Amazon's price is a stack. What you see at the top of the product page is one layer; coupons, codes and membership discounts sit below it and only appear at checkout. Knowing the layers is how you avoid overpaying by $15 for the same item as the person next to you.
1. The strike-through "List Price"
The most visible and least useful number. It is the reference price the seller submitted, and Amazon only shows it if the product has actually sold at or near that price recently. Even so, treat it as a claim. Check the price history (CamelCamelCamel, Keepa, or our offer page) before believing a percentage.
2. Clippable coupons
A green or orange box under the price that says "Apply $10 coupon" or "Save 15%". You must click it. The discount is applied at checkout, not on the product page. Two traps:
- The coupon is usually one per customer and can expire mid-cart.
- Sellers sometimes raise the price and add a coupon of the same amount. The price history shows this.
We flag coupons in the offer title when the source reports them, and we show the "with coupon" price where we can.
3. Promo codes
A code you type at checkout (example: SAVE20NOW). They come from the seller, from deal sites, or from Amazon's own promotions page. Codes are more restrictive than coupons: usually a minimum order, a specific product variant, or a short window. Our offer titles keep the code when the source lists one, shown as a chip you can copy.
4. Lightning Deals
Time-limited and quantity-limited. The product page shows a countdown and a "claimed" bar. When you add the item to your cart, you have 15 minutes to check out before your claim expires and goes to the next person in line. These are where Amazon's real lows appear, especially during Prime Day and Prime Big Deal Days. They are also the most likely to be gone by the time you click. We mark Lightning Deals with an expiration and show "may have ended" after a few hours.
5. Subscribe & Save
A 5% discount (up to 15% with five or more subscriptions delivered together) on consumables. It stacks with coupons. The trick most people miss: you can subscribe, get the discount on the first delivery, and cancel before the second. Amazon allows it.
6. Prime-exclusive prices
A lower price shown only to Prime members, marked with the Prime badge. Non-members see the higher price. During Prime events, almost every headline deal is Prime-exclusive.
The stack, in order
Price on page → minus coupon → minus promo code → minus Subscribe & Save → Prime-exclusive price replaces the base price. Not every layer is available on every product, and coupon plus promo code rarely stack. The checkout page is the only place that shows the real total. Always look before you confirm.
A note on why we hide Amazon prices
As a member of the Amazon Associates program, we are only allowed to display Amazon prices pulled from Amazon's own API. We do not have API access yet, so our Amazon listings show the discount and the title but not a dollar price. Click through; the price on Amazon is current. This is a rule we follow, not a trick to make you click.