X

Use Honey to save money on Amazon purchases

This popular browser extension has a new trick up its sleeve, and it's all about Amazon.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
2 min read

If you're anything like me, you consider saving money a sport. Of course, to get good at the game, you need the right gear.

Or, in this case, the right browser extension. Honey is a popular tool that can automatically dig up and apply coupon codes for thousands of online stores. But now it offers another feature, one that has the potential to save Amazon shoppers big bucks.

See, it's not uncommon to think that Amazon proper always has the lower price. And when you see that little "Prime" badge next to the price, you know you're getting free two-day shipping to boot. But consider this: any given product might be available from other vendors that sell through Amazon and might actually offer a lower price.

honey-amazon-camcorder.jpg
Enlarge Image
honey-amazon-camcorder.jpg

Honey won't always net you savings this big, but why not let it try?

Honey

That's where Honey comes in. Once installed, it displays another little badge alongside the price, this one indicating whether or not you're seeing the best price. They call this Cart Protection, but the idea is to catch you before you add a product to your cart and present you with a cheaper alternative.

If there is one. I looked at a lot of products and found very few instances where Honey was able to find a better deal. Granted, Amazon very often does have the lowest price, so it's not like Honey will save me money on every single thing I buy.

However, I did notice something interesting. I was looking at the Pebble Time Steel, the silver version of which was listed at $230.46 -- plus $13.83 in sales tax. But Honey found it for the same price without tax, ostensibly from a vendor that doesn't charge it. It would still be fulfilled by Amazon and even eligible for Prime shipping. But no tax!

honey-amazon-pebble.jpg
Enlarge Image
honey-amazon-pebble.jpg

Even if Honey just saves you sales tax, it's worth using.

Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET

That's $14 I definitely wouldn't have saved otherwise. (Please, don't lecture me about voluntarily paying Internet sales tax unless you've actually done so yourself. Didn't think so. ;) I found a similar "tax-bypass" option when shopping for a DJI Phantom 3 Professional and numerous other products.

Honey is available for all major browsers (except Edge and Internet Explorer), and there's no charge to use it. Even if it saves you only a few bucks here and there, it does so quickly and easily. Seems like a no-brainer add-on to me!