<\/p>\n
With great prices, bulk buys, and other awesome deals, Costco is a great place to shop if you\u2019re looking <\/p>\n
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To shop at Costco though, you need a membership. And it costs $60 for the year.<\/p>\n
You may be wondering if there\u2019s any way to get a free Costco membership.<\/p>\n
Perhaps you\u2019re on a budget, or just don\u2019t want to have to pay for a membership. <\/p>\n Now, I\u2019m going to level with you here; Costco does not hand out free memberships. In fact, it doesn\u2019t even have a free trial membership (although there are ways to shop at Costco without a membership<\/a>!).<\/p>\n Does that mean that you can\u2019t get one for free?<\/p>\n Heck, no!<\/p>\n All you need to do is offset the membership cost.<\/p>\n Since $60 isn\u2019t too crazy an amount to pay, you can easily offset that cost using a few simple hacks\u2026<\/p>\n Here are simple ways to get a Costco membership without paying the membership fee.<\/p>\n You can get gift cards at a discount on gift card resale sites<\/a>. On these websites you can purchase a gift card for less cash than it\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n For example, you could get a $50 Costco gift card for just $40. While you\u2019ve only paid $40 for the gift card, you still have $50 to spend at Costco, meaning you\u2019ve already offset your membership cost by $10.<\/p>\n Here are some places to find discounted Costco gift cards.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not using Ibotta already, you really should be!<\/p>\n As I explained in detail in my Ibotta review<\/a>, Ibotta is an app that gives you money when you upload a photo of your receipt.<\/p>\n It\u2019ll give you rebates for shopping at all sorts of different stores, including Costco of course, and for purchasing a variety of products.<\/p>\n How it works is simple:<\/p>\n You can get anywhere from $1 to $3 back for each item with Ibotta.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve even seen rebates higher than that!<\/p>\n This means that if you got $3 back on 10 items at Costco, or any other store, you could make $30!<\/p>\n That\u2019s half of your membership paid for already.<\/p>\n Checkout51 (review<\/a>) is another app that pays you for uploading your receipts.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no reason you can\u2019t upload your receipts to both Ibotta and Checkout51 and get double the rebates.<\/p>\n Checkout51 works in the same way as Ibotta where you get rebates when you purchase qualifying items and upload a photo of your receipt.<\/p>\n You can find rebates of between $1 and $3. Again, you could easily make $10 to $30 and offset the cost of your Costco membership.<\/p>\n Another way to get a free Costco membership is to use Swagbucks.<\/p>\n Now, Swagbucks doesn\u2019t hand out free Costco memberships directly.<\/p>\n But, you can easily make the money on there to pay for your membership.<\/p>\n Swagbucks gives you points called Swag Bucks or SB when you complete tasks that you likely do anyway, such as:<\/p>\n In exchange for doing these tasks, you get points. You can redeem these points for cash right to your PayPal account.<\/p>\n On this Reddit thread<\/a>, people say that they earn from $30 to more than $125 a month with Swagbucks. This means you could easily use your Swagbucks cash to get a free Costco membership.<\/p>\n Another way to get free cash for a Costco membership is to use Qmee.<\/p>\n If you need cash fast it\u2019s an awesome site because it has no minimum cash-out amount. So you can withdraw your earnings at anytime and have them sent to your PayPal account within minutes!<\/p>\n The site pays you for doing easy activities, like:<\/p>\n So you an easily cover the cost of your Costco membership with your Qmee earnings.<\/p>\n You could make $60 right now<\/a> just for signing up for these websites:<\/p>\n That\u2019s $60 to cover the cost of your Costco membership!<\/p>\n Read this post<\/a> for even more sites that\u2019ll pay you to sign up.<\/p>\n Kirkland is Costco\u2019s own brand. So it\u2019s sort of like the generic brand at a grocery store. I\u2019ve found Kirkland products, from its candy to its paper towels to be great quality. The best part is that these Kirkland products are often cheaper than name-brand ones.<\/p>\n You can easily offset the cost of your Costco membership by purchasing Kirkland brand products by shopping at Kirklands.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can also buy Kirkland Signature products at Walmart.com or your local Walmart<\/a> store.<\/p>\n If you save $5 purchasing Kirkland brand coffee instead of a name-brand one, that\u2019s already $5 off the cost of your membership, with the purchase of just one item.<\/p>\n Replacing the tires on your car is important for your safety and it gets you better gas mileage as well.<\/p>\n One of the best places to purchase tires<\/a> is at Costco. Not only is the service great, but the prices are competitive too.<\/p>\n You often get add-on services to your purchase from the service department, such as lifetime rotation, warranties, replacements and air inflation with nitrogen, which helps to keep the tire pressure more stable. All of these extras can help you to save money in the future.<\/p>\n The best part is that Costco often provides huge discounts on its tires, which can also offset the cost of a membership.<\/p>\n At the time of writing, you could get $70 off any set of four Bridgestone tires and $40 off tire installation. That more than covers the cost of a Costco membership.