Someone asks what you want, and half of it is already sitting in your Amazon cart. An Amazon wishlist turns that into something you can send: one link, and nobody has to guess.
Here is how to make one, on a computer or in the app, how to share it, how to find someone else's, and the settings worth checking before you send the link. The steps follow Amazon's own help pages and guides, where the wishlist is now mostly just called a "List."
How to make an Amazon wishlist on a computer
- Open Your Lists. Sign in at amazon.com, go to Account & Lists at the top of the page, and select Your Lists.
- Create the wishlist. Select Create a List and type a name, like "Birthday" or "Christmas 2026."
- Save it. Select Create List.
- Check the settings. Open the three-dots menu on the wishlist and choose Manage List to set the shipping address and other preferences, then select Save Changes.
You can repeat this as often as you like: Amazon lets you make an unlimited number of wishlists. One per occasion keeps things clear, so the birthday wishlist isn't buried under the things you're saving for the kitchen.
How to make a wishlist in the Amazon app
The steps are the same in the app. Open Your Lists (depending on your version of the app, it sits under the profile icon at the bottom of the screen or in the menu), tap Create a List, enter a name, and tap Create List.
To change its settings later, open the wishlist, tap the three dots, and choose Manage List.
How to add items to your wishlist
On any product page, use the Add to List button and pick the wishlist you want. Tapping the heart icon on an item also saves it, to your default wishlist.
Once something is on your wishlist, the three dots next to it let you add a comment, a quantity and a priority. Use them. "Size M, the green one" in a comment saves the people buying for you a message, and a priority tells them which gift you'd actually be happiest to open.
Amazon's help page lists a few kinds of items that can't be added: out-of-stock products, out-of-print books, cell phones with service plans, items without a release date, items with quantity restrictions and pharmacy items. Items from third-party sellers on Amazon can be added too, and their product page shows See Buying Options instead of Add to Cart.
How to share your Amazon wishlist
- Open the wishlist. Go to Your Lists and select the one you want to share.
- Select Invite. Choose + Invite, or the share icon.
- Pick who can do what. View only means anyone with the link can see the wishlist but can't change it. View and edit means the people you invite can add or remove items, change quantities and priorities, and comment.
- Send it. Copy the link and paste it wherever people are asking, or select Invite by email.
For the people buying you gifts, choose View only. View and edit is for someone building the wishlist with you, like a partner planning one for your home together.
Your wishlists stay private until you share them, and a private one switches to Shared once you do. Only you, as the owner, can change the privacy setting, share or delete the wishlist, or see and change the shipping address.
How to find someone's Amazon wishlist
This is where most people get stuck. Amazon's own help page for finding a wishlist is plain about it: if you want to see a friend's, you ask them to share it. Amazon even gives you a way to ask: go to Your Friends and select Send a message, then copy the request or email it. When the link comes back, you can save it in Your Friends so it's there next time.
Amazon's name search, Find a registry or gift list, covers registries and Amazon Gift Lists. A Gift List can be looked up by the name of the person who made it (for a child's Gift List, search the parent's name), and it becomes searchable within 24 hours of being created. If an ordinary wishlist doesn't turn up in that search, that's expected. It doesn't mean the person doesn't have one.
Amazon wishlist or Amazon Gift List
Amazon has two kinds of wishlist, and they're easy to mix up.
- Wishlist: the everyday one in Your Lists. Good for a running list of what you want, shared by link.
- Gift List: a registry-style wishlist found under Your Registries and Gift Lists. Amazon offers it for a child's birthday, and for the holidays as one for the whole household.
To make a Gift List, go to Your Registries and Gift Lists, select Create a Registry or Gift List, and follow the steps. Items go on it from the Add to Registry & Gifting menu under Add to Cart on a product page.
A Gift List works differently from a wishlist in a few ways that matter:
- Privacy has three settings: Public, Shareable and Private, and a new Gift List starts as Private. You have to switch it to Public or Shareable before you can share it.
- You choose whether to see purchases: a Show what's been purchased toggle lets you keep it a surprise until you're ready. People shopping from it always see what's been bought.
- It keeps a record for thank-you notes: Amazon keeps a list of who bought what and when.
- Purchases have to go through it: an item is marked as purchased only when the giver adds it to their cart from the Gift List itself. Buy the same thing from the product page, and the Gift List doesn't know.
If you want people to be able to find your wishlist by name, or you're making one for a child, the Gift List is the better fit. For everything else, the everyday wishlist is simpler.
Your gift address and privacy
In a wishlist's settings, you choose whether to include a shipping address. It's worth doing: people buying from your wishlist can send the gift straight to you without asking where you live.
