By Amanda Wilson EditorAmanda Wilson Amanda Wilson has a background as an e-commerce manager and researcher for various digital media. She's also our tech specialist and the one who keeps Mangoful afloat.Read more about Amanda WilsonExpertises: personal development, dating, social media
Shopping on Amazon offers a convenient and expansive marketplace for virtually everything you need or want; however, purchasing gifts or sensitive items often requires an extra layer of privacy.
When I shop for surprise gifts or personal items, I prefer keeping my purchase history private to maintain the element of surprise or protect my personal privacy.
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This is where shopping incognito on Amazon becomes important. It is a method that involves a few simple steps to ensure that your shopping habits and history remain confidential.
To maintain privacy on Amazon, I regularly manage my browsing history.
Amazon tracks and records the items I view, potentially using this data to recommend products or advertisem*nts based on my interests. By clearing this history, I prevent Amazon from storing information about the items I have browsed or showing them in future recommendations.
This action ensures that anyone else with access to my Amazon account won’t stumble upon a list of recently viewed items that could give away a surprise gift or reveal personal shopping preferences.
Another critical part of shopping incognito involves handling the order history effectively.
Amazon keeps a detailed record of all the purchases made, which can easily be viewed by anyone with access to the account.
I take steps to archive orders, a feature Amazon provides that removes items from the immediate view of the order history page, thus keeping my purchases away from prying eyes. When shopping for others who may share my account, these precautions help keep gifts a secret until the perfect moment.
Understanding Incognito Shopping on Amazon
I understand that many shoppers value their privacy.
Shopping in incognito mode on Amazon offers a way to browse and purchase items discreetly, ensuring that others using the same device or account remain unaware of these activities.
Benefits of Incognito Mode
- Privacy: By using incognito mode, I can keep my search and purchase history private. This is particularly useful for buying gifts or personal items that I’d prefer to keep a surprise.
- Control Over Recommendations: Amazon’s recommendation algorithm often uses my browsing history. Shopping incognito helps me prevent these items from influencing my recommendations and those shared with family accounts.
Limitations of Incognito Shopping
- Lack of Personalization: While I gain more privacy, I lose the personalized shopping experience, like product suggestions based on past purchases.
- No Browsing History: If I forget to bookmark or forget the details of an item I found, there’s no browsing history to refer back to when shopping in incognito mode.
Using incognito mode to shop on Amazon requires understanding these trade-offs, and I consider carefully when it may be to my benefit.
Setting Up Incognito Mode
When I shop on Amazon and want to keep my purchases discreet, I follow these specific steps to ensure privacy.
Using Private Browsing
I start by opening a private browsing window, which is offered by most web browsers under names like Incognito Mode in Chrome, Private Window in Firefox, and InPrivate in Edge.
This prevents the browser from saving my search history, cookies, and site data.
Disabling Browsing History
Next, I navigate to my Amazon Account settings.
Under “Browsing History,” I click on “Manage history” and then toggle off the “Turn Browsing History on/off” setting, thus stopping Amazon from keeping a record of my activity.
Managing Amazon Account Settings
I also pay special attention to my Amazon account settings.
Within the “Your Content and Devices” section of Account Settings, I look for the privacy options to manage who has access to my orders and ensure that my purchase history is not shared accidentally with other household members if I’m part of an Amazon Household.
Shopping Practices to Maintain Privacy
When shopping on Amazon, I make it a point to keep my personal data and preferences private to reduce targeted marketing and potential data tracking.
Avoiding Personalized Recommendations
Why It’s Important: Amazon’s algorithm uses my past browsing and purchase history to show me products it thinks I’ll be interested in.
To prevent this:
- I clear my browsing history regularly on Amazon to stop the site from using this data for personalized recommendations.
- I disable Amazon’s personalized ads by adjusting the settings in my account’s Advertising Preferences.
Opting Out of Data Collection
What I Do:
- I navigate to my Amazon account’s Browsing History section and turn off the option for Amazon to track my browsing.
- I limit the amount of data Amazon collects on me by carefully managing my Privacy Settings, ensuring that tracking is minimized.
Using Anonymous Payment Methods
To Keep Transactions Private:
- I opt for gift cards or prepaid debit cards to keep my purchases disconnected from my personal credit or debit accounts.
- For further privacy, I consider using an Amazon-specific cash account to avoid linking my purchases to my name and banking information.
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