Amazon deals

If you go via this Amazon* link, you can find totally free comic books and graphic novels to download for your Kindle. The link will take you to the 'Top 100 Free' in the Comic Book & Graphic Novels section, where there are many popular comics and TV show-turned-graphic novels.

These aren't the only free ones though, and you can view the full selection* via this link, including new releases for Comic Book Day (2 May).

We've asked Amazon for more information on how long these popular books will be free, but we've yet to hear back, so if there's something that catches your eye, download it quickly as prices may change. We'll let you know here as soon as we know more.

Top titles we spotted on Tue 4 Jun include:

• The Amazing Spider-Man*
• Doctor Who (2018)*
• Stranger Things (2019)*
• Star Wars: Obsession (2004-2005)*
• The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion Ashcan*
   

If comic books aren't your thing, there are free Kindle books in other genres too (see Top 100 Free Kindle books* on Amazon). You can also check out our top 10 novel MoneySaving tricks to get must-read Kindle books for FREE (or just 99p).

Students can get free Amazon Prime for six months, which includes next-day deliveries plus access to Amazon's video and music streaming services, Kindle lending library and photo storage (usually £7.99 a month for non-students) when you sign up to Amazon Student*. After the trial ends, you can get 50% off full Prime membership (£3.99 a month).

From Thursday 15 September, Amazon's increasing its Prime prices to £4.49 a month for students (£8.99 a month for non-students). See our Amazon buying tricks guide for more on this and how to beat the hike. 

How do you sign up for Amazon Student?

You must be a UK student aged 18+, with a .ac.uk email address, or if you've not got one of those, send an email from the address that's linked to your Amazon account to amazon-student-verification@amazon.co.uk giving proof of enrolment (see the full terms and conditions). Even if you've already had an Amazon Prime or Amazon Family free trial, you can still take up this offer.

While the trial is free, this is a subscription offer, so you'll need to enter card details and diarise to cancel or you'll be charged once the trial ends. There's no obligation to continue with the paid subscription. Once you graduate or after four years (whichever's first) the price for Prime will jump to £7.99 a month. To cancel, go to Your Prime Membership. 

If you're missing Lovefilm – a service where you used to get DVDs in the post, which was bought by Amazon in 2011, did you know your Prime membership gets you access to free films and TV series via Amazon Prime Video*?

It’s available to all Prime members, including those on the free 30-day trial, which is where the trick comes in (see how to get it below).

What is Amazon Prime Video?

You can buy or rent titles as well as watch those included free, such as TV shows The Grand Tour*, Vikings* and Lucifer*, and movies such as Gone Girl*, Inception* and Your Name* on any compatible internet-connected device, eg, games consoles, smart TVs, most smartphones and some set-top boxes. You can only access it in the UK, though –except for selected 'Amazon Originals' titles which you can watch abroad.

Trick to get it for free if you're not a Prime member

You can get a free one-month Amazon Prime Trial* (usually £7.99/month or £79/year) if you're a Prime newbie, though a few previous trialists may be offered another trial. To check, log into your Amazon account, follow the link and see if it says "try Amazon Prime free". However, if you don't cancel before the trial ends, Amazon will take £7.99 or £79 from your account, depending on whether you chose to pay monthly or annually - so diarise to cancel if you don't want to continue your membership. See how to cancel in our full Amazon Tips guide.

How to use Prime Video

You can browse the Included with Prime* list and select a title. If the title is available via Prime Video, it will show a cost of £0.00 with the Prime symbol next to it. Once selected, it will appear in your watchlist in the same way as other film/TV purchases.

Amazon often offers 75% and better reductions, yet it directs people to other areas, sending them to higher profit margin products instead. This tool manipulates Amazon's web links to display all heavily-reduced bargains.

Go to the Amazon Discount Finder and choose your department.

Next, pick your discount and price range and choose whether you want free delivery.

The tool will then generate a bespoke page full of discounts which fit your search terms.

Though the Amazon Discount Finder is great for finding hidden bargains, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's the cheapest you can get them. Read the Amazon Buying Guide below the tool before buying.

Amazon Prime members can now read selected magazines and e-books for free with its new digital 'borrowing' service, Prime Reading*. It’s available to all Prime members, including those on the free 30-day trial - which is where the trick comes in (see how to get it below).

What is Prime Reading?

