Tag: Amazon

Get Asian groceries delivered with Weee! Part 2: Bundles! Plus a review of competitors, Yamibuy and Yamimeal

May 5, 2021 / / 1 Comment

Update 5/4/21: There is currently an Amex offer for Yamibuy for $10 off $50 in one or more transactions, expiring 6/3/21! I appreciate it if you use my referral link for $5 off. 🙂 Please also check out my Pro Tips for Weee! post.

This is a follow up to M’s post about Weee! (my referral for $20 bonus) back in December. Weee! is an Asian grocery delivery service similar to Instacart and Amazon Whole Foods/Fresh currently serving the SF Bay Area and Seattle. I started using it at the beginning of Shelter In Place since I craved Asian groceries, but the lines at 99 Ranch were sometimes pretty daunting. I’ll also talk about some similar alternatives to Weee!, Yamibuy and Yamimeal in this post. Continue reading →

Repurposing Amazon Dash buttons to add a line to Google Sheet when pressed

November 24, 2018 / / 1 Comment

Intro

A lot of us may have a ton of Amazon Dash buttons lying around because back in the day, they used to mean $5 off any product shipped and sold by Amazon. Since then, you may have sold your spent buttons on eBay or harvested them for the Duracell AA battery inside.

But if you still have some left…here’s a fun little beginner’s project where you can repurpose the button to add a line to a Google Sheet whenever you press it. The use case for me today is to record whenever I insert/remove my contact lenses, to track wearing time. I’ve also seen people set one up to record whenever their baby poops and they change the diaper. To each their own…

FYI: these instructions are for Mac OSX. It’s adaptable to other systems, but I won’t go into that today.

Preparation

We’ll be using Nekmo’s amazon-dash script for this project, specifically the instructions for Mac. I’m rewriting the instructions below in a more beginner-friendly language, so hopefully you can do this even if you don’t think you are very tech savvy. Macs come with Python 2.7 installed, and that is what this script runs on. If you run into any errors, it may be due to something wrong with your Python configuration, so we’d have to troubleshoot that separately.

  1. Open Terminal on Mac.
    1. To do so, I like to use Spotlight: press Cmd+Spacebar to bring up a little textbox in the middle of your screen. Start typing the word terminal, and press Enter as soon as you see Terminal.app appear.

    In Terminal, copy and paste in (press enter after you paste this whole command in): sudo pip install https://github.com/Nekmo/amazon-dash/archive/develop.zip

    1. It will ask you for your computer password first, so enter that and press enter. You won’t see anything being entered as you type your password. Don’t panic, this is normal. Just type your password, and press enter.
    2. Now it will download and install the amazon-dash app.

    Once installed, copy and paste in (press enter afterwards): sudo amazon-dash discovery

    1. It should say:

      Welcome to Amazon-dash v1.3.1 using Python 2.7.10
      The discovery command lists the devices that are connected in your network. Each device will only be listed once. After executing this command wait approximately 10 seconds before pressing the Amazon Dash button. After pressing the button, the Mac address of the button will immediately appear on the screen. Remember the address to be able to create the configuration file.

    Wait about 10 seconds, and then press the button on your Dash Button.

    1. Within a few seconds after your Dash Button fails to buy anything, you will see some magenta text on your screen. It should look something like this “69:55:fd:3e:cf:32 (Amazon Device)“. You may also see other text that don’t say “(Amazon Device)” next to them; you can ignore those. The random gibberish with the semicolons is called the MAC address.
    2. Copy and paste the MAC address before “(Amazon Device)” and keep it somewhere safe.

    Now press Ctrl+C on your keyboard to exit this discovery process.

    Set Up IFTTT

    1. Go to your web browser and navigate to https://ifttt.com/maker_webhooks .
      1. Set up an IFTTT account if you don’t have one already, then return to this page, enable the webhook, and click on the button in the top right called “Documentation”.
      2. Copy and paste the alphanumeric key in really big letters to the place where you saved the MAC address of your Dash button.

      Still on IFTTT’s website, click in the top right corner on your username, and click “New Applet” on the dropdown menu.

