The Complete Guide to Amazon Try Before You Buy
Try the clothes. Keep what fits. Return the rest. No upfront charge, no rush, no awkward return lines. Here's how Amazon's Try Before You Buy actually works — and what to test first.
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The mental gymnastics of online clothes shopping are exhausting. Will this actually fit? Does the color look like that in person? Is the fabric as substantial as the photos suggest? We've all bought something that looked perfect on screen and arrived completely wrong.
Amazon Try Before You Buy exists specifically to fix this. And once you understand how it works, you'll wonder why you were ever buying clothes any other way.
How It Works
The premise is simple and the execution actually delivers on it. You find items with the "Try Before You Buy" badge — there are thousands of them across Amazon's fashion catalog — and instead of clicking "Add to Cart," you click "Try." You can add up to six items at once to your try-on order.
Amazon ships everything to you. You have seven days to try everything on at home, in your own lighting, with your actual wardrobe around you, on an actual day in your actual life. Keep what you want. Send back what doesn't work.
Here's the key part: you're not charged for anything upfront. Amazon places an authorization hold on your card when the items ship, but no actual charge goes through until you make your keep/return decision at the end of the seven-day window. If you return everything, you pay nothing except possibly a return shipping fee depending on your Prime status.
Browse Try Before You Buy items →
The Keep/Return Flow
At the end of your seven days (Amazon sends reminders so you don't forget), you log in and tell Amazon what you're keeping. The process takes about two minutes:
- Go to your orders and find your Try Before You Buy order
- Mark each item as "Keep" or "Return"
- For returns: print a prepaid shipping label, pack everything in the original bag (Amazon provides one), and drop it off
- You're only charged for the items you kept
Returns are free for Prime members in most cases. If you forget to submit your decision within the seven-day window, Amazon charges you for everything automatically — so set a reminder when the box arrives.
What to Test First
Not everything is worth trying before buying. Basic t-shirts in a brand you know? Order normally. But there's a category of clothes where fit is genuinely unpredictable, and those are exactly where Try Before You Buy earns its keep:
- Denim — This is the obvious one and for good reason. Denim fit is notoriously brand-dependent. A size 28 in one brand is a size 26 in another. Rise, stretch percentage, leg shape — all of this varies wildly. Try denim before you commit every single time.
- Sneakers and shoes — Width, arch support, break-in time — you cannot assess any of these from photos. Walk around your house in them. Go up and down stairs. Your feet will tell you things the reviews can't.
- Dresses — Proportion is everything. A dress can be beautiful and still be completely wrong for your specific height-to-torso ratio. Try them on with your actual shoes. See what the hem actually hits on your body, not the model's.
- Jackets and blazers — Shoulder fit, sleeve length, and how structured pieces sit on your frame cannot be guessed. These are high-investment pieces — try before you buy is non-negotiable here.
A Few Things Worth Knowing
The Try Before You Buy program is available to Prime members. Items have to be specifically enrolled in the program — not everything on Amazon qualifies, but the selection is substantial and growing. Look for the "Try Before You Buy" badge on product listings, or filter by it when browsing fashion categories.
You can do multiple Try Before You Buy orders, but only one at a time — you can't open a new trial until your current one is closed out. Plan accordingly if you're working through a full wardrobe refresh.
One more thing: the seven-day window is not a suggestion. If you haven't submitted your decision by day seven, Amazon processes charges for everything automatically. The emails Amazon sends are reminders of this — read them.
Used correctly, Try Before You Buy turns Amazon into a no-risk fitting room that ships to your house. That's a genuinely useful thing.
