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Amazon Prime Credits: how do I earn free books, music and films?

Amazon Prime Credits
Free movies: just wait a day or two longer for deliveries

Amazon Prime is as much a part of everyday life as occasional drizzle and disappointing football results. However, in recent years, I’ve felt the pull towards spending less on physical media and more on digital versions.

It started with the Kindle, then music and now films. And all my recent digital film purchases have cost me nothing, or next to nothing. How? By stashing Amazon Prime Credits. Here’s how you can do the same:

How do I earn Amazon Prime Credits?

Amongst the many benefits that Amazon Prime offers, free next day delivery on a large number of items is probably the most popular. And, by default, I think we all use it. But, do you really need most items the next day? I don’t. Well, next time you’re in the Amazon checkout, you may see the following delivery options (albeit with different days):

Rather than go for the default, one-day delivery, consider that fourth option – “FREE No-Rush Delivery”.  As soon as the item is despatched, you receive an additional email from Amazon titled “Benefit Confirmation for your Order”. Congratulations – you’ve just earned yourself £1 towards Kindle books or digital films and music.

In my experience, the items rarely take as long to arrive as the five days they initially tell you and, if you buy a number of items over a period of days, Amazon will often group them together to make delivery cheaper for the company.

To give you a real-world example, I purchased three items last Wednesday. I bought them all separately and used the ‘FREE No-Rush Delivery’ option, which meant that they were due on the following Tuesday. I also bought an item on Friday – I couldn’t wait the full ‘No-Rush’ time, so left it on Prime delivery which, for this product, was Monday. All four items arrived on Saturday and I received £3 in digital credit.

How do I spend the Amazon Prime Credits?

You don’t have to do anything! The next time you purchase one of these digital goodies, your freebie balance will automatically be deducted from the cost. Because of their digital nature, these are instant purchases, rather than something you can add to your basket.

How do I check how much credit I have with Amazon?

Amazon doesn’t make this easy but, after lots of searching, I found the easiest solution.

  • Head to this page on Amazon, titled “How to Check Your Amazon Video Balance”
  • Click on the button named “Check your balance”

This will list your current video credit (this is the same credit you can use for Kindle books and music), as well as any outstanding gift card balance too.

Alternatively, when you’re about to buy, you can find your current balance, although not for Kindle.

  • Amazon Video – click on “More purchase options”
  • Digital Music – click on “More options” and then “Add gift card or promotion code”

Are there any tricks to earn more?

As I demonstrated in my real world example, above, you earn £1 for each purchase, so instead of buying two items at the same time, buy them separately. You can buy one item and, then, seconds later another and earn £2 in credit.

About the author

David Artiss

Works for Automattic Inc., the company behind WordPress.com and Tumblr. Tech geek, international speaker and occasional PC Pro podcaster. Lover of Lego and video games.

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