      1. Click the +this and type in “Webhooks” on the next screen. Select the big blue button that says “Webhooks”.
      2. On the next screen, click the big blue button again that says “Receive a web request”.
      3. On the next screen, type in a name you want to give to your button, like “contactlenses” (remember this name for later). Click the Create Trigger button.
      4. On the next screen, click the +that and type in “Sheets” on the next screen. click on “Google Sheets”. (You may need to connect to your Google Sheets account if you’ve never done this before)
      5. On the next screen, click the “Add row to spreadsheet” button.
      6. On the next screen, fill out Spreadsheet Name (i.e. “Contact Lens Wearing Time Log”). You can delete “||| Value 2 ||| Value 3” from the Formatted row, and leave the rest the same. Click “Create action”.

      Configuring the script

      1. Now go back to your Terminal window. Copy and paste this command and press enter: cd /etc
      2. Copy and paste this command and press enter: sudo nano amazon-dash.yml
      3. Use your keyboard arrow key to get down to where it says “## Example of how to execute a IFTTT Webhook event”
        1. Change the text after name: to whatever you want, like “name: contact lens”
        2. Delete and replace the MAC address that’s already there with the MAC address of the Amazon Dash button you discovered earlier and saved.
        3. Delete and replace the key after ifttt: with your own IFTTT key.
        4. Change the name of the event: to the name you had used on the IFTTT applet, such as “contactlenses”.
        5. After data: {“value1”:, type in what you want to be recorded on the Google Sheet after the date and time. Like “Inserted/Removed” (of contact lenses).
        6. Once you’re done, delete the “#” symbols from the beginning of each line that you edited. Result should look like this:

        Press Ctrl+X to exit, it’ll ask if you want to save, so press Y, and then press Enter to save it as the same filename. You should now be back to the original window.

        Finishing up and running the app

        1. Copy and paste the following commands, pressing Enter after each command:
          1. chown root amazon-dash.yml
          2. sudo chmod 600 amazon-dash.yml (may require computer password)
          3. sudo amazon-dash (may require computer password)

          If all was successful, you should see the following message pop up:

          Welcome to Amazon-dash v1.3.1 using Python 2.7.10
          Listening for events. Amazon-dash will execute the events associated with the registered buttons.

          Press your Dash button. The window won’t seem to do anything or say anything, but go to your Google Drive and see if you see a new row. If you did, congratulations! You successfully hacked your Dash button!!
          You’ll need to leave this window running, so best to set this up on a computer or device that is always on.

          Let me know in the comments if you have success with these instructions, or if you have another project you would like to share with us! If you have any suggestions on how I can improve my circles and arrows, let me know as well. Enjoy!

          Similar Projects

          https://blog.cloudstitch.com/how-i-hacked-amazon-s-5-wifi-button-to-track-baby-data-794214b0bdd8

          https://alexmeub.com/hacking-amazon-dash-buttons/

          https://www.alphr.com/amazon/1001429/amazon-dash-button-hacks-6-ways-to-build-your-own-low-cost-connected-home/page/0/1

          https://www.hackster.io/ravi-sawhney/amazon-dash-reminder-app-79e6bb Continue reading →

Awesome Instant Pot Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale

November 25, 2016 / / 0 Comments

This isn’t really a travel-related post, but I really wanted to share this deal. A lot of people know I’m a huge fan of my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. It’s right up there with my iPhone and Macbook Pro Retina as one of my favorite devices in my life.

Click here to see the 6 qt deal on Amazon ($68.95, normally $120+)

8 qt larger version ($129.95, normally $150+)

Disclosure: These are affiliate links. We only share/promote things we feel passionate about. Thanks for supporting our site!

Hopefully you got that $10 off deal with a Mastercard that Doctor of Credit posted about the other day, it would apply to this since it’s sold by and shipped from Amazon, making this deal even sweeter at $58.95!

Who should get an Instant Pot?

Anyone who wants to be able to make healthy, fast, and delicious meals. There are a lot of great recipes from the pressure cooker community, and pressure cookers cook hotter and faster than many traditional methods which help make food (especially meats) taste tender and amazing. You can even bake a cheesecake in it!

