Chewy vs. Amazon for Your Dog’s Food
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Few topics garner such debate as which dog food is the best for your pooch. I’d much rather start a conversation involving religion, politics and tipping (yes, you’d be surprised how heated a discussion on tipping can become) than discuss which dog food is the best.
Which is why I wanted to say upfront, this post is in no way a recommendation for a specific dog food or foods.
The foods listed below were picked based on popularity, personal experience, and randomness.
The focus of this post is on cost differences – if any – between Chewy.com and Amazon.com when it comes to buying your pup’s food online and having it delivered right to your door.
Below you’ll find a list of five different dog foods and the associated pricing for each on Chewy and Amazon.
Additionally, the Subscribe & Save (Amazon) and Autoship & Save (Chewy) prices will be listed.
Save on Scheduled Deliveries
If your dog has a food he/she likes and does well on, setting up ongoing, regular deliveries from either Chewy or Amazon can save on your overall costs.
Both Amazon and Chewy offer the option to schedule your pet’s food deliveries and save 5% in the process.
For Amazon, it’s called Subscribe & Save, and regular deliveries can be scheduled from every 1 month through 6 months, in one month intervals.
Some products on Amazon will not receive the 5% discount until 5 or more products are signed up for Subscribe & Save. Most pet foods do not have this restriction, though.
For Chewy, it’s called Autoship, and regular deliveries can be scheduled beginning in weekly increments (every 1 week through 16 weeks) and then every 5, 6 and 8 months.
So, obviously, Chewy allows for a little more flexibility with its Autoship scheduling.
And, you may have seen our recent post where Chewy is offering 40% off your first Autoship order. This promotion is for a limited time, so it may no longer be available depending on when you read this. If it is still an option, that’s a nice savings on your pet’s food.
Both Amazon and Chewy allow you to easily edit your scheduled deliveries and, most importantly, cancel your subscriptions at any time.
Looking at things from a money-saving perspective, technically, you could order your first bag of food, set up a regular delivery schedule and then cancel the ongoing deliveries after your first bag ships to save the extra 5% on a one-time order. I’ll leave that up to you as to whether it’s a money saving option of which you want to take advantage.
Shipping
The (potential) downside to ordering your pet’s food online comes in the form of shipping charges. Bags of dog food typically fall into the range of 20-lbs. to 40-lbs. And, considering those weights, you’d think shipping costs would be on the high side.
Luckily, the charge for shipping – if there is one – isn’t too bad.
If you are an Amazon Prime member, most foods will fall under the Prime shipping benefit which provides free 2-day shipping.
You can view the details of Prime and sign-up here. (affiliate link)
If you don’t have a Prime membership, shipping on Amazon is usually free when an order is $25 or more. Most bags of dog food will easily hit that $25 mark.
Chewy offers free 1-2 day shipping on orders over $49. If your order is less than $49, shipping is a flat rate of $4.95.
As you can see, shipping charges from either retailer are either free or a reasonable amount.
Which means, having your dog’s food delivered right to your door on a predetermined schedule may be an economical option.
Let’s take a look at product pricing between Chewy and Amazon for five different dog food brands to see what we find.
Note: Prices are valid at the time of publication. As with any retailer, pricing may change at any time.
Chewy vs. Amazon – Price
Click the individual links to check current pricing and buy.
Iams ProActive Health Adult MiniChunks Dry Dog Food – 30-lb bag
Amazon – $28.99 (free shipping via $25+ order)
Amazon Subscribe & Save – $27.54
Chewy – $28.99 (shipping $4.95)
Chewy Autoship – $27.54
Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Adult Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe Dry Dog Food – 30-lb bag
Amazon – $48.46 (free shipping)
Amazon Subscribe & Save – $46.04
Chewy – $46.99 (shipping $4.95)
Chewy Autoship – $44.64
Hill’s Science Diet Adult Perfect Weight Dry Dog Food – 28.5-lb bag
Amazon – $63.88 (free shipping)
Amazon Subscribe & Save – N/A
*This dog food is not sold by Amazon, rather, it’s sold on Amazon via an outside retailer. Since Amazon is not the seller, Subscribe & Save is not available.
