20 Amazon shopping hacks that will help you get the most out of the site during the holidays - even if you don't have a Prime membership

If you have access to an ".edu" email address you can sign up for Amazon Prime Student. You get a six-month trial of Prime Student and then pay 50% less than other Prime users ($6.49/month) for nearly all of the same perks after the trial ends. It lasts for four years — or until your listed graduation date, whichever comes first.

You'll also get access to special offers, which are deals and discounts Amazon partners offer student members specifically.

Prime members earn 2% rewards every time they reload their gift card balance with the debit card they designated as their Prime Reload card (something you'll be prompted to do when signing up). Just set up 2% rewards and then reload your gift card balance using your rewards payment method. Your 2% rewards will be added to your gift card balance at the same time you reload.

Trade in used items like cell phones, Kindle e-readers, gaming devices, and books for an Amazon gift card. You can also take advantage of frequent promo deals like getting an Amazon gift card plus 25% off a new Kindle E-reader or trade in a Roku, Apple TV, or Chromecast streaming media player to get up to $35 off a new 4K Fire TV device.

Instead of sending to your doorstep, you can pick an Amazon Locker in over 50 U.S. cities. Just go to 'Manage Address Book' in the settings section of your account, click 'Enter a new address,' and search for an Amazon Locker location using the search fields shown. You can search by address, zip code, landmark or Locker name. You can also add an Amazon Locker to your address book by scanning the QR code on the Locker screen itself.

Amazon Household lets you share select Amazon Prime benefits (like Prime shipping, Prime Now, and AmazonFresh) with another adult, teens, and children in your household. It can contain up to ten members.

For a limited time during the 2018 holiday season, there is no minimum purchase amount on orders delivered.

Paribus is a free tool that connects to the email account where you send your shopping receipts. From there, it tracks your receipts and stores' policies to see if you might be owed money (price drops, late deliveries, etc.). If they identify potential savings, Paribus will let you know and streamline the claim process to make it as easy as possible to get your money back.

Amazon doesn't have a price protection policy for any items (no refunds for price drops) but you could be eligible for money back for things like shipping fees if your delivery is late. During the holidays, you may experience delays due to high volume.

One of the least-known and best perks of Amazon is that you can use your leftover boxes to ship donations to local charities for free. Just go to GiveBackBox.com, click on the logo of the participating company you have a box sitting around from (like Amazon), type in your zip code and email address, and you'll get a prepaid shipping label emailed to you. After you've filled the leftover box with your donations, attach the label and schedule a UPS pickup. It won't cost you anything, and it's an easy and 'green' solution.

Plus, GiveBackBox will email you a tax receipt for your records once your box is received.

All you have to do is say “Alexa, what are your deals?” to hear a list of Alexa Deals that include daily deals up to 55% off. Alexa will also restock your home essentials just by asking, provide recommendations based on your previous orders and customer reviews and ratings, and can track your orders and confirm delivery dates. You can also turn on delivery notifications so Alexa tells you when an Amazon delivery is at your door.

Amazon also runs a frequent $10 discount for your first reorder of a product using an Alexa voice command.

During 2018 holiday season, you can also say "Alexa, donate to Toys for Tots" and Alexa will recommend a gift from the Toys for Tots charity list and confirm your purchase.

Amazon's free Release-Date Delivery is one great way to skip the lines and still get whatever you're waiting for on the very day that it comes out.

Just pre-order the item you want from Amazon's eligible items (spanning new video games, books, music, movies, and more) and choose 'Release-Date Delivery' at checkout and your package will arrive on release day by 7 p.m.

For Amazon Prime members, Release-Date Delivery is free when selecting Two-Day Shipping.

Use Amazon Smile to give back to charity when you shop. You can choose an organization dear (or local) to you and shop as normal. However, it's important to note that only about 0.5% of every purchase makes its way to charity, and you might do more good by giving more tangibly elsewhere. However, if you don't let shopping through Amazon Smile negate all the good you would have done otherwise, it's a good way to maximize your shopping.

Save up to 50% off previously used or returned items (like an Echo Plus or refurbished Echo) by shopping through Amazon Warehouse. You'll find everything from Amazon devices to unlocked cell phones and televisions with deep discounts.

If you got an Amazon gift card (or gifted one to yourself), you can reload it with $100 or more and receive a $10 reward on top of that if it's your first time. The offer is limited to one $10 reward per account, and is only available for Prime members.

If you have Amazon Prime but select 'Free No-Rush Shipping' at checkout, you can get a promotional reward or discount on your order. If you don't need your item right away, this is one of the easiest ways to get discounts immediately or rewards you can redeem later.

As a parent, you can sign up for family-related discounts through Amazon's Prime Family. You can get up to 20% off diapers and baby food among other things and a 15% completion discount on your baby registry (which you can build here). There's also a free Baby Registry Welcome Box full of full-, travel-, and sample-size products for parents-to-be and baby.

You'll also get continued access to exclusive deals and offers, and articles and helpful tidbits from experts based on your child's age.

You can start an Audible trial for 30 days and get two Audible Originals and two audiobooks as a welcome perk. Even if you cancel later, you'll still keep those titles forever.

If you're a Prime member, you may want to check out Prime Reading before paying for Audible ($14.95/month after trial). You might still decide you like Audible better, but Prime Reading gives Prime members access to a selection of 1,000+ of the most popular books and magazines at no extra cost to them. Prime members also choose one free Kindle book each month, and can download up to ten titles to borrow at a time. They can also shop hardcovers for $10 or less.

Use a Kindle, Fire tablet, or the Kindle app to access books and download them. Some even come with Audible narration.

Amazon First Reads basically gives members early VIP access to books before they're officially released. Members can download a Kindle book from Amazon's editors' picks each month before their release date. Non-Prime members get access by subscribing to the newsletter and pay $1.99 for the title, and Prime members get it for free.

Cut down on things you have to remember to buy every month and sign up for Amazon's Subscribe & Save program to get automatic deliveries of your favorite items. You'll also save up to 15% on the items you would buy anyway — though sometimes savings can get up to 30% off.

You can cancel or skip anytime, delivery is free, and they'll send you an email reminder before they ship anything.

Use Today's Deals on Amazon with the availability filter 'Upcoming' selected. From there, you can select "Watch this deal" to get updates on when certain deals go live so you can shop them first while supplies last or before time runs out.

If you missed the 30-day return window or would rather sell through Amazon because you understand the interface better than places like eBay, you can sell fewer than 40 items every month for only a $1 per sale fee (plus applicable selling fees based on category). There's also no monthly subscription fee to use it, so it's not concerning if it takes awhile for your item to sell.