Update 5/17/18: It’s been a nice run, but reader Alex tells us that this no longer works anymore.Â
You learn something new every day: If you order on Amazon via Alexa (available on any one of the Echo devices and on Dash Wand), the system allows you to order without any minimum, and no add-on restriction is applied.
Add-on items are products which Amazon will not give free shipping on, even to Prime members, since they are too cheap for it to be worth shipping out alone. Be sure to first activate Voice Purchasing in the Settings of your Alexa device, and then voice ordering will be able to bypass the minimum.
One tip which will make it easier to use voice shopping is to add the item to your cart manually, then when using voice ordering the system will immediately know which item it is that you want. (HT to minisnoey)Â
I personally hate the push toward voice shopping; I would sooner have people decide themselves how they like to shop. In any case, there are certainly some perks on voice shopping, including this add-on item trick and various Alexa deals. We’ve also written how you can use the Dash Wand to get Alexa-only deals, and as I understand this add-on item trick works with Dash Wand as well. (Dash Wand is currently free after Amazon credit.)
Others have been aware of this for a number of months now, but I just learned about it recently and thought I’d share.
There’s often another trick to bypass the add-on item problem: many small items are part of the subscribe&save program which does not have any minimums. I regularly use subscribe&save to get an item without a minimum, and it’s easy to cancel the subscription afterward. I’ve even surprised myself a few times and kept the subscription going.
