How to Make an Amazon Wish List (and Share It)
An Amazon wish list is the simplest way to tell people what you actually want: you save items while you browse, share one link, and whoever is buying picks from it instead of guessing.
First, a naming thing that trips people up. Amazon stopped calling them wish lists in the interface — in the menu they are just Lists. The feature is the same one everyone means by "wish list", so if you are hunting for the words "wish list" in the menu and not finding them, that is why.
Below is the whole thing: creating a list, adding items, sharing it, keeping purchases a surprise, and finding someone else's list. Every step was checked against Amazon's own help pages on 8 October 2026, because this interface moves and most guides online are describing a version that no longer exists.
How to create an Amazon wish list
On the desktop site, the whole thing is four steps:
- Hover Account & Lists in the top right and choose Your Lists.
- Select Create a List and type a name for it. "Birthday", "Christmas", "Kitchen" — the name is visible to anyone you share it with, so keep it something you would not mind them reading.
- Select Create List.
- Open the three dots menu and choose Manage List to set the shipping address and the other preferences, then Save Changes.
Step 4 is the one everybody skips, and it is the one that decides whether people can actually send you anything. Without a shipping address on the list, a giver has to ask you for it — which defeats the point of a surprise.
In the Amazon app
The app follows the same path under a different label: open the menu, go to Your Lists, and create the list there. On a product page, the quickest way to save something is the heart icon — one tap and it goes onto your default list.
That default-list behaviour is worth knowing: Add to List and the heart both drop the item into whichever list Amazon treats as default, not into the one you had open last. If you keep several lists, use the dropdown on Add to List and pick the right one, or you will find your Christmas ideas sitting in the kitchen list.
You can create as many lists as you like — Amazon does not cap the number.
Adding items, and what Amazon will not let you add
On any product page, select Add to List. For items sold by third-party sellers you will see See Buying Options instead of Add to Cart, because that exact offer may not be there later — the item still goes on the list, it is just not guaranteed to be buyable at the same price.
Amazon refuses some categories outright. According to its help pages, you cannot add:
- out-of-print books;
- out-of-stock products;
- cell phones sold with a service plan;
- items with no release date yet;
- items with quantity restrictions;
- pharmacy items.
The out-of-stock rule is the one that bites around Christmas: the thing you most want is the thing most likely to be unavailable in November, and Amazon simply will not let you save it. Note it somewhere else and add it when it comes back.
Set priority, quantity and comments
A bare list of products makes a giver guess, which is the problem you were trying to solve. Amazon has three fields that fix it, hidden behind the three dots next to each item: Add comments, quantity & priority.
Priority tells people what you actually want most. Quantity matters for anything you need more than one of. Comments is where you put the thing that is not on the product page — the size, the colour, "the blue one, not the black", "only if it is still under $40".
From the same menu you can Delete an item, or Move it to another list or registry.
How to share your Amazon wish list
Open the list and select + Invite, or the share icon on the right. Amazon then asks what the other person is allowed to do:
- View only — anyone with the link can see the list but not change it. This is what you want for a birthday or Christmas list.
- View and edit — people you invite can add and remove items, change quantities and priorities, and leave comments. This is for a list you are building together, like a household or a shared trip.
Sharing a list that was set to Private automatically flips it to Shared. If you deliberately kept a list private, check its state after you send the link.
Can anyone see your Amazon wish list?
Only if you let them. A list is Private until you share it, and only the owner can change privacy, share, delete, or see and edit the shipping address. Everyone you invite can be managed later through Manage people in the … More menu.
Your address is not exposed by sharing: when someone buys from your list, only your name and city appear on the shipping address, not the street.
Keeping purchases a surprise — and where that breaks
Amazon has a setting called Don't spoil my surprises, and it is on by default. With it on, when someone buys something from your list, the item keeps showing as Unpurchased to you for several weeks, and if you try to buy it yourself Amazon warns you so you do not end up with two.
You will find it under the three dots → Manage List. If Keep purchased items on your list is ticked, untick it, then Save Changes.
Here is the part Amazon states plainly and almost nobody repeats: the purchased-item filter and the duplicate warnings only work while you are signed in to your account. If you open your own list signed out — on a work laptop, on someone else's phone, in a private window — the list can show you exactly what has already been bought.
There is a second gap, and it is the common one. The "moved to purchased" behaviour happens automatically only when the gift is ordered on Amazon. If your friend sees the item on your list and buys it cheaper somewhere else, nothing updates unless they remember to click Buying this elsewhere next to it. Most people do not.
Before you send the link, open your own list in a private browser window. That is exactly what you will see if you ever check it signed out — and if it already lists what people bought, you have found the leak before it spoiled anything.
How to find someone's Amazon wish list
This is the most-searched question about Amazon lists and the answer has changed, which is why so much advice online is now wrong.