<\/p>\n Check with your local warehouse to see what savings are available to you.<\/p>\n Okay, a really easy way to recoup the cost of a Costco membership is to purchase gift cards.<\/p>\n Costco has some awesome deals on bulk gift cards that can save you a lot of cash.<\/p>\n It has packages of bulk gift cards to popular retailers at great prices. Generally, you\u2019ll save between 25% and 35% on these gift cards.<\/p>\n You could give these out as gifts during the holidays. And if you have lots of people to buy for, this may offset your membership cost.<\/p>\n Or if you shop at a particular store, you could spend those gift cards yourself and save money.<\/p>\n Since Costco offers low cost fuel, you can reduce how much you spend on gas each month if you purchase it at your local warehouse.<\/p>\n These savings can offset your membership cost easily, especially if you\u2019re taking a long trip somewhere.<\/p>\n Since there are lots of Costco locations<\/a> across the country, you can easily find a station to fill up at a low cost.<\/p>\n If you often go to the movies, you may want to purchase your tickets at Costco. Often you can find deals on 10 packs of movie tickets, for about $80 to $90. So you\u2019re paying just $8 or $9 a ticket, which is often way less than what you\u2019d spend on most movie tickets nowadays.<\/p>\n Buy your snacks at Costco and take them into the movie theater with you too, and you\u2019ll avoid overpaying for food at the theater.<\/p>\n Each month, Costco releases a book of coupons that can save you money on everything from soup to garden furniture.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always found awesome savings in these coupon booklets for at least a few of the things I buy anyway.<\/p>\n I\u2019d highly recommend you having a browse of this booklet each month to see where you could save money.<\/p>\n These savings can offset your membership in no time.<\/p>\n What\u2019s great about Costco coupons is that you don\u2019t even need to take them to the register with you.<\/p>\n These coupon discounts are automatically applied at the checkout. So you save money instantly. Keep track of your savings, and it\u2019s likely that they\u2019ll cover the cost of your membership.<\/p>\n Costco has a really generous price adjustment policy in place. When the price of an item you bought drops, Costco will issue you a credit for the difference between the price you paid and the promotional price.<\/p>\n You can get the price adjustment if your purchase was made online at Costco.com and was within 30 days prior to the change in price. Credits are typically issued within 3 to 5 business days.<\/p>\n You can also get a price adjustment on items you purchased in-store. You just need to ask at the membership counter at the Costco warehouse where you made the purchase.<\/p>\n You could get a free Costco membership by taking surveys.<\/p>\n Sure, survey sites don\u2019t directly give out Costco memberships. But they do give you an easy way to make money that you can use to get a membership at no cost.<\/p>\n You can make $60 from surveys and use that cash to pay for your membership.<\/p>\n Here are a few survey sites that pay:<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019d recommend you sign up to a few different sites as you\u2019ll increase the number of surveys you qualify for, giving you more opportunities to earn cash.<\/p>\n Consider upgrading your Costco membership to an Executive Rewards<\/a> one, as it offers far more benefits.<\/p>\n A regular Costco membership costs you $60. And an Executive membership costs $120.<\/p>\n Since you\u2019re wondering how to get a Costco membership for free, me suggesting that you pay more <\/em>for a membership may seem counterproductive but hear me out.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re an Executive member, you get 2% cashback on your annual spending, up to $1,000!<\/p>\n If you shop at Costco a lot, it\u2019s definitely worth your while.<\/p>\n My father often shops at Costco and has an Executive membership, and he gets $100s back each year.<\/p>\n This cashback easily pays for your membership.<\/p>\n Costco will even prorate the upgrade amount based on the months remaining in your current membership.<\/p>\n This option is only worthwhile of course if you spend a lot at Costco each year, so do some calculations to see if an Executive Rewards membership would be worth it for you.<\/p>\n While Costco doesn\u2019t accept manufacturer coupons, coupon websites<\/a> can still be used to find great deals at Costco.<\/p>\n Coupon websites offer everything from rebates to free Costco shop cards.<\/p>\n Check out these websites for great deals at Costco:<\/p>\n Here are a few examples of savings and deals on offer at the time of writing:<\/p>\n All of these deals can help you to offset the cost of your membership, so I\u2019d definitely check out these sites.<\/p>\n Another way to get your Costco membership for free or at least at a discount, is to look out for Costco membership deals<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here are some examples\u2026<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a member of the military, you can get a free $30 Costco shop card. This means you have already saved 50% on your membership!<\/p>\n This offer is available to active duty, veteran, and retired military members, as well as their spouse or a dependent.