The Ultimate Guide to Autoship and Subscribe & Save Discounts

Autoship and product subscriptions provide more than just convenience – they provide the key to huge savings every single year. Big retailers like Amazon, Chewy, Sephora, Petco, Staples, PetSmart all offer this special feature that you can use to get valuable discounts.

What is an Auto-Delivery Order? (AKA Autoship)

Autoship is an umbrella term for any retailer’s automatic purchase and delivery service set to your frequency of choice. This includes Amazon’s Subscribe & Save, Chewy’s Autoship, Petco’s Repeat Delivery, Sephora’s Auto-Replenish, and Staples’ Auto Restock.

Autoship and ‘Subscribe & Save’ functions are popular checkout features that allow customers to save time and money by scheduling regular deliveries of a product. These programs are designed to make it easier to restock a product in your pantry while also offering significant cost savings. With autoship, customers can choose how often they receive their deliveries (monthly, every 6 weeks, etc.), and the products will be scheduled to ship regularly without requiring any further action on the customer’s part.

Autoship is a convenient service for shoppers who want to simplify their shopping experience and avoid the hassle of manually ordering the same items. 

Why Do Businesses Provide Autoship?

Businesses offer autoship or repeat delivery programs to provide convenience for customers, encourage repeat purchases, generate reliable revenue, build customer loyalty, and compete with other retailers. By offering these programs, businesses can provide a better shopping experience while also improving their bottom line.

It requires a bit more effort to cancel than an ordinary one-time purchase, so the function itself encourages customers to engage with a store for longer periods, but customers remain free to skip deliveries or cancel altogether at any time.

Which Stores Offer Autoship Discounts?

We’ve broken down which stores offer subscription discounts, how much you can save at each store, as well as the qualifications for free shipping: 

• Amazon Subscribe & Save discounts 5% off select products and up to 15% off when you subscribe to 5 items. Additional coupons may be clipped and stacked upon Subscribe & Save. Prime members get free shipping on all auto-delivery orders, while non-Prime members have to add $25 worth of qualifying products for free shipping.

• Chewy Autoship offers 5% off on select brands and up to 35% off your first Autoship order (maxes out at $20). This may be stacked with another promo code for huge savings. On even more select brands, Chewy offers 50% off your first-time autoship and 10% off your second autoship. Free 1-3 day shipping applies on orders over $49.

• Petco Repeat Delivery offers 35% off your first order and 5% off future orders. Customers can use the first order autoship discount three times per year, and the promotion redemption time frame will reset a year after the first redemption. Repeat Delivery promotions are also only available once per SKU. Free shipping on orders over $35. 

• PetSmart Autoship offers 35% off your first order (savings max out at $30) and 5% off future orders. Free shipping for Treats members on orders over $49. 

• Staples Auto Restock allows you to save up to 10% off: subscribe to one item to save 5%, or subscribe to at least two items to earn 10% off! Free delivery on orders over $25 for Plus and Elite Rewards members.

• Sephora Auto-Replenish grants 5% off all beauty subscription deliveries with free shipping every time! Some brands will partner with Sephora to offer higher discounts, so look out for those as well. Sign into your Sephora account for free shipping.

More businesses who carry discounted product subscriptions include: Pet Supplies Plus, PetFlow, Pet Supermarket, Entirely Pets, Walmart Pet Rx, Origins, GNC.

Tons of smaller storefronts provide an autoship or subscribe and save function. Consider categories such as beauty replenishments (Think Goodness, DevaCurl), pantry staples (Chef’s Cut Jerky, Goodles, Good Earth Tea), and pet supplies (JustFoodForDogs).

Target and CVS used to offer Autoship savings but have since rolled them back.

Autoship and save offers are slightly different from pure subscriptions. Typical subscription services (i.e. streaming, loot crates, mystery boxes, meal prep) sell you a recurring service by default. Autoship saving offers are different because they are entirely optional ordering services that grant discounts for loyalty to consumable, one-time purchases. 

How Do I Use Autoship?

Whether you're shopping on Amazon or Sephora, the process of using autoship is pretty much the same.

1. Step 1: Sign in or create an account on the retailer site.

2. Step 2: Find the product or products you would like to subscribe to. It’s helpful to filter your search results for qualifying purchases or find a list of qualifying products. 

3. Step 3: Select the subscription or automatic delivery function, then schedule the frequency of delivery. 

4. Step 4: Place your order!

5. Step 5: If you’re hacking this deal or only truly want this product once, view your order, select the link or button to manage your subscription, then cancel it! Here’s how to cancel Amazon Subscribe & Save.

If you like the convenience, consistency, and base autoship discount, then you’re done! However, if you’re looking to hack this deal for maximum savings, keep reading. 

How Do You Hack Autoship for the Best Deals?

The simplest way to hack subscription discounts is to subscribe for one order then cancel right after. You can further hack Amazon by bundling and clipping coupons, and further hack pet supplies like dog food by shopping several storefronts. Read more on how to save 5%-40% off on Amazon deals, and save hundreds of dollars on dog food each year.

How to Get Huge Amazon Discounts with Subscribe & Save

Amazon Subscribe & Save regularly discounts 5% off your orders and bumps savings up to 15% off if you subscribe to 5 items. Here’s how to leverage your 15% off, and then some.