You can no longer search for a person's list by name or email. Amazon's own help page is unambiguous about it: if you want to see a friend's list, you have to message them and ask them to share it. The public wish list directory that older guides describe is gone.
What Amazon offers instead is a nudge: go to Your Friends, choose Send a message, and it generates a request you can copy or email. Once they send the link back, you can save it in that same Your Friends section so you are not hunting through chat history next December.
So if you are trying to buy for someone and cannot find their list: it is not hidden and you are not doing it wrong. There is no way to look it up. Ask them for the link.
Making a teacher or classroom wish list
A classroom list is an ordinary list with two settings done deliberately. Create it as normal, then in Manage List set the shipping address to where the supplies should actually arrive, and share it View only so nobody can edit the list but anyone with the link can buy from it.
The privacy rule works in your favour here: people buying from the list see only the name and city on the address, never the street. That is what makes it safe to post the link publicly to a class group.
Set quantity on the consumables. Twenty people buying from a classroom list without quantities set is how a class ends up with twenty of one thing and none of the other nineteen.
Where an Amazon list stops being enough
For buying one thing from one shop, an Amazon list is hard to beat, and this guide exists because it genuinely works. But it has edges, and they are all the same edge: it is Amazon's list, so it only really understands Amazon.
- One shop. Everything on it has to be an Amazon product. A wedding, a baby or a housewarming list is almost never from one retailer.
- The surprise depends on being signed in. Signed out, your own list can show you what has been bought.
- Buying elsewhere does not register unless the giver remembers to tick it, so the same gift gets bought twice.
- Both sides end up needing accounts. Buying from a list means an Amazon account, and the duplicate-purchase warning only reaches people who are signed in.
A list that is not tied to one shop
If what you want is a list that spans shops and keeps the surprise properly, that is what we built. You paste a link to anything from any store — Amazon included — and the title, picture and price fill themselves in.
The difference that matters is on the giver's side: they reserve an item with one tap and no account at all, and the reservation is visible to every other giver, so nobody buys the same thing twice no matter which shop they buy it from. You, the owner, never see who reserved what. Not "for several weeks", and not "unless you are signed out" — the status simply is not rendered for you.
Make a list and send one link. If you are putting one together for a particular occasion, there are ready-made starting points for a birthday, a wedding and a Christmas list.
Frequently asked questions
Does Amazon still have a wish list option?
Yes, but it is not called that in the interface any more. Go to Account & Lists → Your Lists and select Create a List. It is the same feature people mean by "wish list" — Amazon just labels it Lists now, which is why searching the menu for those exact words does not find it.
How do I share my Amazon wish list?
Open the list, select + Invite or the share icon, then choose View only (anyone with the link can see it but not change it) or View and edit (invited people can add and remove items). Copy the link or send it by email. Note that sharing a Private list automatically changes it to Shared.
Can anyone see my Amazon wish list?
Not unless you share it — lists are private by default, and only the owner can change that. When someone does buy from your list, only your name and city show on the shipping address, never your street.
How do I find someone's Amazon wish list?
You cannot search for it. Amazon removed public wish list lookup, and its help page now says you must message the person and ask them to share the list with you. Go to Your Friends → Send a message to generate that request, and save the link they send back in the same section.
Will I see what people bought me from my Amazon list?
Usually not. The "Don't spoil my surprises" setting is on by default and keeps bought items showing as Unpurchased for several weeks. But it only applies while you are signed in — open your own list signed out and it can reveal what has been purchased. And if a giver buys the item somewhere other than Amazon, nothing is marked at all unless they click "Buying this elsewhere".
Why can't I add an item to my Amazon list?
Amazon blocks several categories: out-of-print books, out-of-stock products, cell phones sold with a service plan, items with no release date, items with quantity restrictions, and pharmacy items. Out of stock is the usual reason in December — save the item elsewhere and add it when it is back.
How do I delete an Amazon wish list?
Open Your Lists, select the list, open the three dots menu and choose the delete option. Only the list owner can delete a list — people you invited, even with edit rights, cannot.
How do I make an Amazon wish list for a teacher or classroom?
Create a normal list, then in Manage List set the shipping address to where the supplies should arrive and share it as View only so people can buy but not edit. Set quantities on consumables, otherwise twenty people buy the same item. Buyers see only the name and city on the address, so the link is safe to post to a class group.
Wanda Wishlist. Believes every gifting disaster starts with 'oh, surprise me'. Teaches people to write wishlists that are specific enough to work and vague enough to keep the magic.
Every step here was checked against Amazon's own help pages on 8 October 2026; the interface changes, so if something has moved since, Amazon's documentation is the authority. secret.gift makes its own wishlist, which the last section is about — we have tried to be straight about what Amazon's lists do well and where they stop. Links to Amazon carry our affiliate tag; this page sells nothing, so nothing here depends on you clicking them.
Keep reading
Want a list that is not limited to one shop, where givers reserve without an account and you never see who took what?
Make a wishlist