Thursday, July 18, 2019

How to Save 9% on Any Mattress on Amazon (and 5% on everything else)

Want to save 9% on any mattress on Amazon? (And 5% on everything else?)

Yup. It can be done.
Let's cut to the Chase (pun intended) -- the first step is opening the Chase Prime VISA credit card. Officially called the "Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card," this credit card (issued by Chase Bank) gives cash back of 5% on anything purchased on Amazon. (Well, almost anything. There are a few excluded items, like gift cards.)

It probably goes without saying, but you should ONLY use this method if you have the money on hand to pay off your purchase right away. If you use this to finance the purchase, the interest quickly wipes out any cash back you earn. I will also mention that you have to be an Amazon Prime member to take full advantage of this card. You can still use it, but the rewards are smaller if you're not a Prime member.

The way this savings is accomplished is by the Prime Visa card effectively counting every $1 of spending at Amazon as $5 for rewards purposes (obviously you don't PAY 5 times as much!). In the picture below, you can see that I spent $19.07 on Amazon, but the Prime Visa rewards calculated my points based on $95.35.

When cashing out your rewards, every rewards point is worth 1 cent. Therefore, my $19.07 purchase earned me $0.95 -- which comes out to 5% cash back!


You can then redeem your points for a variety of things, but I find the best value to be simply putting it into your checking or savings account.  (Click here to look into the Prime Visa Card!)

So where does the 9% come in you ask??? If you want to take your value to the next level, you need to also use the popular rebate portal known as Rakuten (until recently known as Ebates). This is a completely free browser plug-in that you can get for free here along with a $10 credit after your first purchase! It can be used for a bunch of websites (drug stores, car rentals, etc.), but we're focused on Amazon for this article.

Just make sure you don't have a ad blocker turned on, then shop on Amazon as normal with your Rakuten plug-in enabled. Rakuten doesn't earn cash back in every category on Amazon, but furniture (which includes mattresses!) is their 2nd most rewarding category at a whopping 4% cash rebate! -- only Amazon Exclusive Apparel is higher.

Your Rakuten cash rebate will accrue over time and they mail you a "big fat check" once per quarter (yes, they actually call it a "big fat check," and yes, it does actually come as a check in the mail!).

So, you can also put your BFC in your checking account, and congrats! You saved 9%!

My last "Big Fat Check" was worth $9.33
I have had no problem using Rakuten, but, as with anything of this nature, -- YRMV -- that is, "your results may vary." I can't guarantee that your computer won't do something funny and not track the reward. I know there is also an app that lets you use this on smartphones, but I've only tried the version on my Google Chrome browser on my computer.



What do you think? Have you ever used Rakuten for any large purchases before? Have you used the Amazon Prime Visa for any large purchases? Share your comments and success stories in the comments section!!!


I do not receive any compensation from Chase Bank in any way. Since the credit card is issued by the bank, and not directly by Amazon, I also don't get any referral fees or commissions if you open the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card. However, if you clicked on one of the links to Amazon on this blog and then bought something else on Amazon (like a mattress!), I would receive a referral fee. This costs you nothing.

I used a refer-a-friend link in this blog post to get to Rakuten's website. If you use this link, sign up, and make a purchase within a reasonable amount of time, I get a $25 referral bonus. This also costs you nothing -- actually, you get $10!!!

I am an Amazon Associate - I earn from qualifying purchases.