This week | 10 HOT Amazon cost-cutting tools & tips
Uncover 75%+ discounts, reclaim lost music, free delivery tricks & more It's the world's biggest online store, which means you've got huge potential to slash Amazon costs. We've 10 power tricks to save there and beyond.
| 1. | Reveal 75%+ off bargains, smashing Amazon's own outlet. The Amazon Outlet Store* has relaunched to fanfare; it collates up-to 70% off offers on branded clothes, shoes, jewellery & more. Yet our long-running Amazon Discount Finder can find you even bigger deals, with huge flexibility.
It manipulates Amazon links to build bespoke pages, eg, beauty 70% off*, TV 25% off* and handbags 75% off*. We've even added the brands outlet as a category, to pinpoint the best bargains within it. | | | | 2. |  Reclaim 14 YEARS of lost music. Buy CDs/vinyl from Amazon and you now get the MP3s for nowt. Yet did you know this works for 350,000 titles bought since 1999?
Just do a quick check for lost music, like MoneySaver JHL1959: "Crikey, it's given me back 182 albums, which is 2,367 tracks. Amazingly, still like a lot of them - really cheered me up." | | | | 3. | Beat Amazon's new delivery charges. It's added a £10 min spend for free delivery on most items. Beat it with free delivery tricks...
a) For £7-£10 items: Delivery usually £3+ (varies), buy small items to hit £10.
b) CDs/DVDs/books get free delivery, so add a cheap one you want.
c) Grab a free 1mth Amazon Prime trial* (newbies only) for unlimited free next-day delivery (don't forget to cancel). | | | | 4. | £100 Amazon voucher for FREE. The Amex Gold* charge card gives you 20,000 reward points if you spend £2,000+ on it within 3 months, enough for a £100 Amazon gift card. Don't spend extra, but if your normal spend would cover this, it's a huge bonus. There's normally a £125 annual fee, but it's waived in year 1, so if you don't want to pay, cancel before year 2.
IMPORTANT: this is a charge card, so you must repay IN FULL every month, or face a £12 charge and a credit file default. You'll need to pass a credit check. Full card details: Credit Card Freebies. | | | | 5. | Up to 80%+ off M&S, Asos, Argos, etc. Amazon is not the only fruit. A host of big-name retailers flog unsold lines up to 80%+ off via online outlets. Our Outlet Store Discount Finder searches 50+ outlets for huge clothes, furniture and toy discounts.
Current hotties we've found incl £5 Firetrap scarves* delivered (were £25), £18 Kurt Geiger shoes* (£125) and £9 FCUK swimsuits* (£49). (Clearance stock goes quickly, so these may sell out once we send this email.) | | | | 6. | Free tool checks if stuff's ever been cheaper. Just because it's discounted doesn't mean it's a bargain. A site lets you instantly snoop on a product's Amazon history to see if it ever sold for less. Prepared to wait? Name a price you'll pay and it sends price-drop emails. | | | | 7. | Students get 10% off clothing for a YEAR, 5% off music, books, etc. If you've a National Union of Students Extra card, log onto the NUS website for a unique reusable code giving year-long discounts such as 10% off fashion or 5% off books, music, DVDs, beauty and more. | | | | 8. | Free local eBay deals iPhone tool & apps. Amazon's huge rival eBay's' ripe for bargain-hunting too. One biggie is sellers often specify items - from designer sofas to PS3s - as 'collection only' which get fewer bids so serious deals. You can't search for 'em on eBay, so we built Local eBay Deals tool & phone apps to quickly locate 'em. See full 40 eBay buying tricks. | | | | 9. | Speedily compare cheapest online prices with the MegaShopBot. Never go straight to Amazon. In the same time it takes to check one site, our MegaShopBot tool uncovers the best shopping comparison site for each category of item you're after, to see if you can buy stuff cheaper. | | | | 10. | Free £3 gift cards, hidden sales & more. Want to slash the cost of buying anything online? Our compendium of 40 Online Shopping Tricks shows how to get free £3 gift cards by teaming up with Facebook friends, check unknown e-tailers' legitimacy, spot hidden brand sales and more. | | |
PS. I'm taking a break this week, so this email is in the more than capable hands of the MSE team - Martin. |
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| The Ones Not To Miss | Wed 28 Aug 2013 |
(Re)build your credit & get £20 Amazon voucher
If you struggle to get credit, bizarrely, rehabilitate by spending on a credit card. So get PAID to do it By getting any credit card, doing £50ish/mth normal spending for a year and repaying IN FULL every month to avoid interest, you'll boost your future chances of getting top deals. Now, do it right & you can get a £20 Amazon voucher too.  Free £20 voucher with credit rebuild card. The Aqua Advance* accepts some with past CCJs/defaults. If you don't repay IN FULL every month (best to set up a direct debit), it charges a massive 34.9% rep APR (keep up repayments and this'll drop each year, until it reaches 19.9%) so always do it. On top, if you make monthly payments and stay in your credit limit for 2 months, you get a £20 Amazon voucher.