Chewy – $48.99 (shipping $4.95)
Chewy Autoship – $46.54
Whole Earth Farms Grain Free Chicken & Turkey Recipe Dry Dog Food – 25-lb bag
Amazon – $54.99 (free shipping)
Amazon Subscribe & Save – N/A
*This dog food is also not sold by Amazon, rather, it’s sold on Amazon via an outside retailer. Since Amazon is not the seller, Subscribe & Save is not available.
Chewy – $39.98 (shipping $4.95)
Chewy Autoship – $37.98
Taste of the Wild High Prairie Grain-Free Dry Dog Food – 30-lb bag
Amazon – $48.99 (free shipping)
Amazon Subscribe & Save – $48.99 (5% off if you subscribe to 5 or more items on Amazon)
Chewy – $48.99 (shipping $4.95)
Chewy Autoship – $46.54
A quick scan of pricing for the above foods shows comparable pricing on the foods that are sold by Amazon and on Chewy.
The free shipping on Amazon gives it a slight edge…but only when the food is sold by Amazon.
When the food is sold by an outside retailer on Amazon, the winner is clearly Chewy.
And, for the foods approaching $49 per bag, an addition of a toy or bag of treats would trigger free shipping on Chewy and make the food purchase itself a better deal.
Of course, you may not feed your dog any of the above foods, so it’s best to check pricing on the food you prefer. Below are the general links to Amazon and Chewy – click each, enter your food’s name and compare pricing for yourself.
Extra Savings with Cash Back Portals
Going through a cash back portal first to make any online purchase is a great way to save even more money.
For Chewy.com, you can save 4% on every purchase just by clicking through the Ebates/Rakuten cash back site first.
Another cash back site, Top Cashback, will give a one-time $5 cash back amount on a new customer’s first Chewy.com purchase. Unfortunately, Top Cashback doesn’t provide cash back earning for ongoing Chewy purchases.
Which is why I’d recommend Ebates/Rakuten for regular Chewy purchases.
As mentioned, Ebates/Rakuten is currently offering 4% cash back on your Chewy purchases. If you’re new to Ebates/Rakuten, use Savings Beagle’s affiliate link to sign up and get an extra $10 cash back on top of what you’ll earn on your Chewy.com purchase.
If you want to try Top Cashback for its one-time $5 cash back offer, you can use Savings Beagle’s affiliate link to sign up…TopCashBack doesn’t offer new customers a sign-up bonus like Ebates, but you will get the $5 cash back if this is your first purchase at Chewy from the Top Cashback site.
Amazon, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to offer cash back portal opportunities for pet food/supply purchases.
Both Top Cashback and Ebates/Rakuten offer cash back earning for Amazon purchases, but only on select categories. I’ve never seen pet-related items as one of those categories. However, that may change in the future, so check the links above just in case.
Wrap Up
It’s not surprising that dog food pricing between Amazon and Chewy is fairly close.
The major difference being when an outside retailer is selling on Amazon and wants to cover the fees Amazon charges in addition to making a profit.
I’ve used both Amazon and Chewy in the past for dog food delivery – although not the subscription services – and found both to deliver on-time and exactly what was ordered. Which is important if you’ve waited until the last minute to order your pooch’s food!
With online pricing being fairly close, the question comes down to one of brick and mortar pricing versus online, and the convenience factor of not having to drive to the nearest pet store and lug the heavy food bags back home.
Now that we’ve laid out the options, it’s up to you to compare your in-store dog food pricing to the pricing of an online retailer’s, whether it’s Amazon, Chewy, or some other.
I’d be curious to hear what you find…if you have a few minutes, let us know in the comment section below.
Meanwhile, give your pooch a scratch behind the ears from all of us at Savings Beagle.
Savings Beagle is an Amazon affiliate receiving a small commission from purchases made via Amazon links on our site and in this post. You don’t have to use our Amazon links to purchase, but we appreciate when you do.
Additionally, Savings Beagle receives referral bonuses from both Ebates/Rakuten and Top Cashback if first-time users use the affiliate sign-up links above to create an account and make purchases. You don’t have to use those links, but it’s much appreciated if you do.
