the bargain your'e after.

Grocery Sales & Specials
In your local store, the new sales start on Wednesday mornings. On Amazon, they start on Friday mornings. See all the new Grocery Sales & Specials, and check weekly to see if your favorite products are on sale this week.

Why I'm still buying Amazon.
When you are buying items in bulk, you're changing your overall shopping strategy to get what you'll need THIS YEAR instead of THIS WEEK. If I find my child's favorite granola bars on sale for way cheaper than they'll ever be at the grocery store, I buy the case and keep them in my pantry. I won't have to buy them again for months, and I got them at the lowest price possible. The money I might have spent buying them every week is now used to buy something else in bulk.

This is stock-up or stockpile strategy. If everything I need for my household is bought at it's rock-bottom lowest price for the year, then the cost savings overall are significant. Hopefully, they'll be so significant I won't even notice that new Texas Sales Tax. Much.

I still have the convenience of having everything on Amazon sent right to my house. That's the biggest reason I buy from Amazon. And that's a convenience I'm not giving up anytime soon.

What can you still get for free on Amazon?
**You can still choose from HUNDREDS of free ebook downloads to read from Amazon right here. There's no sales tax on those.

Don't have a Kindle, but want to read all these great free eBooks anyway? You can also get Kindle software for your PC here. Or even read it on your iPhone with the Kindle Reader app here. Kindle Reader for your blackberry here. And Kindle for Android here.

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