There are entire Facebook communities (see below) around this simple electric pressure cooker, sharing recipes and tips and stories on how this little device has changed their families’ lives. Some people even travel with the Instant Pot (apparently it fits in the overhead bin) so they can cook healthy meals easily and quickly in hotel rooms! I haven’t done that yet, but I have a free resort trip in the Bahamas coming up soon where food is going to cost a fortune, so hmm…

RECIPE Sites/communities

Pressure Cook Recipes – http://www.pressurecookrecipes.com

Hip Pressure Cooking – http://www.hippressurecooking.com/

Chef Steps – https://www.chefsteps.com/

Serious Eats – http://seriouseats.com

Pressure Cooking Today – http://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/

Two Sleevers (Indian Food) – http://twosleevers.com/

Communities on Facebook:

Instant Pot English –

https://www.facebook.com/groups/InstantPotCommunity/ Continue reading →

Using Zapier to keep track of Amazon promotional credit expiration dates

July 10, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Do you ever buy things from Amazon.com and choose No-Rush Shipping for whatever promotional credit they’re offering at the time? Usually it’s either $1 on digital media (Kindle eBooks, TV shows, music, software, etc) or $5.99 shipping credit for Prime Pantry (these are less useful to me).

The credits are worthless unless you use them, and use them by their expiration dates. This link shows you how many credits you have left for digital media (Prime Pantry credits are not listed here), but it doesn’t show you expiration dates. Those expiration dates are in individual emails, one for each order you made. I make dozens of orders per month that I choose slow shipping on, so I’ve let many credits expire just because I wasn’t keeping track.

I’m lazy, but I also like staying on top of things and maximizing value, so I’m a huge fan of automation. Tools like Zapier and IFTTT are awesome for me, and they’re easy enough for anyone to use, with zero coding background. Many people are very familiar with IFTTT, but not so much with Zapier. If you’re new to Zapier and want to see a real-life example of what it can do, today I will show you how to set up Zapier to automatically extract Amazon credit values and expiration dates from your email and save them into a spreadsheet.

Zapier and IFTTT can also do many other automation tasks to save you lots of time. Maybe after reading this tutorial, you’ll be inspired to play around with other triggers and actions on Zapier, or find more inspiration on the web that others have shared. I’m sure you’ll also think of many travel hacking related ideas. 😉 Do share with us!

Prep Work
  1. Set up a free Zapier account
  2. Set up a free Zapier Email Parser account
  3. Set up a new Google Sheet called Amazon Credits with the following column titles: Order Number | Credit Value | Expiration Date
Set up Zapier Email Parser
  • Go to your Zapier Email Parser account, and click Create Mailbox.
  • An email address ending in @robot.zapier.com will be given to you. Copy and paste the email address.
  • Go to your email account, find any Amazon email with the promotional credit information (search “from:Amazon subject:Benefit Confirmation”), then forward the email to the Zapier robot address.
  • Wait a few seconds for the email to appear in your Zapier Mailbox.
  • Now we’re going to set up the extractors:
    1. Highlight the order number, and name it order.
    2. Highlight the dollar amount (i.e. highlight the “$5.99”), and name it amount.
    3. Highlight the expiration date, and name it expiration.

      4. Continue reading →

    • AirBnB Amex offer, Amazon Prime First, and Best Rate Kerfuffle

    November 9, 2015 / / 0 Comments

    Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. You aren’t required to click on our links to get the deals, but it would be much appreciated!

    Just a quick collection of posts I saw that were interesting, as well as a short experience with the Hilton Best Rate guarantee.

    Via Doctor of Credit, there’s a great Amex Offer currently running right now, where you can get $50 of $100 at AirBnB, including gift cards. Please read the follow-up post with all the details you need to know about the deal! If you are are buying gift cards, here are the key things you need to know:

  • You need to login to buy a gift card, and you can’t send one to yourself. You can use a second AirBnB account (though technically against the terms) to send it to yourself though. Better alternative is finding a friend that you can send it to (or trade gift cards with)
  • Gift cards redeem to your account balance and are used before any credit cards. You must redeem within 90 days to an account otherwise the card is cancelled and the balance returned to the sender.
  • If you don’t send it to your friend’s email, you must forward the email with the Accept Gift Card link so they can redeem the gift card. Just the code will not work, as AirBnB will error out and say the gift card seems like it was meant for someone else.
  • You may not get the usual email from Amex confirming that you have used your offer as the charge will come in pending as Braintree payments, but should post as AirBnB

    • Continue reading →

    I ain’t about the G-money, money, money

    November 2, 2015 / / 1 Comment

    Hopefully you were among those able to take advantage of the giftcards.com gravy train that was around until they eviscerated it last month.

