Amazon. com Help Subscribe & Save
FBA Subscribe & Save
Subscribe & Save lets Amazon customers sign up for recurring, scheduled deliveries of products they use frequently. Subscribers get a discount of 5%, 10%, 15%, or 20% off their Subscribe & Save orders, as well as free shipping. Eligible FBA sellers can participate in Subscribe & Save by adding their FBA products to the program. See the Eligibility requirements below for details.
Subscribe & Save customers select the product, quantity, and frequency of delivery, and they get a 5% discount per subscription. Customers who receive products from five or more subscriptions in a month will get a 10% or 15% discount per subscription, depending on the product category. Amazon Family customers get a 20% discount on diapers regardless of the number of subscriptions. See the Eligible product categories and discounts below for more information.
Starting August 1, 2018, Subscribe & Save offers are also available to registered Amazon Business customers. Business customers can place Subscribe & Save orders using recurring deliveries. They get a 5% discount on Subscribe & Save orders regardless of the product category or number of subscriptions.
For more information about the customer program, see Subscribe & Save
By participating in the FBA Subscribe & Save program, you agree to the FBA Subscribe & Save terms and conditions.
Eligibility requirements
If you are eligible, you can participate in Subscribe & Save by enabling the program in your account settings. Eligibility criteria include your sales history and seller performance metrics, among other factors. To participate, you must, at a minimum, have an FBA account that:
- Is in good standing Has a feedback rating of 4.7 or higher Has been selling in FBA for three months or longer
If the option to enable Subscribe & Save is not available in your account settings, you are not yet eligible for the program. You can become eligible by improving your in-stock ratio and overall performance metrics. The option will be added automatically to your account settings when you become eligible.
To enable Subscribe & Save in your account settings:
In your seller account, in your Fulfillment by Amazon settings, locate Subscription Settings and click Enable Subscribe & Save. After reviewing the FBA Subscribe & Save program information, go to Subscribe & Save to add products to the program. Alternatively, eligible sellers can enroll in FBA Subscribe & Save from the Programs Portal.
Eligible product categories and discounts
Subscriptions are available to customers in the following product categories at the discounts listed. Customers who subscribed to products before August 31, 2016, get a 15% discount on those subscriptions until they are discontinued. You must continue offering a 15% discount on your products to those customers. Some product categories may require different criteria to be considered eligible. Products that are eligible for Subscribe & Save will appear on the product enrollment page.
| Beauty | 5% | 15% |
| Grocery | 5% | 15% |
| Health & Baby Care 2 | 5% | 15% |
| Automotive Parts & Tools | 5% | 10% |
| Electronics | 5% | 10% |
| Home Tools & Home Improvement | 5% | 10% |
| Industrial Supplies | 5% | 10% |
| Kitchen | 5% | 10% |
| Lawn & Garden | 5% | 10% |
| Musical Instruments | 5% | 10% |
| Office Supplies | 5% | 10% |
| Outdoors | 5% | 10% |
| Pet supplies | 5% | 10% |
| Sports | 5% | 10% |
| Toys | 5% | 10% |
1 Subscriptions per month includes subscriptions for products sold by other sellers.
2 Amazon Family customers get a 20% discount on diapers regardless of the number of subscriptions.
** The discount rates listed above do not apply for Amazon Business customers, who get a 5% discount on each product regardless of the category or number of subscriptions.
Subscribe & Save orders
There are two types of Subscribe & Save orders:
- Sign-up orders are the customer's initial order subscribing to a product in the Subscribe & Save program. In order for your Subscribe & Save offer to appear for a product, your offer must be the Buy Box offer. For more information, see How the Buy Box Works. Replenishment orders are created automatically according to the frequency set by the customer. Subscribe & Save customers can set deliveries at monthly intervals, from one to six months.
You can see your Subscribe & Save orders in the Transaction View of the Payments report page.
Seller performance metrics
Seller performance reviews are ongoing in order to ensure a positive Amazon customer experience. When evaluating performance, we consider such things as your ability to maintain inventory levels sufficient to meet customer demand, customer feedback, and Subscribe & Save order cancellations. Poor performance metrics may result in the suspension of your Subscribe & Save offers or your suspension from the Subscribe & Save program.
Could enrolling your products in Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program help your brand sell more?
The early days of online shopping were reserved for specialty items and non-essentials, like say, books, but that’s all changed. Now shoppers are going online for everything from their weekly grocery shop to beauty products and cleaning supplies. If they need it, they can (most likely) get it.
