Tutorial - Placing Your First Order With Free Shipping

This post will be slightly long but I'll try to hand hold you to place your first order with free shipping to Singapore. I'm going to assume you have already setup your payment method and a shipping address in Singapore.

Step #1 : Find the items you want. Search for the items you are looking for and then check the box that says 'AmazonGlobal Eligible'.

Since I'm a fan of Terry Prachett and I particularly like Making Money, I'll use this as an example. Let's now go to Amazon. Follow me and type in 'Terry Prachett Making Money' in the search box near the top of the web page. You should see it as the first item in the search result.

Step #2 : Click the link to the item to get more details of the product. Since this is a book, there are a few versions of it.

We'll just stick with the 'Mass Market Paperback' version and add it to the cart. Leave the checkbox that says 'Yes, I want FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime' alone. I'll come to that in another post, I promise!

Step #3 : Just to make sure that this item can be shipped out of US, go to your cart and pay attention to the blue-background box on the right side. Click on the link 'Estimate your shipping and tax'.

Aha! It says 'Estimated shipping & handling : $9.98'. This pretty much confirms that we can indeed ship this book out of US.

Wait, but I want free shipping! Sure, this book is so good, I'm going to buy 20 copies and give it to my friends! Edit the Quantity of the item and key in '20'. Remember to hit 'Update' to get an updated cart. Now, take a look at the blue-background box again.

The cost to ship 20 copies of it is listed as $104.97. However, there is now an entry that says 'AmazonGlobal Saver' that says -$104.97, effectively negating the shipping cost. This is the confirmation that the books will be shipped for free to your doorsteps.

Step #4 : Checking out your shopping cart. Once you are ready, hit the 'Proceed to Checkout' button on the right. It's a striking yellow button so you can't really miss it. In the next page, you will be asked to pick your shipping address. If you have set it up previously, the address will appear here. If not, you will now have to key in this information.

Once you have picked the shipping address, you will now have to choose your shipping options. If you have followed the tutorial, there will be an option for 'FREE AmazonGlobal Saver (averages 9-14 days)' under 'Choose a shipping speed' -

You have to select this option. I repeat, you have to select this option. Amazon will default to paid shipping, regardless if you qualify. I cannot stress this enough. A lot of times, newbies just click through this screen and then realize they have no free shipping! Hit continue to select your payment method.

If you have not already set up a credit card, you can do so now. Note that if you are adding a new credit card, Amazon will ask you what is the currency of your card. You can just pick Singapore Dollars. Choose a billing address next. If this sounds very tedious, it is. This is the reason why I suggest you set up your payment and shipping address before hand. You can just pick when you're checking out.

Finally, you'll be presented a final page where Amazon shows you the details of

• Item and Quantity
• Shipping Address
• Payment Method and Billing Address
• Order Summary

Take a look at the Order Summary, on the right side of the page -

You'll immediately notice that Amazon wants to charge your card in SGD. This is probably because you have indicated that your credit card is in SGD. Let's change the currency to USD instead. Click 'Switch currency' and pick USD. Your Order Summary will now show the amount in USD.

Step #5 : Placing the order. I'll suggest you go through the final page one more time to make sure

• Items are correct
• Payment information is correct
• Shipping address is correct
• Checking out in USD
• There is no shipping charges levied

Once you're happy, hit the big yellow button that says 'Place your order in USD'. Congratulations! You've made your first purchase at Amazon with free shipping to your doorstep. You'll get an email from Amazon, thanking you for your business.

Now, obviously this is just an example to take you through the process. Once you're at the final page, you can always back off by clicking a very small link right at the bottom of the page to go back to Amazon's home page.

Realistically, you will be buying several items to make up the $125 cart. All you need to do is to repeat the search, filter, add to cart until you have enough. Need shopping ideas? Check back here! I'll also be sharing a few items which I have purchased in the past with some savings.

In the next few updates, I'll try to go through some of the issues you might encounter that prevents you from getting the free shipping options. Do check back!