How to Find the Cheapest Magazine Subscription

Finding the cheapest magazine subscription takes persistence.

Magazines have been in circulation for hundreds of years in America, and are still commonly read on the train, bus, or even at home. There are magazines for almost any topic you can think of, and most include professional writing, fantastic photography and creative stories. Magazines are often delivered via a subscription schedule in which customers pay a set amount per year to receive a set number of magazines. Often, there are special discounts for magazine subscriptions, but you may need to ask several magazine publishers for their rates in order to find the cheapest magazine subscription available.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Make a list of your favorite magazines or topics. Most topics have at least one or two different publications covering them. For example, if you wanted a sports magazine, you could list "Sports Illustrated," "ESPN The Magazine," and "Sports Weekly."

2. Navigate to your chosen magazine's website. Search for any subscription information you can find on its website. Most magazines will have regular subscription rates published on their sites, but these may not be the cheapest subscriptions available.

3. Search for any magazine discounts online by typing in the name of your chosen magazine and adding "subscription discount or coupon" to the end of your search query. Look at websites such as RetailMeNot.com or Slickdeals.net for possible discounts on popular magazines. List any discounted rates that you can find.

4. Call each magazine publisher and ask to speak to a customer service representative. Inform the representative that you would like to purchase a subscription to the particular magazine, but that you have found a discounted rate online that you would like to see. If the representative responds favorably, tell her you want to purchase a subscription, but will only do so if she can lower the discounted rate even further. Many magazine publishers will lower their upfront rates on the possibility of a subscription renewal later on, so they may discount their rates for you if you ask. Write down the final offer, and the representative's identification number for later use.

5. Compare each magazine's lowest subscription rate, and call back the magazine that had the cheapest subscription rate. Ask to speak to the customer service representative who helped you before, and inform her that you would like to purchase the subscription at your quoted rate. Provide the representative with your billing information to complete your transaction.

Tips & Warnings

• Be prepared to say "No Thanks" to any customer service representative, as the representative may not be willing to budge on the magazine's rates. Showing your willingness to walk away may force the representative's hand and result in a cheaper subscription for you.

• Do not give out any personal identification information over the phone unless absolutely necessary to complete a transaction. Any sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers, may be used against you to perform identity fraud. Always check to make sure you are dealing with a reputable company and representative before completing a transaction over the phone.

References

• Clark Howard; How to Get the Best Rate on Your Magazines
• Best Deal Magazines; How Does it Work

Resources

• Slickdeals; Home
• Retail Me Not; Home