Many ecommerce platforms have already taken it one step further by offering subscription programs. Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program is one of them. Subscribe & Save is a great option for products that need regular replenishing, such as shampoo, supplements, household items, office supplies, and health and personal care items.
Subscribe & Save customers select the product, the quantity, and the frequency of delivery. A 5% discount is given per subscription, but if a customer receives products from 5 or more subscriptions in a given month, the customer will be given a 10% or 15% discount per subscription, depending on the product category. For example, customers receiving 5 or more subscriptions in the Beauty, Grocery or Health and Baby Care will receive 15% off, whereas 5 or more subscriptions in Kitchen, Office Supplies or Outdoor will only receive 10% off.
Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program facilitates repeat purchases and builds brand loyalty. It allows shoppers to put their essential shopping on autopilot, so they’re never doing a last minute run for diapers or toilet paper. Did you know Amazon even has a subcategory to Subscribe & Save called Family for young families regularly buying items such as diapers and baby food? I’m guessing this program has taken a chunk out of diaper sales at stores like Walmart and Costco.
Subscribe & Save can also be a great convenience option for brands selling in Gourmet & Grocery. It’s a great way to get unique food products in front of a new audience. A shopper is more likely to try a product if they know they can place it on repeat order if they like it, and this encourages them to move away from buying at the supermarket. For loyal consumers who know which brand they want, Subscribe & Save makes it easier for them to stay in stock. On the flipside, it lowers the chances of a consumer shopping around, thus increasing retention rates.
Some shoppers even put small consumables, like energy drinks, on Subscribe & Save to lower their per unit cost and still get their caffeine fix every day. This blog post also breaks down a few other items that are worth buying with Subscribe & Save, like deodorant and shampoo.
Subscribe & Save Success Stories
Bobsled is working with a few brands that have tried the Amazon Subscribe & Save program, and we’re happy to report that we’ve seen success. The recurring revenue that it brings to brands is undeniably beneficial if they can get a decent uptake among shoppers. Customers who are buying from you on a subscription basis may also be inclined to try other products you have on offer.
If your brand sells a consumable product that a household could replace their current brand with, Subscribe & Save is a great opportunity to build strong brand loyalty.
One client enabled Subscribe & Save on their whole catalogue of grocery replenishable items in late November 2017 and has seen a steady increase in the number of subscriptions each week. This client started with 299 subscriptions in mid November 2017 and by 12 February 2018, subscriptions were up to 966, an increase of 223% in just 3 months.
When we translate this to a proportion of revenue, we can see healthy growth. Between 12th December 2017 and 11th January 2018, revenue generated from Subscribe & Save orders represented 11% of total revenue for the period. Between 12th January 2018 and 12th February 2018, Subscribe & Save revenue represented 14% ot total revenue for the period.
When is the Subscribe & Save program not effective?
For every success story there is not-so-successful story. In fact, some shoppers have become wary of Amazon brands overpricing in order to compensate for the Subscribe & Save discounts. Of course, the convenience aspect of the program (and Amazon in general) cannot be underestimated, but brands need to ask themselves if they have the margin to offer a 5-15% discount to subscribers. Is the shopper loyalty valuable enough to offer attractive discounts?
Furthermore, if you can determine a high reorder rate for your products and your margins are slim, you may decide it’s not worth losing that 5-15%. In any case, shoppers are smart and are easily turned away if they feel they’ve been overcharged for a deal. Maintaining consistent pricing is an important component in building consumer confidence.
From our experience, we’ve discovered that luxury products do not sell as well on a subscription basis. Perhaps they are items that shoppers splurge on from time to time, or buy when they’ve gone on sale. Whatever the case, the Amazon Subscribe & Save program can be difficult for luxury products or big ticket items in general. These types of products are better off creating product bundles or limited-time promotions in order to increase market share.
Seasonal products likely won’t do well on this program either, because a good part of the country doesn’t care to receive shipments of sunscreen all year round. Once again, it’s best to make yourself known to shoppers during a time when they’re most likely to buy.
Alexa and Subscribe & Save
It makes sense that an order placed through Alexa would not default to Subscribe & Save, because shoppers could very easily order themselves a year’s supply of something they only meant to order one of. So, while ordering through Alexa is possible and convenient, shoppers need to manage their Subscribe & Save orders and settings through a computer or mobile device.
Amazon Pantry or Subscribe & Save?
Amazon has so many different programs at this point that it’s understandable where shoppers and brands are getting confused. These two different programs serve a slightly different purpose and are not available to all sellers on Amazon.
While Subscribe & Save allows shoppers to put a product on automatic reorder, Pantry allows shoppers to group together a variety of different items from different sellers and brands into one box for easy shipping. Prime Pantry products are shipped and sold by Amazon. com so third party professional sellers are not able to offer their products on Prime Pantry.