Will I get it? Even though it rejects fewer than most cards, it's still worth using our Eligibility Checker to find your chances of acceptance - especially if you mainly want the freebie, as wasted applications hit your credit file. - Bad credit card golden rules: a) Always repay IN FULL, EVERY MONTH to avoid giant interest rates. b) NEVER exceed your credit limit. c) If you've existing 'good' credit cards, do the Credit Card Shuffle first to move debt to cheaper rates before getting new credit. d) For more info, alternatives and action if you can't get one, see Credit Rebuilding Cards and How To Boost Your Credit Score. e) Still got problems? Consider getting debt help.
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| 20% off designer sunnies code: £60 Ray-Bans, £48 Police. MSE Blagged. On 'up to 40% sale' items. Sunglasses 'Free' cinema ticket with £3 notebook. See ANY 2D film. Buy in-store, enter code online. Cineworld Deals Reminder. Longest EVER 28mths 0% balance transfer. Accepted new Barclaycard Platinum* holders can get a huge 28 months 0% on shifted debts (for a one-off 3.5% fee). Repay or transfer again before 0% ends, or face 18.9% rep APR. FULL help and options in Best Balance Transfers (APR Examples). Pay £20, get £40 Kurt Geiger shoes credit. Buy code to use at Shoeaholics outlet, run by Kurt Geiger. Outlet Tool |
Free £7,000 solar panels - are they worth it?
Solar panels have bounced back after the Govt slashed returns. Is solar now worth it? Pay or go free? In 2012, the Govt cut the amount you can get paid for generating electricity with solar panels. Now the industry's hit back by slashing system prices from £12,000 to £7,000. Worth it? Here's a taster - full help in the updated Solar Panels guide.  You need a south-facing roof to max this. It must face roughly within 45 degrees of south, with little or no shade from buildings or trees. See Solar Need-To-Knows.- How does the feed-in tariff work? Solar panels save a typical home £150/year in electricity as you generate your own. But the big bonus is the Govt ensures you'll be PAID to generate energy - called a 'feed-in tariff' - for 20 years while you still live there, even if you use it all yourself. On £7,000 panels, you could earn £650/yr for 20 years. (It was £1,100+/yr for 25yrs, till last year).
- Should you pay or go free? The options... 1) Buy 'em. If you have the cash, use the Energy Saving Trust's Solar Energy Calculator to see how much you could save and earn. Lower feed-in payments mean buying panels is now far from a certain win for all. See Should You Buy?
2) Free solar. If you live in certain parts of England and have a suitable roof, one established firm fits panels for nowt, but it keeps the big-money feed-in gain. You just get the £150/year electricity saving, though as prices are predicted to rise massively over 20 years, savings could jump. See Free Panels. Related: Cheap Energy Club. back to top ↑ |
| Cheapest travel cash, incl currency sale. Asda's got a currency sale till 8am Friday for US dollar, euro & Turkish lira, see TravelMoneyMax. If you can wait 2-4 weeks, a no-load worldwide credit card's cheapest. Top for overseas: Halifax Clarity*. Good in UK too: Cap One Aspire World*, up to 1.25% UK cashback. Repay IN FULL to avoid 12.9% & 19.9% rep APRs. See Cheap Travel Cards (APR Examples). £6 football boots, 3 for £1 stationery, £8 tennis rackets, £40 violins. Back to school bargains
£4.50 school uniform | 3 stationery items for £1 | £6 football boots | £8 tennis rackets | £5 recorders/£40 violins
20% off back to school at The Works | 75% off educational books at WH Smith | Full list: Hot Bargains 9,000 free Grand Designs tix. Code for Fri 4 Oct or 2for1 for Fri, Sat, Sun. Usually £15-£19. Grand Designs Ends Sat. Free Tastecard (RRP £80) with fully comp £60 breakdown cover. Get Green Flag's* high-end Recovery Plus policy by Sat 31 Aug and you get a Tastecard for nowt, which gets 2for1ish in 6,000+ restaurants. Cover incl home start, onward travel, etc from £60 - slightly cheaper than RAC/AA equiv. FULL info in Cheap Breakdown Cover. |
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| Ends Sun. £90 cashback on cheap, short energy fix. Scottish Power's Online Fix Price Energy Nov 2014 costs £1,195/yr for typical users, locks in prices for around 14 mths and has no exit fees to leave early - good if prices fall. New custs switching via Cheap Energy Club by 1 Sept get £60 extra cashback on top of the usual £30. It was due to end last week, but got extended a few days. More info, incl hot longer fixes and 'should I fix?', in Cheap Gas & Elec. Aldi £5 off £40 voucher, Dorothy Perkins 15%-off code & more...
