November 2016 update: iLoveToReview has ceased its lovely service. It's a shame but quite understandable - "iLoveToReview No More" - as the letter says, I hope it will come up with something similar that's beneficial to all of us.
I think I've got a great deal by taking advantage of Amazon Prime and iLoveToReview, and today I'd like to share it with you. Everything happens at home with internet - order online and receive goods, write reviews online, and watch films online. I may never leave home again and die of obesity, but I want to make the most of fair deals that they offer.
iLoveToReview
I've written about iLoveToReview in my other website - "Reviewing iLoveToReview!" Basically you leave a product review in Amazon, and they'll issue you a discount code in turn. Massive discount. Items that usually cost £10-30 can be yours for free or as low as 99p. You may have seen a disclaimer in many of the Amazon customer reviews such as;
"I received this product in exchange for my honest and unbiased review."
It's not like you can order whatever you want and review whenever you want. They'll email you an invitation as often as 3-5 times a week for a specific product. You can simply ignore the email if you're not interested in the product. If you want the product and review it, click the link to agree that you will leave a review within certain period of time.
This works as a mutual benefit for both you and the merchants. You want products cheap or free, and the merchants who sell via Amazon want customer reviews - good or bad, but hopefully good reviews - to get their proud products featured by Amazon.
iPhone carrying case for free, a toasted sandwich machine for £1.99, decent watch for 99p, wool knit jumper for £4.99, medication for 1/10th of the price and so on.
But here is the thing - some offer free postage, but not all. They often charge £3.99 postage, in which case 99p deal will become £4.98. Still cheaper than the original price of course. It will tell you the total to pay in the email clearly. Express delivery service is also available with extra charge, which can defeat the purpose...
...unless you become an Amazon Prime member.
Amazon Prime Deliveries
With Amazon Prime, you never have to pay the postage. In fact you receive your goods by express courier for free, as early as the same day, next day and even on Sunday. It's fabulous when something I order online arrives at my door 6 hours later.
The membership costs you £79 per year. How you make the most of it in terms of the delivery charge really depends what you buy from Amazon. iLoveToReviewers could save costs there. If you receive goods 20 times a year and pay £3.99 postage every time = £79.80 in total. Depending on the Amazon-contracted retailer, they may charge more and they may charge less.
And the review aside, goods from Amazon's own distribution centres can be delivered free within 3-5 days. But as I said, it's great the Prime membership allows you to receive goods as early as the same day for absolutely free.
You can also pay the membership monthly, in which case £7.99 per month.
Prime Videos, Music and Kindle Books
Of course, free delivery is not just Amazon Prime is offering. You'll have free access to selected films / TV shows, music, Kindle books. Its cloud storage allows you to sync in between devices such as PC, phone, tablet and TV. It also lets you upload your own music collection as well as photos.
Personally I often use the music service and found it particularly useful when I used to work in the office. I would upload some music at home and listen to it online at work. Any music that you've ever purchased from Amazon is automatically listed and ready to play, and can be downloaded free. That's including all the albums I bought 20+ years ago in compact disc format. Amazing. "The Pointer Sisters? Jason Donovan Greatest Hits? Oh Ray..." said my colleague, no they were Christmas presents for my friends back in 1990's!
Streaming service is a hit & miss. It's great you can find songs that you like over any category and add them to your playlist. Or create your own "radio station" within your Prime platform. But of course only randomly selected tunes are free to listen. You see lot of songs from the pop chart available for free. So you search for another hit song and find it not free, but for £79 per year I think it's a fair deal.
Same applies to films; many titles from almost every category can be watched for free, which could keep movie lovers entertained for weeks, if not month. But you can't expect to watch many latest blockbuster hits unless you pay a few pounds extra.
If you own a Kindle device - you can borrow one book per month from "Kindle Owner's Lending Library".
Amazon Fire
You can watch the Prime videos on your TV - with some models you can watch them directly, or you can use your existing game console such as Playstation or Nintendo. We have our old Nintendo Wii that works. We can also listen to the Prime music and view photos using Wii.
If you don't have a device - Amazon Fire Stick is a handy little thing that sticks into the HDMI socket at the back of your TV. You buy it for £33.20, stick this in, connect to your wifi, connect to your Amazon account, and you can start watching films that are available for the Prime members.
Even if you don't have a Prime account, you can view YouTube, TV catchup services such as BBC iPlayer.
Although we have Wii to watch the Prime videos, we prefer to use Amazon Fire as it gives a sharper HD quality, and the remote controls better. Time flies, it's been 10 years since Wii was first released (and we still have it connected to our TV!) so that's not a surprise.
Amazon Prime, iLoveToReview and Fire
If you like posting reviews in Amazon, iLoveToReview is a great alternative way to get things at a discounted price. Your reviews must be unbiased though. Personally I can get too serious and spend up to a day to write a review, examine the product with a tape measure and agonise over the decision as to how many stars to give.
Overall I "love" to review using iLoveToReview, enjoy various products a couple of times a month for less than a few pounds, therefore the free delivery with Amazon Prime is well worth it, in my opinion. AND get to watch trashy horror films any time we want.