Seller or Vendor
Previously only vendor products were eligible for Subscribe & Save, which makes sense, considering Amazon needs control of shipping and customer service in order to make this program work.
As a vendor you really have no control over what Amazon adds to the Subscribe & Save program because they choose what gets sold where and for how much. As a seller using FBA you can decide what products to list on Subscribe & Save, create special bundles and offer special discounts. This allows you, as the seller, to test different discounts and product bundles to find your best-selling options.
If your brand is already offering product bundles with FBA, why not give Subscribe & Save a try to see if you can build that automatic brand loyalty?
Optimize your Subscribe & Save Offers
If you’ve decided to give the Amazon Subscribe & Save program a try, you’ll obviously want to know how to create offers that will hook shoppers. You can do that by:
Taking a look at your shoppers’ history. If you have repeat customers, how often do they order and how much? You can also estimate how much an average household would use your product and base your bundles/sizes off of that.
Create bundles that make sense. If you sell laundry detergent and fabric softener, you may benefit from creating bundles with a special discount just for Subscribe & Save orders. Same with shampoo & conditioner, cat food & litter; you get the idea. Listen to our podcast episode about creating product bundles for more tips here.
Shop your competitors. Take a look at the discounts offered by other brands on Amazon or in retail stores. Track retail store flyers over several months to determine how often your type of product goes on sale and by how much. If shoppers realize that they can just stock up at their local supermarket when something goes on sale instead of subscribing to your product, they’ll be less likely to order from you. This is especially true considering most Subscribe & Save products are non-perishables.
Try gearing some of your non-Amazon advertising towards the convenience of having your products delivered to shoppers’ doors on a regular basis. For busy families, especially those in urban areas with less storage space, the convenience of having a constant supply of something without having to lug it home or store it for months at a time will be worth it regardless of minor price differences. This kind of advertising may bring shoppers from elsewhere on the internet to your products on Amazon, hopefully creating a repeat customer in the process.
Ready to try it?
Before you enable Subscribe & Save on your items, you must have a professional Amazon seller account that is in good standing, has a feedback rating of 4.7 and has been selling with FBA for 3 months or more. You also must maintain an in-stock percentage of at least 85%. If you want to see what Subscribe & Save might do for your brand’s sales you can try it by:
Logging into your Seller Central account, going to Settings > Fulfillment by Amazon > Subscription Settings and enabling Subscribe & Save. Add your offers.
You can monitor the success of your Subscribe & Save offers by looking at the reports under Reports > Fulfillment and under Sales > Subscribe & Save Performance, or under Inventory > Subscribe & Save Forecasting.
If your brand is unsure of whether the Subscribe & Save program is right for you, the Bobsled team can help you determine if you should give it a try and how you can make the most of it. Contact us to find out more.
Subscribe and Save Less: Amazon. com Changes Anger Customers
Posted in Featured Articles | Comments Off on Subscribe and Save Less: Amazon. com Changes Anger Customers
In late 2012, Amazon. com ran a television commercial touting itself as the “re-inventor of normal.” Meanwhile, the company was altering its own normality, reducing discounts that customers had enjoyed for years through the Subscribe & Save, Amazon Mom and Amazon Prime programs. Over the years, Amazon’s willingness to sacrifice profit margins for high sales volume earned the company thousands of dedicated customers who had come to rely on them for affordable shipments of everyday essentials from bottled water to bathroom tissue. However, Amazon’s “new normal” has left some customers feeling cheated.
About Amazon Subscribe & Save
Amazon first announced the Subscribe & Save program in 2007. Through Subscribe & Save, customers could receive a 15 percent discount for buying common household and grocery items by the case if they agreed to receive additional shipments in the future automatically. Subscriptions required no commitment and could be cancelled without penalty. Customers could also receive additional shipments of items at the same discount anytime they liked. Subscribe & Save helped savvy customers save hundreds of dollars per year on groceries and other household items. Programs such as Subscribe & Save helped propel Amazon’s stock price from around $40 in early 2007 to over $90 at the end of the year. The price has since risen to over $250.
Amazon’s stock price has increased greatly since 2007 (courtesy of Yahoo! Finance).
Amazon’s Profits Decrease
In early 2012, Amazon reported that, in spite of the fact that sales had increased 35 percent over the final quarter of 2011, net profits were down 57 percent. Rich Smith of The Motley Fool believed that Amazon’s discount programs had cut into the company’s profits, but that the discounts were necessary to get people into the habit of shopping at Amazon so they would continue to do so when Amazon one day had to begin collecting state sales taxes. However, Amazon had something else in mind: having put customers into the mindset of buying virtually everything from them, they were about to begin slashing discounts as deeply as possible to see what their dedicated customer base would bear.