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a student, you could get a $20 Costco Shop Card when you join as a new Gold Star member at Costco.com.<\/p>\n To access this offer, you need to join UNiDAYS or login.<\/p>\n Costco also provides a deal for teachers. If you\u2019re a teacher, you can get a $30 Costco Shop card when you join Costco as a new member.<\/p>\n Sometimes you can find deals on Costco memberships on sites like Groupon and Living Social.<\/p>\n For example, there was a deal Groupon<\/a> used to offer where you could get exclusive coupons and a $20 Costco cash card when you got a one-year Costco Gold Star membership.<\/p>\n This Costco membership package was valued up to $148.98.<\/p>\n This meant that although you\u2019d pay $60 for the annual membership, it was valued up to $148.98.<\/p>\n You had to be a new member to take advantage of this deal, so it wasn\u2019t valid on the renewal of an existing membership.<\/p>\n With the deal you\u2019d get:<\/strong><\/p>\n Living Social<\/a> also offered the same deal<\/a>. But sadly, neither site does anymore. That doesn\u2019t mean that they won\u2019t in the future though. So I\u2019d highly recommend having a search on Groupon and Living Social to see if these membership deals pop back up in the future. You can also sign up for both site\u2019s free newsletters so you can notified of new posts. That way, if they do offer a new deal, you won\u2019t miss it.<\/p>\n Reddit has a subreddit dedicated to all things Costco where users share anything from tips for saving money on individual items at Costco to the latest deals they have found, and of course current Costco membership promo codes and deals.<\/p>\n If you like, you can subscribe (it\u2019s free) to the r\/Costco subreddit<\/a> so you can be notified of all new posts or just check the subreddit\u00a0 for new posts periodically.<\/p>\n Another way to get a free Costco membership is to not pay for one at all!<\/p>\n Just like you can shop at Sam\u2019s Club without a membership<\/a>, there are also ways you can shop at Costco without a membership, so you can avoid paying the membership fee.<\/p>\n You can buy certain items at Costco without a membership. Just call ahead at the store to make sure, as the company doesn\u2019t have a definitive list of items non-members can purchase.<\/p>\n There are also hacks you can use to shop at Costco as a non-member.<\/p>\n Here are some ways you can shop at Costco without paying for a membership.<\/p>\n If you like to drink alcohol regularly, you may want to purchase it at Costco. Costco offers some great savings, particularly on liquor. And it has some pretty good deals on wine too.<\/p>\n Although Costco doesn\u2019t specifically say that non-members can purchase alcohol, I\u2019ve known a few people who don\u2019t have a membership who\u2019ve purchased alcohol at their local warehouse. Just make sure you clarify at your nearest Costco store before you load up to your cart.<\/p>\n You can find many common medications for a lower price at Costco. Due to laws set by the FDA and other organizations, Costco has to sell these low-cost prescriptions to people, regardless of whether they have a membership.<\/p>\n So you could save money on prescriptions<\/a> even if you\u2019re not a member.<\/p>\n Did you know that you can shop online at Costco.com even if you\u2019re not a member?<\/p>\n Well, you can!<\/p>\n The only downside is that you have to pay an additional 5% over the price members pay, except on prescription drugs.<\/p>\n Even with the surcharge though, you may find that many items still work out cheaper than they are elsewhere. So you could take advantage of some great deals.<\/p>\nHow to Get a Free Membership at Costco<\/h2>\n
1. Use a discounted Costco gift card<\/h3>\n
2. Get rebates from your Costco trip with Ibotta<\/h3>\n
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3. And use Checkout51 for even more rebates<\/h3>\n
4. Get free cash for a Costco membership with Swagbucks<\/h3>\n
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5. Get cash instantly for a free Costco membership with Qmee<\/h3>\n
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6. Make $60 just for signing up for websites<\/h3>\n
7. Purchase Kirkland brand items<\/h3>\n
8. Buy tires at Costco<\/h3>\n
9. Purchase gift cards and save between 25% and 35%<\/h3>\n
10. Buy low cost gas at Costco<\/h3>\n
11. Purchase movie tickets<\/h3>\n
12. Look out for Costco\u2019s monthly coupon books for instant savings<\/h3>\n
13. Take advantage of Costco\u2019s price adjustment policy<\/h3>\n
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14. Earn the cost of membership taking online surveys<\/h3>\n
15. Upgrade your Costco membership and get 2% back on all your purchases<\/h3>\n
16. Use coupon websites and deal sites to find great savings at Costco<\/h3>\n
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Look out for Costco Membership Deals<\/h2>\n
17. Membership Discount for Military<\/h3>\n
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18. Membership Discount for Students<\/h3>\n
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19. Membership Discount for Teachers<\/h3>\n
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20. Look out for a Costco Gold Star Membership deal<\/h3>\n
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21. Free Costco membership on Reddit?<\/h3>\n
Shop at Costco Without a Membership<\/h2>\n
22. Purchase alcohol<\/h3>\n
23. Buy prescriptions<\/h3>\n
24. Shop at Costco online instead<\/h3>\n
25. Shop using a Costco Shop Card<\/h3>\n