Amazon doesn't show your street address to them. Gift buyers see only your name, city and state. To fulfill an order, Amazon may share your address with the seller and the delivery company, as it would for any order.
To change the address on a wishlist, go to Your Lists, open the three-dots menu, choose Manage List, add a new address in the shipping address section, and select Save Changes. If you move, check it there.
How purchased items show and the surprise problem
When someone buys from your wishlist, the item moves to its purchased section, so the next person doesn't buy it again. What you see depends on one setting.
Don't spoil my surprises is on by default. With it on, gifts bought for you keep showing as Unpurchased on your own view of the wishlist for several weeks, and if you try to buy one yourself, Amazon warns you that it's already been gifted. You'll find the setting under Manage List.
There are two catches worth knowing:
- The surprise only holds while you're signed in. Amazon's help page says it plainly: if you don't sign in, your wishlist may reveal a surprise.
- The wishlist only knows about purchases made through it. If someone buys the same thing at a store down the street, the wishlist still shows it as available unless they mark it. For some items, Amazon shows a Buying this elsewhere link next to the item for exactly that.
The one thing an Amazon wishlist can't do
An Amazon wishlist holds Amazon's products. That's its whole design: you add things with the Add to List button on an Amazon product page. The browser add-on that once let you add things from other sites, Amazon Assistant, was discontinued in 2023.
If almost everything you want is on Amazon, that's no limit at all, and an Amazon wishlist is a very good way to ask for it. It's only a problem when the thing you actually want comes from a small maker, a specialist store or a ticket site. That's the gap a universal wishlist fills. Target's and Walmart's wishlists have the same limit, and there's a separate guide on how to make a Target or Walmart wishlist.
When your wishlist spans more than one store
Tools like Wishes are built for exactly that. It's free on iPhone, Android and the web, and it does three things an Amazon wishlist doesn't:
- It takes a link from any store: Amazon included. Paste a product link and the photo, name and link come in, so one wishlist can hold the jacket, the print from the independent maker and the concert tickets.
- Friends open it without an account: the wishlist is a web page. Nobody has to download anything, sign up or be signed in to see what you want.
- You see what's booked, not who booked it: when someone books a gift, it shows as taken to everyone, so nobody doubles up. On your own wishlist you'll see that it's booked, but no Wishes app or page shows you who booked it. Booking takes a free sign-in with Apple or Google, and nobody pays to book a gift.
Your first three wishlists are free, and Wishes Plus lifts that limit. If you'd rather not install anything to try it, the free wishlist maker lets you type a wishlist out in your browser before you decide to save it. And if you're weighing up more than one tool, there's our look at the wishlist apps worth looking at.
Amazon wishlist questions
How do I make a wishlist on Amazon?
Go to Account & Lists, select Your Lists, then select Create a List, type a name and select Create List. In the app, open Your Lists and tap Create a List. Then use Add to List on any product page to fill it, and check the address and surprise settings under Manage List.
How do I share my Amazon wishlist?
Open the wishlist in Your Lists and select + Invite or the share icon. Choose View only for gift givers, then copy the link or send it by email. A private wishlist switches to Shared when you share it.
How do I find someone's Amazon wishlist?
Ask them for the link. Amazon's help page says that to see a friend's wishlist, you ask them to share it, and Your Friends has a Send a message option for exactly that. The name search on Amazon is for registries and Gift Lists, not everyday wishlists.
Can people see my address on my Amazon wishlist?
No, not your street address. People buying from your wishlist see only your name, city and state. Amazon may share the full address with the seller and delivery company to deliver the order, as it does for any purchase.
Will I see what's been bought from my Amazon wishlist?
Not by default. Don't spoil my surprises is on when you create a wishlist, so gifts bought for you keep showing as Unpurchased for several weeks. It only works while you're signed in, and you can turn it off under Manage List.
What is the difference between an Amazon wishlist and a Gift List?
A wishlist is the everyday one in Your Lists, shared by link. A Gift List is a registry-style one for a child's birthday or the holidays, with Public, Shareable and Private settings, and it can be looked up by the creator's name.
Can I add items from other stores to an Amazon wishlist?
No. An Amazon wishlist holds products from Amazon's store, and the Amazon Assistant add-on that once added items from other sites was discontinued in 2023. To keep links from any store in one place, use a universal wishlist such as Wishes.
The wishlist that gets you the right thing
A wishlist is a kindness to the people buying for you. It turns a guess into a sure thing.
The book you keep meaning to buy. The headphones in your cart since spring. The concert tickets you'd never get yourself.
Start your wishlist, or read what a universal wishlist is if what you want lives in more than one store.
