How to Hide Purchases on Amazon: A Complete Guide to Keeping Your Orders Private

At a Glance: Looking to keep your Amazon purchases private from family, friends, or shared account users? Whether you’re planning a surprise gift or simply value your privacy, this guide explains exactly how to hide purchases on Amazon using account tools, archived orders, household profiles, and more. Learn practical steps and best practices to maintain your discretion on the world’s biggest online shopping platform.

Knowing how to hide purchases on Amazon can be a real lifesaver, especially when you’re shopping for surprises, personal items, or anything you’d prefer to keep discreet. With millions of users sharing their Amazon accounts with family members through Prime or shared devices, privacy becomes a concern. Fortunately, Amazon offers several features and workarounds to help you maintain confidentiality when shopping.

In this article, we’ll explore different ways to conceal your orders, from archiving purchases to managing household profiles, removing search history, and even using gift cards to keep payment activity discreet. Whether you’re new to Amazon or a seasoned shopper, these tips will help you keep your online purchases under wraps.

Why You Might Want to Hide Amazon Purchases

There are many reasons you might want to hide your purchases on Amazon. Some common scenarios include:

• Buying a surprise gift for a loved one

• Ordering something personal or sensitive

• Sharing an account with family or roommates

• Managing purchases for work or business discreetly

• Avoiding unnecessary questions about spending

Whatever your reason, Amazon doesn’t make it immediately obvious how to hide your orders—but there are several practical options to achieve it.

Archive Orders: The Simplest Way to Hide Amazon Purchases

Amazon’s archive order feature is one of the most effective methods to hide past purchases from the main order history.

How to Archive an Order on Amazon:

1. Log in to your Amazon account

2. Go to “Returns & Orders” at the top-right of the page

3. Scroll through your list or search for the order you want to hide

4. Click on “Order Details” next to the purchase

5. Click the “Archive Order” button

Once archived, the order will be removed from your default order history and stored in the Archived Orders section, which is slightly less accessible.

Limitations of Archiving Orders

While archived orders are hidden from the default view, they are not password-protected or completely invisible. Anyone with access to your account can still view them under “Your Account” > “Archived Orders.” Therefore, this method is best used in combination with other privacy steps.

Delete or Manage Your Browsing History

Hiding the order itself isn’t enough—if someone checks your browsing history, they may find what you’ve searched for or viewed.

How to Delete Items from Your Amazon Browsing History:

1. Hover over “Accounts & Lists” at the top of the Amazon home page

2. Click on “Browsing History”

3. Find the item(s) you want to remove

4. Click “Remove from view” next to each item

You can also turn off the browsing history completely by clicking the “Manage history” toggle and selecting “Turn off browsing history.”

By managing this section, you ensure that your searches don’t leave traces, even if the order is hidden.

Hide Amazon Purchases Using Incognito Mode

If you’re shopping on a shared device, using incognito or private browsing mode can help avoid leaving behind cookies or saved searches.

While this doesn’t affect your Amazon account directly, it prevents auto-fill suggestions, search predictions, and other browsing hints from revealing what you’ve been looking at or buying.

Use Amazon Household to Separate Accounts

If you’re sharing your Prime membership with others, Amazon Household is a great tool to manage privacy. It allows you to link multiple accounts while keeping purchasing histories and recommendations separate.

Setting Up Amazon Household:

1. Go to amazon.com/myh (or “Amazon Household” in settings)

2. Click “Add an Adult,” “Add a Teen,” or “Add a Child”

3. Follow the prompts to send an invite or create a new profile

By doing this, you get all the benefits of Amazon Prime—like free shipping and streaming—without having to share order histories or wish lists.

Remove Items from Your Recommendations

Amazon uses your order and browsing history to recommend products. If you’ve purchased or searched for something you don’t want influencing future suggestions, you can remove it from your recommendations.

To Remove Purchases from Recommendations:

1. Go to “Your Account” > “Your Recommendations”

2. Choose “Improve Your Recommendations”

3. Select “View” next to the relevant product category

4. Click “Remove this recommendation” or adjust your preferences

This is especially useful if you’re trying to hide specific product categories or if you share your screen with others.

Use Gift Cards or Alternative Payment Methods

Another smart way to hide purchases on Amazon is by using gift cards or prepaid debit cards. When you redeem a gift card, it adds to your Amazon account balance and doesn’t show up on your bank or credit card statement.

This tactic is ideal if you want your financial transactions to remain private—even from others who may check your credit card statements or bank account.

Hide Orders on Amazon App

If you mainly use the Amazon app, here’s how to hide purchases directly from your mobile device:

1. Open the Amazon app

2. Tap the three lines (menu) in the bottom right

3. Go to “Your Orders”

4. Find the order you want to hide

5. Tap “View order details” and then “Archive Order”

Note: Not all app versions may support archiving directly. If you don’t see the option, switch to a browser or desktop version for full functionality.

Turn Off Alexa Purchase History

If you’re using Alexa-enabled devices connected to your Amazon account, you may want to disable voice purchase history, which can be accessed easily.

Steps to Disable Voice Purchases or Hide Order Info from Alexa:

1. Open the Amazon Alexa app

2. Go to Settings > Account Settings > Voice Purchasing

3. Toggle off or add a voice code for confirmation

You can also clear Alexa’s history under Settings > Alexa Privacy > Review Voice History.

This ensures that your private orders won’t be accidentally revealed through voice commands or voice history logs.

Bonus Tip: Use Multiple Accounts for Maximum Privacy

If privacy is a high concern—perhaps you’re planning a major surprise, managing confidential purchases, or running a side business—it may be worthwhile to maintain a separate Amazon account altogether.

You can fund this account with gift cards, use a separate email, and avoid any overlap with your main profile. While it requires a bit more effort, this method offers the highest level of purchase privacy.

Summary: Best Practices for Hiding Amazon Purchases

Here’s a quick recap of how to hide purchases on Amazon effectively:

• Archive Orders to remove them from the main history view

• Delete Browsing History to hide product searches

• Use Incognito Mode to avoid leaving traces

• Set Up Amazon Household to separate user profiles

• Remove Items from Recommendations to prevent awkward product suggestions

• Use Gift Cards or Alternative Payments to keep your financial activity private

• Hide Orders on the App for on-the-go privacy

• Disable Alexa Voice Purchasing to protect your voice history

• Use a Separate Account for sensitive purchases

By combining several of these strategies, you can significantly increase your privacy on Amazon and make sure that your purchases stay your business only.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to hide purchases on Amazon is all about understanding the tools Amazon provides and making smart use of features like archiving, browsing control, and household profiles. Whether you’re trying to keep sensitive purchases private or simply value discretion, the methods above will help you achieve your goal.

While no method is 100% foolproof—especially if someone has full access to your account—using a combination of the above tips can give you peace of mind and protect your privacy on one of the most widely used shopping platforms in the world.

Now that you know how to hide purchases on Amazon, you can shop confidently and privately, no matter the occasion.