Amazon Cuts Subscribe & Save Discounts
In late 2011, Amazon began to lower the discount on many Subscribe & Save items from 15 to five percent. Customers in the habit of creating and cancelling subscriptions at will suddenly found that they were paying ten percent more for their usual purchases. Amazon’s Subscribe & Save Help page played it off like nothing had changed, stating “The discount on Subscribe & Save eligible products varies by manufacturer and product category.” Since the beginning of the Subscribe & Save program, Amazon had pledged to honor the original 15 percent discount on all active subscriptions if the discount for new subscriptions changed. However, some customers began to see cancellation emails announcing that Amazon was “no longer able to offer” certain items at a 15 percent discount under the Subscribe & Save program.
Amazon has cancelled some Subscribe & Save subscriptions and advised customers to purchase higher-priced items instead.
Amazon Ends Free Discounts for Moms
Around the same time, things were beginning to change for Amazon customers who had subscribed to the Amazon Mom discount program. In 2010, Amazon Mom was announced as a way to help Amazon customers save money on the two things that every baby requires massive quantities of: diapers and wipes. Simply for signing up, parents could enjoy free two-day shipping and 30 percent discounts on purchases of diapers and wipes. In 2012, however, the savings became less significant. Amazon lowered the discount on diapers and wipes to 20 percent and required customers to sign up for Amazon Prime at $79 per year to retain the discount past an initial three-month trial period. Parents who stuck with the Amazon Mom program and joined Amazon Prime could still enjoy less expensive diapers and wipes whenever they needed them — at least for a while longer — but many parents were dismayed by the fact that they suddenly had to pay for lower discounts than they previously received for free.
Subscribe & Save Less
By late 2012, Amazon had reduced the discount on all Subscribe & Save items to five percent with the exception of diapers and wipes, which remained at 20 percent for Amazon Mom members who upgraded to Amazon Prime. In October, however, some customers who created new Subscribe & Save subscriptions were surprised to see that the estimated shipping dates were up to one month in the future. Without notice, Amazon had changed the Subscribe & Save program so orders were no longer shipped immediately. Instead, all Subscribe & Save orders — even new ones — would ship only on the customer’s “scheduled delivery day,” once each month.
In the past, a customer who ran out of a Subscribe & Save item could have it re-shipped immediately at the same discount. By creating a scheduled delivery day, Amazon has eliminated this benefit; the discount no longer applies to unscheduled shipments. This is true even for Amazon Prime members; if your baby fails to use the bathroom on a regular schedule, the discount you’re paying for will not apply and you’ll pay full price for your diapers and wipes.
Amazon no longer honors diaper and wipe discounts for Amazon Prime members outside of their scheduled monthly shipment dates.
Amazon’s Response: No Comment
We contacted Amazon and requested a response regarding the concerns addressed in this article. In the message, we asked three direct questions:
Why weren’t customers notified that the Subscribe & Save discount was decreasing? Why weren’t customers notified that Subscribe & Save items would no longer be shipped immediately? Why can’t customers receive the Amazon Mom/Amazon Prime discount on diapers and wipes that they’re paying $79 per year for every time they order?
Amazon declined to address the questions:
I understand you are concerned with the changes for our Subscribe & Save program and I’m very sorry that you were not notified.
Don’t worry; this change is actually only applied for new subscriptions.
For your inquiry about Amazon Mom discount on diapers and wipes; as long as you’re an active Amazon Mom member and have an valid Prime membership, we’ll add the additional Amazon Mom discount to the discount you receive when you select Subscribe & Save delivery.
How to Get Discounts On Amazon
Updated: March 29, 2019
This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Together, they cited information from 11 references.
WikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article meets our high quality standards. Learn more.
Amazon has great prices, but sometimes you still want an extra discount. Fortunately, you have several options for finding Amazon discounts. A great way to get easy savings is to use one of Amazon’s own deal pages or savings offers. However, you can also find promo codes online for added savings.
Tip: You can access most of Amazon’s discount and coupon offers through the “Today’s Deals” link. Just look at the toolbar that appears at the top of the page, which has links to other discount offers.
Tip: If you shop on Amazon often, you may want to install a browser extension for a price alert site. When prices drop, the browser extension will send you a quick notification.
Tip: Don’t give out your payment information when trying to access promotional codes, as you may end up paying for something.
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