Dotty Ps 15%-off £30 & free del code/vch | Clarks 20% off code/vch (excl kids) | Aldi £5 off £40 vch in newspaper
Currys spend £100, get £50 off next £200 vch | Hi-Tec 70% off boots code | Barratts 22% off code | Discount vouchers Don't miss out on £100s for mis-sold CPP card protection. You need to vote 'YES' to redress. CPP Mis-selling 2,000 Tesco points with home insurance. New Tesco* combined buildings and contents insurance custs get 2,000 Clubcard points (worth up to £80) with code 2000HOME. Important: We're NOT saying it's always cheapest - use Confused.com*, Compare TM* & MoneySup* (add Aviva* & Direct Line*) to compare. Full system: Cheap Home Insurance. |
Car insurance warning - NEVER auto-renew
If you don't compare and switch, loyalty and apathy costs you £100s. Use our updated insurance-slashing system If your renewal's due (many are in Sept, as it's new car-reg month), find the cheapest quote before your insurer's last-minute 'we'll renew you' notice or there may be little time. Our Cheap Car Insurance system revs up the savings...  Never just auto-renew. Accepting an insurer's price is like getting fined for apathy - indeed some now levy renewal fees (up to £50). Always hunt for cheaper by combining different comparisons (they don't cover identical insurers). Our updated order to boost chances of getting the cheapest is: a) Gocompare* b) Google* c) Compare The Market* d) MoneySupermarket*. - Comparisons miss big insurers - find 'em yourself. Big, often cheap providers Aviva* and Direct Line* aren't in comparisons' results, so DIY. Plus if you've two or more cars in the household, Admiral MultiCar's* discounts can come up trumps.
- Under-25s can pay £3,000+. Try 'black box' insurers. 'Telematics' policies monitor driving and charge accordingly. Sensible and low-usage drivers should get quotes. Pay-WHEN-you-drive: Coverbox*, Drive Like A Girl* and iKube*; Pay-HOW-you-drive: Co-op* and AA; Pay-AS-you-drive: Insurethebox*.
- You can switch insurer at ANY time, not just renewal. If you're changing car, or just think you're overpaying, find the cheapest quote using these tips. If it's less than your current insurer, cancel (factor in £25-£50 exit fees). You get a pro-rata refund, but won't earn no-claims for that year.
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FREE £10ish YSL foundation samples. Two pick-up freebies - 10,000s available. Beauty Deals SALES: House of Fraser up to 70% off, Topshop up to 80% off & more...
House of Fraser up to 70% off | Early Learning Centre 50% off toys | The North Face up to 50% off
Topshop up to 80% off | The Fragrance Shop 20% off | Dr Martens up to 50% off | Full list: High Street Sales Sains 10p/L off fuel with £60 spend. Starts Thurs, bag a voucher for its forecourts in store or online. Cheap Petrol |
Top graduate accounts 2013
You can grab a £2,000 0% overdraft, or £125 bonus if you're earning. DON'T simply stick with your bank To banks, graduation's a trigger to reel in lucrative customers for life. But you can switch to get a no-interest overdraft for up to three years - great for student debt - or big bonuses if you pay a salary in. You must pass a credit check.  Top accounts if you're overdrawn - 3yrs 0% overdraft. Even if you didn't bank with it as a student, Lloyds gives the biggest potential 0% overdraft of £2,000 in the 1st year after uni, falling to £1,500 in the 2nd and £1,000 in the 3rd.
As it gradually reduces, use the 0% time to wean yourself off the overdraft, repaying a bit each month, so it's gone (or very low) by the time it charges interest. Plus NEVER go beyond overdraft limits, as charges are hellish. - £125 and top service, if you qualify. If you're not overdrawn, and already have decent monthly income, forget graduate deals - you're better off with the Top Bank Accounts. Here are our top picks for switchers:
- First Direct* gives £125, plus 93% of its customers voted it great in our service poll. (Min £1,000/mth pay-in.)
