Hidden Perks of Amazon Prime

Free two-day shipping is just the beginning.

Most people use Prime for the free two-day shipping. Video streaming is another perk – but you probably knew that. Same goes for free Kindle books. But some Prime benefits are less familiar.

Take Dash Buttons. They’re about the size of a thumb drive and connect to Amazon through your Wi-Fi. Let’s say you’re running out of toilet paper. Simply push the Charmin button in your bathroom, and more rolls will arrive two days later.

Is two days too long? Your $99-a-year Prime membership can get you same-day delivery on a million items. There are two catches: You must live in an eligible city; and your order must total $35 or more. Need it even faster? Free two-hour deliver is available on 25,000 items.

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Yet another hidden perk of Prime is the ability to share your membership. The wrinkle: The person also shares access to your payment methods. Consider you partner in Prime carefully.

Take a look at more surprising benefits of a Prime membership.

Andrea Browne Taylor
Contributing Editor

Browne Taylor joined Kiplinger in 2011 and was a channel editor for Kiplinger.com covering living and family finance topics. She previously worked at the Washington Post as a Web producer in the Style section and prior to that covered the Jobs, Cars and Real Estate sections. She earned a BA in journalism from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She is Director of Member Services, at the National Association of Home Builders.