3 Amazon Prime Traps to Avoid at All Costs

Amazon Prime costs $14.99 a month, but if you're willing to pay for a year of it at a time, you'll spend $139 instead. And that fee may be more than worth it considering the many benefits you'll get.

Still, it's important to manage your Prime membership carefully. And that means avoiding these potential traps.

1. Ordering items to justify your membership

It's not a great thing to pay for a service you don't get good use out of, whether it's Netflix, a gym membership, or a monthly beauty box subscription. The same holds true for Amazon Prime. You don't need that extra credit card charge if you're not getting much out of it.

But if that's the case, you may want to consider canceling your Prime membership. What you don't want to do is force yourself to place orders on Amazon for the express purpose of using your membership. That's just silly.

2. Assuming you'll always get two-day shipping

One of the main benefits of Amazon Prime is scoring free two-day shipping on purchases of any amount. But that doesn't mean every single item you purchase on Amazon will be eligible for two-day shipping.

Some third-party merchants can't ship orders out that quickly. And some even pass the cost of shipping onto customers -- and those charges apply whether you're a Prime member or not. Pay attention to shipping terms and charges before placing any given order so you're not thrown for a loop.

Also, recognize that while many Amazon Prime orders are eligible for two-day shipping, sometimes, things happen. Weather delays and staffing shortages could make it so an order that's supposed to arrive on a Tuesday comes on Thursday instead. If you're on a tight deadline, don't assume that Prime will always come to the rescue.

3. Assuming every item is eligible for return

Many Amazon items are eligible for free shipping as well as free returns, but that's not always the case. So before you place an order, read the fine print. If it's a new item you're taking a chance on, you may want to head to a store rather than get stuck in a situation where you can't get a refund or where you have to pay a lot of money to send an item back.

Also, while many Amazon Prime orders are eligible for free returns, there's a limited window for getting your money back. That's something you should also pay attention to.

Amazon's Try Before You Buy program, for example, gives you seven days to sample clothing and footwear before deciding whether to keep your items or send them back. If you don't act quickly enough, you might have to pay for those purchases even if you decide you don't want them.

Amazon Prime is a great program that many consumers feel is worth the money. But that doesn't mean you don't need to be careful when utilizing it. At a time when life has gotten so expensive and so many people are raiding their savings accounts just to stay afloat, you can't afford to waste or lose money due to these or any other Prime-related blunders.