- If you've bills, Santander 123* pays 1-3% cashback on many of 'em, plus 3% interest on £3k-£20k balances. But there's a £2/mth fee, so only get it if the gains beat that. (Min £500/mth pay-in.)
- Nationwide's* FlexAccount gives free European travel insurance - great for a jaunt. (Min £750/mth pay-in.) back to top ↑ |
| £10 gets unlimited Tube, bus, DLR travel for over-60s (plus off-peak trains). Anyone over retirement age gets this all free, but over-60s can pay a one-off tenner. Londoners only. Oyster Deal £2 bowling, free play centre - summer days out deals...
Bowlplex £2 games (RRP £6) print voucher | Ripley's London £40 family tkt (RRP £75) code
'Free' tots' play centre entry buy £2 vitamins | 50% off Celtic Manor golf code for spectators | Cheap Days Out Cheap wills in Scotland. Get solicitor-drafted wills in Sept for £80ish donation. Full info: Will Relief Scotland
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Restaurant vouchers | Discount vouchers | Top deals |
| The Moneysaving community |
 MONEY MORAL DILEMMA
Should we pay vet's bill for the cat our neighbour stole?
This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks... By the time our kitten was two, he rarely came home and we suspected another neighbour was feeding him. He seemed happy, so we eventually replaced him. Six years later, the old lady he's lived with knocks on the door. She said he needs a vet, but she can't afford to pay and asked us to cough up. As she effectively stole our disloyal cat, I'm inclined to say "no", but otherwise he won't get treated. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Whose cat is it anyway? | Suggest an MMD | View Past MMDs THE GREAT HUNT
Best free online workouts
Lots of fitness companies, especially in the US, let you stream free workout sessions online. You can get celebrity trainers' programmes, including Gwyneth Paltrow's, on YouTube, while others often give you a week free in the hope you'll subscribe. What are your faves? Share yours/read others': Best free online workouts Past topics: View all BOOK GIVEAWAY
Lanzarote Travel Guide. 25 blagged for MoneySavers. Did you get one? CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK
What info do you want about flights and airports?
The Civil Aviation Authority wants your views on information from UK airports and airlines. It wants to improve communication about delays and cancellation, baggage and check-in charges, carbon emissions, noise, and for passengers with reduced mobility. Email views by Sat 31 Aug. Suggest a campaign: This is for MSE to support work by other charities, groups and campaigners. Send your campaign of the week suggestion. MSE Charity community grant applications. The next funding round for charities and groups involved with financial and consumer education projects opens on Sun 1 Sep. Only the first 40 applications that meet the criteria are considered, so prepare your case now. This time there are some restrictions on who can apply so take a look first. Full info at The MSE Charity. Related: MSE's Charity Fund, How This Site's Financed THE GREAT HUNT... REVEALED
Dos and don'ts when using plastic abroad
Using cards abroad can be a minefield. Forumites report problems withdrawing cash in Canada and Germany. One MoneySaver advises checking which cards are accepted before filling up with fuel at pay-at-pump petrol stations in Belgium, as some only accept their own prepaid cards. Colgate's 'free £170 toothbrush' promo - did you get yours? Colgate offered 7,000 free toothbrushes after its Waterloo station promo derailed. If you got one, show us your photos. CHEAP FLIGHT SALES ALERT
Airline: Thomson Offer: £20 off Ends: Thu 31 Oct
This week's pick is Thomson's £20 off returns. It's valid on all flights until Thu 31 Oct. The discount's automatically applied, and we found Birmingham-Menorca flights for £58.98. To find flights quickly, use the FlightChecker on a max £60 return search. Extra charges warning: Avoid payment and check-in charges - see the Budget Airline Fee Fighting guide. Related: Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels, Spending Abroad, Cheap Currency, Travel Insurance back to top ↑ |
Quick forum tips | Freebies |
Martin's blogs | Martin's appearances Mon 2 Sep
This Morning, ITV, 11am-12noon.
Flight delay reclaiming. | | |
MSE team corner - Team appearances:
- Archna Luthra: You & Yours, BBC Radio 4, Wed 28 Aug 12noon-1pm. Kitting out the kids for school.
| Discussion of the week BBQs - gas or charcoal? Many a barbecue chef has entered this debate over a bottle and a burger. Cast your vote in the poll and join our forumites in the discussion: BBQs - gas or charcoal? | Cheap travel money |
This week's poll: Bank card readers: Love 'em or hate 'em? First Direct, which has won all our customer service polls, plans to introduce a card reader to set up new payments. These devices are designed to improve security, but they also get on some people's nerves. How do you feel about them?
