Don‘t Have a Credit Card? Here‘s How to Get Amazon Prime For Free
Do you want to try out an Amazon Prime membership but don‘t have a credit card to sign up? Not to worry – you can now get a completely free 30-day Prime trial without needing a credit card at all!
In this detailed guide, I‘ll walk you through how to sign up for the free trial using a temporary virtual card instead of your real credit card information. It only takes a few minutes to get set up. Then you‘ll have 30 days to enjoy all the Prime perks risk-free!
Here‘s what I‘ll cover:
- The benefits of Amazon Prime and why the free trial is worth it
- Exactly how the free trial works
- Step-by-step instructions to sign up without a credit card
- Tips to cancel before you get charged
- Answers to frequently asked questions
Let‘s get started so you can access Prime Video, free shipping, and more – no credit card required.
Why Try Amazon Prime Free for 30 Days?
Before we get into how to get the trial, let‘s look at why you should want to try Amazon Prime in the first place…
Prime gives you access to a ton of benefits that can make life more convenient and entertaining. Here are some of the best perks:
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Free 2-day shipping – You get free fast delivery on over 100 million products. No minimum order needed. This can save you a ton on all the stuff you‘d normally buy on Amazon.
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Unlimited streaming video – Enjoy thousands of movies and TV shows via Prime Video. It‘s like Netflix included free with Prime!
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Ad-free music – Access over 2 million songs on Prime Music with zero ads interrupting your jams.
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Free books & magazines – Prime Reading gives you instant access to popular books, magazines, and comics to read on any device.
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Cloud storage – Store unlimited photos on Prime Photos and access them from anywhere. No more paying for extra iCloud storage!
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Prime Gaming – Take advantage of free games, in-game content, and a free Twitch channel subscription every month.
Those are just a few of the many perks. A Prime membership normally costs $139 per year (or $14.99 monthly), but you can try it all out with the free 30-day trial.
After your trial, you can decide if you want to keep the membership or not. There‘s no obligation to continue if you don‘t find it worthwhile.
But when you consider over 200 million people are already Prime members, the odds are in favor of you loving it too!
How the Free Amazon Prime Trial Works
Normally, Amazon requires you to enter a credit card when signing up for the free trial. After 30 days, they‘ll start charging the card for a full Prime membership.
But you can bypass that requirement by using a virtual credit card instead of your real one.
Here‘s an overview of how it works:
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Get a virtual card – This is a temporary debit or credit card number that masks your real info. It expires after 30 days so Amazon can‘t charge you.
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Sign up for Prime – Use the virtual card details when you enroll in the 30-day trial.
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Enjoy the benefits! – For the next 30 days you can use Prime services like free shipping and streaming media.
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Cancel before it ends – Be sure to cancel before the 30 days so you don‘t get charged. Since your virtual card expires anyway, you won‘t be billed.
Pretty simple right? In the next section, I‘ll explain how to get a virtual card and walk through the signup process step-by-step.
Step 1: Get a Virtual Credit Card Number
The first step is to get a temporary virtual credit card to use for the Prime trial. This hides your real card details from Amazon.
You have a few options for getting a virtual card number, including:
Privacy.com
Privacy.com is my top recommendation because it‘s 100% free to use.
Here‘s how it works:
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Sign up for a free Privacy.com account. You‘ll need to verify your identity.
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Generate a virtual Visa card. Be sure to set the expiration date to 30 days from now – the length of the Prime free trial.
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Add a small amount of funds to your virtual card from a linked bank account or card. Even $1 is enough to sign up for Prime.
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Use the card details to enroll in the Prime free trial.
The benefits of Privacy.com are that it‘s really simple to get a virtual card number, you can pause or cancel the card anytime, and again – it‘s totally free!
Capital One Eno
If you already have a Capital One credit card, you can use their Eno browser extension to generate virtual card numbers.
Just install Eno, link to your Capital One card, and generate a new number. Set it to expire after 30 days with a $1 limit.
Then use that digital CC to sign up for your Prime free trial. Pretty handy if you‘re a Capital One customer already.
Citi Virtual Account Numbers
Citi cardholders can also create virtual card numbers through the Citi app or website. Just like the other options, you can set an expiration date and low limit on the digital card.
Prepaid Cards
You could purchase a prepaid Visa card and register it with a small balance. This does cost a few dollars upfront though.
As long as the card number is valid for 30 days, it will work for getting the Amazon Prime trial.
Privacy.com is the easiest free option in my opinion, but choose whichever virtual card method works for you.
Step 2: Sign Up for Amazon Prime
Once you have the temporary card info, it‘s time to sign up for the 30-day free Prime trial.