It's available for Kindle and Fire tablets and via the Kindle app (iOS and Android). It offers 1,000+ titles on a rotating basis - including books, magazines and comics – which Amazon says will be 'regularly' updated.

‘Borrowing’ basically just means adding the book to your library as though you’d bought it – but it’s only yours for as long as you’re a Prime member (or on a trial). You can borrow up to 10 titles at once per Amazon Prime account (across multiple devices), but if you end your Prime membership, they’ll disappear.

Trick to get it for free if you're not a Prime member

You can grab a free one-month Amazon Prime Trial* (usually £7.99/month or £79/year) if you're a Prime newbie, though a few previous trialists may be offered another trial. To check, log into your Amazon account, follow the link and see if it says "try Amazon Prime free". However, if you don't cancel before the trial ends, Amazon will take £7.99 or £79 from your account, depending on whether you chose to pay monthly or annually - so diarise to cancel if you don't want to continue your membership. See how to cancel in our full Amazon Tips guide.

Screenshot of Vogue available via Prime Reading

How to use Prime Reading

To add a book to your library, find the title in the Kindle store or browse the Prime Reading list* (the list can only be viewed by Prime members) and select a title. If the title is available via Prime Reading, it will show a cost of £0.00 with the Prime symbol next to it (see image). Once selected, it will appear in your Kindle library in the same way as other e-book purchases. 

Examples of books included:

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
• The Moaning of Life by Karl Pilkington
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• Stranger Child by Rachel Abbott
• Holy Island by LJ Ross
  
  

Examples of magazines included:

• Good Housekeeping
• Glamour
• National Geographic
• Time
• Vogue
• Men’s Health
• Wired
  
  

Examples of comics included:

• Star Wars
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Attack on Titan

Want to party like it's 1999? Turns out you can! Amazon's Autorip service* lets you stream or download the MP3 version of many physical CDs or vinyl you buy, for free - yet this can also apply to music you've bought from Amazon at any time since 1999.

You can potentially recover 21 years of forgotten music - from CDs you've lost, damaged or thrown away, and MP3s you downloaded that have since been wiped from your devices.

How do I reclaim my old music?

Check your Amazon Music* library to see if you've any past albums available to stream and download. Bear in mind, it can take a while for Autorip to locate your music. It's also worth noting only CDs and vinyl which were sold and dispatched by Amazon, and have the Autorip logo displayed alongside them are eligible to be reclaimed.

The biggest musical treasure trove at MSE belonged to former MSE staffer Darryl, who had 150 albums going back 13 years - they took about 10 minutes to get.

Success stories from the MSE Forum:

"Wow! 11 albums equating to 118 songs. How fab is that? Thanks MSE" - Elliesmum

"21 albums and 386 songs - brilliant!" - Shezzieh

"Thought this was brilliant, then realised I'd bought the mother-in-law a Susan Boyle CD... ugh" - GingerJuice (who clearly got a lot more than they bargained for)

To explore new music as well as old, you might like to take up a free three-month trial of Deezer Premium.

There are always ways to save money at Amazon*, so even if there isn’t a cracking deal out there that works for you, don’t assume you can’t cut your costs further.

Ways to save include:

• Daily deals. Amazon offers two types of one-off deals: "Deals of the Day", running daily for 24 hours from 00.01am to 11.59pm and "Lightning Deals", posted as often as every 15 minutes and lasting between two and six hours. We'll be updating this article and on Twitter @MSE_Deals with Amazon's strong one-off deals, especially over Black Friday and Amazon's flash sale events.


• 75%+ off bargains. Check our Amazon Discount Finder tool to find Amazon's secret price reductions.


• Check out similar retailers, eg, Rakuten and any other major retailers that sell what you're looking for. If you're not committed to buying from Amazon, check out our deals from Rakuten, Argos, John Lewis, Currys, where there may be a better offer.


• Want more? Check out our 22 Amazon Buying Tips.


• Had a problem with Amazon? There’s a free online tool you can use to complain – it helps draft, manage and if necessary escalate your complaint. It’s offered by a firm called Resolver, which we like so much we work with it to help people get complaints justice – you can use it to complain to Amazon*.
  
  

If you spot any hot deals out there we have missed (we are human after all!), please let us know on Twitter @MSE_Deals or by emailing msedeals@moneysavingexpert.com.