Using Amazon's 'Try Before You Buy' Program? Beware This Pitfall

It could end up costing you a lot of money.

There are plenty of good reasons to pay for an Amazon Prime membership. For one thing, that membership gives you access to free two-day shipping on purchases of any amount. Normally, you need to spend $25 on Amazon to qualify for free shipping, and you could end up waiting a week or longer for your items to arrive.

Prime members also get to enjoy free TV, movies, and music streaming, as well as free monthly book downloads. And as a Prime member, you might also have the option to turn Amazon into your own personal dressing room.

Amazon has a Try Before You Buy program that's limited to Prime members. Under this program, you can have items like clothing and shoes shipped to your door without having to pay for them upfront.

From there, you get a seven-day window to try on your items and decide if you want to keep them. If you do, you'll check out as you would for any other Amazon order. And if you don't want your items, you can simply return them and avoid having your credit card charged.

The Try Before You Buy program clearly offers Prime members a world of flexibility. But there's one trap you'll want to avoid if you're going to take advantage of it.

Don't get charged for items you don't want

Clothing and shoes can be some of the trickiest items to purchase online. That's because you don't know how a given item is going to feel or fit until it's actually on your body.

Try Before You Buy helps remove the financial risk associated with not being sure of what size you need. Rather than pay for an item only to have to return it and sit tight for a refund, you can avoid paying a dime until you're certain the item is a keeper.

But if you're going to use the Try Before You Buy program, make sure to pay close attention to when each seven-day try-on period ends. If you don't send your items back to Amazon on time, you'll end up being charged for them.

A good way to use the Try Before You Buy program

It's easy to let an errand like an Amazon return fall by the wayside. So if you're going to use the Try Before You Buy program, pay attention to when your items ship out so you know when to expect them (Amazon should give a delivery estimate). Then, schedule a task on your calendar to try on your items and potentially return them once they're set to arrive.

For example, if your anticipated delivery date is a Monday, schedule an hour from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday to try on your items and head over to a UPS store or other location to return them that night if they don't work for you. Having that task scheduled ahead of time will make it less likely that you'll forget to get it done as life gets busy -- and that you'll end up with an unwanted credit card charge in the process.