• Change your product size. If you’re having trouble finding 5 items you regularly buy, try dividing up the size count (i.e. 5 orders of 1 oz. instead of 1 order of 5oz.).

• Reach 10% off on select brands. For example, this collagen peptide powder supplement actually starts at 10% off every order, even at just one item.

• Use filler items. If you only really want one product, here’s a list of cheap filler items that can bump you up to 15% off your primary purchase.

• Discover competitive, premium products. If you want to maximize your dollar savings, look for deals on bigger ticket items. Measured up against competitors, Subscribe & Save has formidable savings on more premium products of paper towels, water filters, hypoallergenic wet wipes, dietary supplements, and pet supplies. These are all items that retail at around $20-$60 that you can get big bucks back on. Start your shopping journey with Amazon’s most popular item subscriptions.

• Clip coupons. Regularly check in on Amazon’s Subscribe & Save coupon clippings. Save up to 50% off dog treats, facial cleansers, and more by clipping and stacking.

• Stack, save, and cancel. Another source of curated coupons to stack comes from the enormously popular Twitter account @FatKidDeals. We’ve created a hard-coded URL filter to view their latest, limited quantity Subscribe & Save deal hacks. 

• Clip and code. You can also get extreme savings by clipping coupons (automatic apply) then entering a promo code on top at checkout, on top of Subscribe & Save. Extreme discounts are dug up by Twitter trackers and other sites. Here’s a constantly updated & tested list of codes for specific product codes on Amazon. We’ve also generated a handy hard-coded URL filter for a feed of extreme Subscribe & Save discounts.

To demonstrate just how much you can save with Amazon Subscribe & Save, here’s a common example.

How to save on baby wipes with Subscribe & Save

You can get a very standard brand’s 720-ct. baby wipes at Costco for around $23. But some families are willing to go for a premium brand that is ultra-hypoallergenic, plastic-free, and top-rated for sensitive skin (savvy shoppers care about quality too, after all – not just the lowest price). 

This package of WaterWipes is one of Amazon’s best-selling subscriptions, starting at $38.32. The same product is $45.99 at Target and $42.99 at Walmart. When I subscribe, the price lowers to $36.33 on my first delivery. I then clipped an additional coupon and lowered the price down to $27.24 — almost halving the list price. And if you add 4 more items to your subscription, leave it on and enjoy 15% off future deliveries on WaterWipes. 

How to Save Money on Dog Food with Autoship

Let’s see how much you can save on the best-selling dry food for dogs. Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Adult Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe Dry Dog Food is a top seller on Chewy and Amazon, and its lowest retail price is $72.98 for a 34-lb bag. Here are my biggest savings on Blue Buffalo, step by step:

1. At Chewy, I’ve brought this $80 bag of food down to $34.44 by activating the first Autoship discount and stacking a coupon code on top. In this process, I tried Honey and SimplyCodes until I found the best deal on SimplyCodes this time around. This comes out to $1.01 per pound of food!

1. I then checked out a 30-lb bag at PetSmart for $42.24 on the first shipment ($1.41/lb). Here my sayings hit $22.75 on the site, surpassing the alleged $20 limit. I found no promo codes today, so I activated 1-2% cashback on my browser extension.  

2. I then checked out another 30-lb. bag at Pet Supermarket for $48.99, with no coupon stacking permitted. 

Bringing it all together, let’s put this into real-life application. If you feed your 15-lb dog at the absolute cheapest market price, it’ll still cost $218.94 for dog food for one year. If you follow the steps outlined above, then you get this food at $1.33/lb and will pay $125.67 for 11 months of food. With some coupon strategy, you’ve lowered your monthly dog food costs by 37% for one year, and you can keep doing this until you clear all the pet supply sites of their promotions. 

Then, when you’ve run out of first-time 35% off discounts, you may find the best deal for bulk orders (Surprise, it’s NOT Costco) which would be two 30lb bags for $111.96 at PetFlow, with 10% off autoship for LIFE. Sometimes you’ll find a better code, such as “$25 off $100+” but this is the BEST deal for Autoship now, bringing you down to $1.68/lb for life until you switch dog foods. 

Long story short:

• 1st Autoship + stack code @ Chewy, then cancel to save 47% off!

• 3-4 more 1st Autoships at storefronts like Petco, PetSmart, Pet Supplies Plus, Pet Supermarket for 30-35% off. Remember to subscribe and cancel so you can keep stringing along the first Autoship promotion.

• When you’re ready to settle, Autoship for life at PetFlow for 10% off every order.

• Save on dog food every year with a happy pup!

Get the Best Deals With Autoship

There are endless promotional discounts and deal-hacking strategies out there today, and automatic delivery discounts are some of the best and most creative ones out there. Leverage the convenience of product subscriptions as a consumer, or extend it a step further by taking advantage of the unique promotional prices outlined in this article. Remember – the best deals are not only the ones with the fewest dollar signs, but savings on products that are valuable and useful to you and your lifestyle. And if you know where to look, you can almost always find a promo code for online purchases. With patience and clever shopping habits, you can get the items that make your life better at a price that makes your wallet happier.