    Part of the deal was the fact that Visa Gift Cards (VGC) were eligible for giftcards.com’s G-money rewards program, which offered 1% back in credit to be used towards a future purchase. This allowed for us to effectively buy the gift cards at a net-zero cost basis.

    If you’re anything like me, you probably have some extra G-money points lying around that you don’t know what to do with. Sure, you could buy another VGC, but at those fee levels, you’d lose a large percentage of your purchase.

    Here’s what I did instead: pick a store whose credit you value highly (for me this was Amazon*), and see if giftcards.com offers e-gift cards for that store. Then purchase a gift card for the exact amount of G-money points you have. The result? This:

    I wash my hands of you, giftcards.com.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlKA3a11CRw]

    *I value Amazon credit at 95 cents on the dollar because I can always get 5% cash back on my purchases there.

     

    Quick news and deals from around the web

    October 1, 2015 / / 0 Comments

    From Just Another Points Traveler, you can save $10 off $50 on your first order at Amazon Warehouse Deals WD1STTIME. I’ve bought plenty of electronics and other more expensive products from Amazon Warehouse Deals and always had a good experience.

    From Travel Codex, Avianca is status matching from various frequent flyer programs to its own program from October 1, 2015 to November 30, 2015. This is an easy way to get Star Alliance Gold until March 2017 if you have equivalent status or higher on another airline. It’s not certain what airlines they are matching from or if they are matching from other Star Alliance Airlines, but it’s worth a try! Star Alliance Gold gets you lounge access when flying Star Alliance airlines, priority check-in, sometimes priority security, and priority boarding. Star Alliance Gold from a program outside the United States also gives you domestic lounge access even when flying economy, which you don’t get as a United MileagePlus Gold member.

    From Oren’s Money Saver, Discover Deals is back to 10% on Sears. Combined with the 5% back on Sears from Discover, you can get up to 25% cashback if you buy gift cards then use those to buy what you want. Factoring in the double cashback, you could get up to 50% cashback on anything at Sears. YMMV, as transactions may not track or Discover may clawback purchases of only gift cards.

    I’m off to Brazil for the next week, see you guys on the flip side! My SWUs cleared on the way back 🙂

    Reduced Amazon Prime membership fee of $67 dollars, Friday 9/25 only!

    September 23, 2015 / / 2 Comments

    Edit 9/25: Gifting Prime Membership does not seem to work! You’ll have to deactivate then subscribe again, and you’ll only get one year for $67.

    Edit 9/23: Note of caution, Amazon has limited sharing Prime membership to one other person. Deactivating your account will remove users you have shared Prime membership, and you will be only able to add one back.

    Amazon is offering a reduced membership fee of $67 for Prime membership this Friday, September 25th only, from 12:01AM EST / 9:01PM PST the previous day, Thursday, September 24th, to 11:59PM PST. This is to celebrate Amazon’s 5 Emmy wins at the 67th PrimeTime Emmy Awards.

    Normally, you wouldn’t be able to take advantage of this offer if you already have a Prime membership, but via Million Mile Secrets, there is a trick to do so!

    Basically, you can gift Amazon Prime Membership to anyone, including yourself. And you can pay for gift Amazon Prime Memberships using gift cards purchased at a discount, further reducing the cost. Gift Amazon Prime Memberships never expire.

    When your current Prime membership is about to expire, all you need to do is deactivate your current Prime membership, click the link the email you received when gifted membership to yourself, and you’ve activated a new membership at the reduced rate for the following year. Since gift memberships don’t expire, you can repeat this process in following years and lock in your membership rate.

    Read the post at Million Mile Secrets for the exact details.

    Opt-out of PIN-based debit transactions on Amazon

    September 15, 2015 / / 0 Comments

    For those who prefer signature-based transactions for their debit cards, Amazon has a setting to have them run your debit card as credit.

    You can do so here.

    I’d imagine it’s useful for those who don’t have an alternative to using a PPDMC, etc., or for those who have some checking account bonus tied to having a certain number of signature-based transactions. For me, it’s useful for Provident CU ’round-up’ matching (Doctor of Credit has a particularly good resource).

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