Please tick the option closest to your view | Poll resultsWould you live at a murder scene to bag a house price discount?
Subsidence, flooding and being in a high crime area would worry potential buyers more than a property's grisly past.
- 78% wouldn't buy if the home was subsiding.
- 76% wouldn't buy if it was in a flood-risk area.
- 43% wouldn't buy if a serial killer had lived in the property.
- 42% wouldn't buy if there'd been a murder in the property.
12,937 voted. See the full results. |
Question of the week Q: I paid £20 for my EHIC. I thought these were free - has it introduced an application fee? Paul, via email. MSE Rose’s A: There's still no application fee, but sadly you've been caught out by an unofficial site. An EHIC, or European Health Insurance Card, gives free or discounted medical care at state-run hospitals and GPs in any EU country, plus a few others. EHICs are always free via the official site, www.ehic.org.uk. Yet sadly many are caught out when they Google "EHIC" and end up at a site that charges to do exactly the same thing. It's unlikely you'll be able to get your money back, but it's worth contacting the site straightaway and asking for a full refund, just in case. It won't always work, but one MoneySaver who paid for his EHIC via an unofficial website found its terms allowed refunds within 30 days, and used this to get his money back - so it's worth a try. Best of luck. Please suggest a question of the week (we can't reply to individual emails). |
 Archna's free game of the week: Cube Slam |
Are your wages more Barcelona or Barnsley? This cool infographic compares your salary to that of a professional footballer, giving you some interesting (and perhaps depressing) stats: Find out how long it would take you to earn Lionel Messi's weekly salary and how much Gareth Bale's earned in the time you've been looking at the page. How Much???? We hope you save some money, Martin & the MSE team |
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What you need to know This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances - and remember we focus on rates not service. We don't as a general policy investigate the solvency of companies mentioned, how likely they are to go bust, but there is a risk any company can struggle and it's rarely made public until it's too late (see the section 75 guide for protection tips). We often link to other websites, but we can't be responsible for their content. Always remember anyone can post on the MSE forums, so it can be very different from our opinion. Please read the Full Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, how this site is financed and Editorial Code. Martin Lewis is a registered trade mark belonging to Martin S Lewis. More about MoneySaving Expert and Martin Lewis What is MoneySavingExpert.com?
Founded in February 2003, it's now the UK's biggest consumer help website with over 6 million people getting this email and nearly 10m using the site. In September 2012 it became part of the MoneySupermarket Group PLC. Its focus is simple: how to save cash and fight for financial justice on anything and everything. The site has over 30 full time staff about half of whom are editorial researching, analysing and writing to continually find ways to save money. More info: See About MSE Who is Martin Lewis? Martin set up and runs MSE, he's an ultra-focused money saving journalist and consumer campaigner. He has regular slots on Daybreak, Lorraine, Radio 2 Vine, BBC1 Watchdog, Radio 5 Consumer panel and presents ITV Tonight. He is a columnist for amongst others the Sunday Post as well as an author. More info: See Martin Lewis' biog What do the links with a * mean? Any links with a * by them are affiliated, which means get a product via this link and a contribution may be made to MoneySavingExpert.com, which helps it stay free to use. You shouldn't notice any difference; the links don't impact the product at all and the editorial line (the things we write) isn't changed due to it. If it isn't possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, it's still included in the same way. More info: See how this site is financed. As we believe transparency is important, we're including the following 'un-affiliated' web-addresses for content too:
Unaffiliated web-addresses for links in this email amazon.co.uk, americanexpress.com, asos.com, ebay.co.uk, barclaycard.co.uk, aquacard.co.uk, capitalone.co.uk, halifax.co.uk, greenflag.com, tescobank.com, confused.com, comparethemarket.com, moneysupermarket.com, aviva.co.uk, directline.com, gocompare.com, google.co.uk, admiral.com, coverbox.co.uk, drivelikeagirl.com, ikubeinsurance.com, co-operativeinsurance.co.uk, insurethebox.com, lloydstsb.com, sainsburysbank.co.uk, firstdirect.com, santander-products.co.uk, nationwide.co.uk, energyhelpline.com, uswitch.com, postoffice.co.uk, productsandservices.bt.com.
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