By Kimberly

How Do I Get The Best Deal At Birchbox? The most effective tip for getting the best deal at Birchbox is subscribing. You get five deluxe beauty samples for $10-$15 a month (depending on the term you choose). If you tailor your beauty profile as much as possible, you might even enjoy many of the products you sample. There are some subscriber exclusive offers that can help members save even more. Start-up offers are always available, so no one should ever subscribe without getting something in return for the subscription. Even those who never join the subscription box program can get some great deals at Birchbox.

How Do I Get The Best Deal At Birchbox?

There are numerous tips for getting for the best deal at Birchbox. I go over my favorites below, but there are countless more.

Subscribe to Emails

The most important tip is subscribe to emails. Of course, you are already subscribed to emails when you have a Birchbox subscription. Birchbox sends a lot of offers to people without subscriptions, too. For events like Customer Appreciation Day, it treated most customers (anyone subscribed to emails) the same as subscription box holders. Many ex-subscribers drop emails after canceling their subscriptions. If you never plan to shop the Birchbox store, un-subscribing is fine. Birchbox still puts together excellent discovery sets and limited edition boxes, so I will never rule out shopping Birchbox. I’m still subscribed to the box, but I will remain subscribed to emails even if I ever cancel. A good deal or set can always lure me in for some shopping. All email subscribers receive a birthday discount code. It is usually for $10 off a $50 purchase.

Join the Rewards Program

You get 1 point for every dollar spent and access to special promotions throughout the year. It only takes 10 points to equal one dollar, so you get a 10% return on investment. That is not too shabby.

Earn ACES status

ACES get the best deals, because they get all the regular offers and special ACES only offers. To qualify for ACES status, you must spend $300 in a calendar year. Spending $1 in the store awards 1.3 points. That means, you get a 13% return on your investment.

Once a customer enters ACES status, s/he remains an ACE through that year and the following year. That means if you qualify for ACES in September of 2019, you will stay in ACES status through December of 2020.

Those who reach ACES status get:

• free shipping on any purchase, free 2-day shipping with a $100 purchase
• faster responses to emails sent to customer service
• bonus offers and discounts throughout the year
• advanced access to certain specials and limited edition boxes
• 40% off female and male offers in the Birchbox Beauty Deals section (at times; it’s 30% off like everyone else other times)
• a chance to select a sample a day earlier than others (subscribers only)
• 3-piece female or male Mystery Sample Pack with a $35 purchase. It adds to the cart separately, so it combines with any promotion code.
• and more

Earning Points

There are four places were Birchbox customers can get points.

• Purchases- Everyone gets 1 point per dollar for all shop purchases or 1.3 points for dollar for ACES. Annual and gift subscriptions are considered shop purchases, but you will not get points if you purchase either on sale. No points get rewarded on month-to-month subscriptions, because that is not considered a shop purchase.
• Apologies- If something goes wrong with your order, employees may at times award points to say sorry.
• Referrals- You get 50 points for everyone who signs up for a subscription using your referral link.
• Reviews- You get 10 points each for the first 5 reviews on your account. This has a lifetime maximum of 50 points!

Birchbox Beauty Deals

• Birchbox offers free shipping with a $50 purchase, but any items sampled that month ship free. This free shipping on any product sampled by the subscribing community applies to everyone, not just subscribers. There is always a note under the product that says “ships free.” Popular Birchbox items and Birchbox exclusive items tend to get sampled month after month by different subscribers, so beloved items ship free a lot.
• 30% off female and male offers in the Birchbox Beauty Deals section.
• A 2-piece female or male Mystery Sample Pack with a $35 purchase, but ACES get a 3-piece female or male Mystery Sample Pack in its place. It adds to the cart separately, so it combines with any promotion code.
• Promo codes (which only work once per account). If Birchbox releases a “new code” that does not work on your account, it is likely a recycled code that you’ve used in the past. I keep a listing of all recycled codes, so I am ready if Birchbox ever re-activates these.
• When there are no discount codes available, there are always promo codes for free female and male gifts with purchase offers in the bonus shop.

Limited Edition Boxes and Discovery Sets

The limited edition boxes and discovery sets I’ve mentioned a couple of times are always worth a look. These sets always have a value that is higher than the cost. If items you’d purchase anyway are more valuable than the cost of the set, these kits become incredible deals. When a new box releases, I try to see what items I want and what items I’d gift. Occasionally, I come across a box where I want all or most of the items. Those are the ones I have a hard time passing on and the ones I get the most personal value from.

Gifts With Purchase

Discount codes and bonus point promotions are more likely to get released in the second half of the month. If you want something from the shop and have no fear it will sell out, check the Bonus Offers. When no offers that interest you are available and you have no fear of your item selling out, wait until the second half of the month to make your purchase. It is possible the offer will be a recycled code you’ve already used or no offer will come at all, so I do not suggesting waiting too long if you really need the item.

Promotions

There are certain times in the year where you can always expect deals or promotions. Annual subscriptions get discounted at least 2-3 times a year. The usual discount is 20% off, and the final chance to purchase a discounted annual subscription comes shortly before Christmas. Black Friday has big discounts and steals for everyone. ACES get even better offers and/or higher discount codes. Customer Appreciation Day, which takes place in mid September, always has deals. The actual deals vary from year to year, but I wrote about the 2016 offers. While other deals and promotions are not as steady or regular, they are available. I will always post ones I am aware of, but you should receive most of the offers I know about if you stay subscribed to emails.

Expiring Points

If you have any rewards points, make sure you redeem them within 6 months of earning them. They expire in 6 months. Each point equals $0.10 to spend in the shop. For those who earned them the hard way (by making purchases), that is actually a 10% return on your investment. Most rewards programs are nowhere near that high (Ulta is an exception if you play your cards right), so you can actually make out like a bandit if you get a great deal on the original order and use points on subsequent orders. Knowing you’ll get 10% back only sweetens the deal, as long as you actually redeem the points. Counting rewards points as you earn and redeem does not work, because you can only benefit from them once. Considering them is a different story though. If I am getting the same deal for a product at two places, I am ordering from the place with the superior rewards, because I know I can redeem those rewards later.

What are your thoughts on these tips for getting the best deal at Birchbox? Let me know below. If you know anyone who could benefit from this information, please use the sharing tools below to help them see this on various forms of social media or private email. Thanks for reading and sharing. If you want to subscribe, remember to look at start-up offers and all available offers. Although I see benefit in subscribing, I need to repeat that subscribing does not increase your chance of getting a good deal (other than a couple of minor exceptions listed above). When you’re ready to spend your rewards points, remember to add your free two piece sample pack when spending $35 from the Bonus Shop. See other Birchbox articles and subscription reviews. Read all articles in the Getting the Best Deal Series. View my main page for the guide map to the site and deeper deal exploration.

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