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Sydney, Australia - 2021-12-03 Amazon prime boxes and envelopes delivered to a front door of residential building. Black Friday Cyber Monday Christmas Sale Prime Day. Amazon Flex delivery
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Sharing an Amazon account makes sense when there’s more than one of you in a household, but it can be annoying as well. What if you’re buying birthday and holiday presents? What if you don’t want your partner to question certain things you’ve purchased, such as overly expensive dog treats or too many types of face masks? (A hypothetical example, of course). 

If you want to keep your Amazon purchases secret from the rest of your household, there’s a simple and super easy hack. 

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  • Log into your Amazon account and click on “Returns & Orders.” You’ll see the account’s order history over the last three months.
  • Scroll through or search for the order you want to hide. 
  • Click on “View Order Details,” then press “Archive Order.”

Voila — the purchase is removed from the orders list, as is everything else in that specific order. And though the purchases can still be found, they would have to be viewed via the Archived Orders page, located under account settings. Unless someone is intent on searching for a purchase, it’s a sneaky way to hide what you bought.

This isn’t the only option for hiding purchases on Amazon, either. You could also set up an Amazon Household account. With this feature, up to 10 people can be linked: two adults, four teens, and four children. Everyone gets their own profile, access to Prime benefits, and order history, but under one payment and address. 

Finally, you can keep Alexa from spilling the beans on orders. Go to “Settings” on the Alexa app, hit “Notifications” and then “Amazon Shopping.” Then turn off the “Say or Show Item Titles.” Alexa will still announce an order’s delivery date, but won’t say out loud what it is.

The only problem left? Making sure somebody else doesn’t get to the package first when it arrives. 

Gallery: Paying $139 for Amazon Prime? Don’t Miss These Perks

Meet the Writer

Jennifer Magid has worked as a writer and editor in publishing and marketing for almost two decades. She has written for outlets ranging from InStyle magazine to Psychology Today and for a number of grocery and personal care brands. Jennifer is frugal by proxy: She is married to a certified cheapskate, which has been good for her wallet but bad for her shoe and handbag collections. These days, she never, ever buys her fashions at full price. Jennifer holds a Master’s in Journalism from New York University. She lives in Connecticut with her family and an admittedly expensive-to-maintain standard poodle — the one anomaly in her cheap lifestyle. Find out more about Jennifer at www.jennifermagid.com. You can reach her at [email protected].