Here are step-by-step instructions:
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Go to amazon.com/prime
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Click "Try Prime" and then "Start your 30-day free trial"
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Create an Amazon account or sign in to your existing account
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Enter your name, email address, and password
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When prompted for payment, enter the details of the virtual credit card you generated earlier
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Complete the signup process
That‘s all it takes! You‘ll have immediate access to all the Prime benefits for 30 days.
I recommend taking a few minutes to explore the perks like Prime Video. Get your money‘s worth out of that free trial!
Step 3: Cancel Before the 30 Days Are Up
This is a really important step. Be sure to cancel Prime before the 30 day trial ends. Otherwise, Amazon will attempt to charge your virtual card for a full membership fee.
Since that card is temporary and will have expired, the charge won‘t go through. But you may get some emails from Amazon asking for updated payment info.
To cancel, just:
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Go to Amazon.com and click "Account & Lists"
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Select "Memberships & Subscriptions"
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Click "End membership" under Prime and confirm
That‘s all it takes! You‘ll still have access to Prime for the remainder of the trial. Enjoy it while you can!
If you forget to cancel, don‘t panic. Just reach out to Amazon customer service and they can cancel the trial and remove any charges. But canceling yourself is better.
Questions About Getting the Amazon Prime Free Trial
Let‘s go over some frequently asked questions:
Do I need to provide any payment info when signing up?
Yes, Amazon requires a valid payment method to start the free trial. But instead of your real credit card, you can use a virtual card number that will expire after 30 days.
What happens if I forget to cancel Prime before the trial ends?
Amazon will attempt to charge the virtual credit card, but it will be expired. You may get emails asking for updated payment details. Either cancel Prime or contact their customer service to have the charges removed.
Can I get more than one free Prime trial?
Officially, you can only get a single 30-day Prime trial per Amazon account. However, some people have managed to get a second trial by using different accounts, emails, cards, etc. But there is no guaranteed way.
What if I want to keep Prime after the trial?
If you decide Prime is worth it after testing it out, you can convert to a full paid membership by adding your real payment method. Full Prime costs $139 per year or $14.99 per month.
Are there alternatives to Amazon Prime?
Major competitors include Walmart+ ($98/year) and Target‘s Shipt membership ($99/year). They offer free shipping and discounts but less streaming content. Prime still comes out ahead for most shoppers.
Hopefully those tips answer any questions you may have!
Maximizing Your Free Trial
Here are some suggestions to get the most out of the 30-day free Amazon Prime trial period:
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Take advantage of free shipping – Shop for items you‘d normally buy and enjoy the fast free delivery. This can save you a ton on everyday essentials and gifts.
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Binge watch Prime Video – Check out their selection of movies and shows exclusive to Prime members. Get your fill of content before the trial ends!
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Listen ad-free – Stream unlimited music with Prime Music. Download albums or playlists for offline listening too.
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Read free books and mags – Access Prime Reading‘s rotating selection of books, magazines, comics and more. Kindle Unlimited is also included free for 30 days.
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Enjoy Prime Gaming perks – Claim free PC games along with in-game loot and a free channel subscription on Twitch each month.
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Use Prime Photos storage – Back up unlimited photos or videos from your phone or computer to the cloud. Way better than paying for iCloud or Dropbox!
Take advantage of all the perks so you can decide if Prime is worthwhile for you after the free trial.
Is Amazon Prime Ultimately Worth It?
Whether Prime is "worth it" comes down to your personal shopping and media habits.
But for many people, the benefits easily outweigh the $139 annual cost. Consider these stats:
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The average Prime member spends $1,400 per year on Amazon, over 5x more than non-members.
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Prime members are estimated to spend $800 more annually on Amazon than non-members.
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Over 200 million people now subscribe to Amazon Prime worldwide.
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80% of Prime members say they shop on Amazon more after joining Prime.
The numbers show that once people try Prime, they tend to shop a lot more on Amazon year-round. Those free shipping savings add up, especially if you tend to be a frequent online shopper already.
Plus, Prime unlocks a ton of entertainment options comparable to Netflix and Spotify. The value increases if you take advantage of the various included services.
After your free trial, you can analyze if the money you saved and features you used justify the annual fee. Chances are, a Prime membership more than pays for itself.
But you have nothing to lose by testing it out for free first!
Get Your Amazon Prime Trial Now!
As you can see, getting an Amazon Prime membership trial without a credit card is quick and easy.
Just generate a virtual card number, sign up for the 30-day free trial, and start enjoying the benefits today! Then be sure to cancel before the trial ends.
With this guide, you can try out Prime completely risk-free. I hope you enjoy all the perks and decide Prime is worth keeping after your trial ends.
But if not, at least you got 30 days of free shipping, streaming, and more without spending a dime.
Go get your cardless Amazon Prime trial started now! Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.