How To Hide Your Amazon Orders From Others In Two Ways

Amazon is the go-to online retailer for orders for a huge swath of the population and, around the holidays and at other times, that includes buying gifts. But, when buying gifts from Amazon, there’s always the risk that the recipient is using the same Amazon account. And, as a result, there’s always a risk that the recipient will happen across gift orders for products intended for them. That is unless you work out how to hide your Amazon orders.

Of course, that’s not the only reason somebody might want to hide orders. But regardless of the reason, there are actually two primary methods to hide Amazon orders. But learning how to do either is easy enough, with a bit of help.

Here’s how to hide your Amazon orders simply and quickly

The first method will work better where more in situations where more than one individual accesses the same Amazon account. It isn’t entirely foolproof, either, for exactly that same reason. As we’ll discuss in the instructions below. Chiefly because users can still stumble upon orders by accident. But it should work in a pinch. Or where the other users on the account just aren’t as tech-savvy or likely to stumble upon it.

1. Open up a browser and log into the Amazon account in question
2. In the top right-hand corner of the UI, locate and select the “Returns & Orders” link
3. On the resulting page, navigate to find the order you’d like to hide
4. Once discovered, select the “View order details link” for the order you’d like to hide. That’s typically found at the top right-hand corner of the order’s card-like pane UI
5. Scroll, as needed, to locate the “Archive order” button. Amazon arranged things so that that’s typically the last button on the card showing the products that were ordered
6. Select the “Archive order” button
7. Confirm that the items shown are those that need to be archived, in the resulting pop-up window
8. Select the “Archive order” button on the pop-up, to confirm your choice with Amazon
9. The order will disappear from your “Orders” page
10. Finding the order now will require you to select the “Account & Lists” button at the top right-hand side of the UI. And then select “Account” from under the “Your Account” subheading.
11. Then, you’ll need to select the option labeled “Archived Orders,” which, conversely, is also where you can go to unarchive an order. Regardless, your gifts will now effectively be hidden from anybody who isn’t aware of order archiving. It’s important to note, however, that anybody who knows how to find that page will see the archived orders

…or you can use this effectively fool-proof method

The second option, on the other hand, allows you to link up multiple Amazon accounts. In effect, letting you share Amazon Prime benefits with others who have their own accounts, within your household. The result of that is, of course, that those others can’t see things you ordered, to begin with. And you won’t be able to see theirs either. In effect, hiding orders by default, with the added benefit of not losing Prime benefits across users.

This method is, it almost goes without saying, a bit more involved. But if you need to hide your Amazon orders from others in your household but don’t want to change your password or take other drastic measures to keep orders hidden — or take away Prime benefits — this is how you can do it. This method also lets you share digital content purchased across accounts. With some caveats that we’ll discuss momentarily.

1. Start by following step 10 above after first opening up Amazon in a browser and signing in
2. On the account page, scroll down to the sub-section titled “Shopping programs and rentals”
3. Select, from within that card-like segment, the option labeled “Amazon Household”
   1. To add a teenager — between the ages of 13 and 17 — select that option from the list. Follow the wizard to add a teenager who resides in your home.  This is the best option for children within a household since it requires adult permission to make purchases. But it also gives children their own login. And, of course, you can set up spending limits instead of approving every order. This will keep them from seeing what you’ve ordered
   2. To add an adult — over the age of 17 — select that option. This option does allow access to credit cards and, if the user is removed, requires a 180-day waiting period before another household can be joined. So Amazon isn’t just letting any and everybody join up with anybody’s family or household without due consideration. Amazon also shares all other billing information with the household. So it’s important to only add users who are actually within your household. Follow Amazon’s wizard to add the other user. You’ll need their log-in information to finish this step. No users who are adults and part of the household will be able to see orders placed by other adults
   3. Amazon allows children under 13 to be added as well. But it links those children’s accounts directly to the parent account. To add a child, simply select that option and follow through with the steps provided by Amazon