Amazon subscribe-and-save price for wildly fluctuating item

March 16, 2024 8:14 AM

I buy diapers for my daughter from Amazon. The price varies from $50 a pack up to $95. I've got a camelcamelcamel alert set up so that I know when low prices happen, but sometimes there are long stretches between low prices and our stock runs out. I see that there's an option to "Subscribe and Save" 5%-15%, but... what's the subscribe-and-save price? Is it whatever the price is that day, i.e. it'll bounce around between $50 and $95? Or is the price locked in when you first subscribe?
posted by clawsoon to Shopping (7 answers total)

Best answer: You get a notice with subscribe and save about your future shipments with prices, and you can manage the delivery (skip, cancel, etc). You could set this up and see if the price is favorable, and otherwise defer to the ad hoc purchase if not.
posted by zachxman at 8:17 AM on March 16 [2 favorites]

Best answer: The price can change each month and you definitely have to keep an eye on it. The notice zachxman mentions comes each month, so you do have to watch for it.
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:20 AM on March 16 [2 favorites]

If Costco is a possibility for your lifestyle, we've found the best prices there for diapers and wipes (and Kirkland wipes are the best brand I've tried).
posted by nouvelle-personne at 8:23 AM on March 16 [8 favorites]

Also target house brand is great.
posted by atomicstone at 8:39 AM on March 16 [2 favorites]

Agreed with everyone else. I sub/save several products. You get an email re reviewing the delivery before it's sent so as long as you're a person who stays up-to-date on email, no worries. You can cancel the delivery if you want.
Also, you can cancel the sub/save at any time lilke others said. I find it really useful.
posted by atomicstone at 9:00 AM on March 16

The first month you set up a subscription the price is locked to what it was when you set up the subscription, then it varies to what the price is a few days before your subscription ships. But there’s nothing stopping you for setting up a new subscription if you notice the price is lower/there’s a coupon at another time in the month, and that’ll relock the price to that lower amount.
posted by smangosbubbles at 9:28 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]

Note that the subscription comes with no commitment. I accept the offer to subscribe on everything it's available on. You immediately get the lower price and once the order is processed (which is right away), I then cancel the subscription. You can do this as much as you wish.
posted by dobbs at 12:22 PM on March 16 [3 favorites]