Posted on 04/28/2018 1:28:24 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Free two-day shipping may be enticing, but it doesn’t necessarily justify the higher price tag for an Amazon Prime membership.
Amazon AMZN, +3.60% raised the annual fee for its Prime membership program for the first time since 2014 — but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s less of a bargain for most consumers.
The online retailer announced that it will hike the annual fee for a Prime membership in the U.S. by 20% to $119. The change comes as Amazon revealed that it now has more than 100 million people globally who are members of the program. In January, Amazon raised the price of monthly memberships from $10.99 to $12.99 per month. The price change will go into effect starting May 11 for new members and starting June 16 for existing members when they renew.
Amazon said that it was upping the price of a Prime membership to offset the costs the program incurs, thanks to free shipping and digital content streaming. “Since we increased the U.S. annual price of Prime four years ago both the value of Prime and the cost to offer it have increased significantly,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in an email. “We still believe that Prime is disproportionately more valuable than the fee.”
But consumers who are considering Prime—and those who are already members—will need to closely evaluate whether the membership is still worth it at the higher price. Ultimately, that decision will come down to how much benefit each individual consumer derives from the program, whose perks range from free two-day shipping on Amazon purchases to free online photo storage and free audiobooks from Audible.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
there is so much free content online
I like other vendors better.
The Amazon video interface is cumbersome to use
If you are a weekly buyer of goods on Amazon....then yes, it’s a good deal.
If you only use it’s service six to ten times a year? No. It’s a waste.
In the last year, I started comparing prices, and generally...I can beat Amazon’s prices on about half the goods that I’m interested in buying. Maybe it’s a competitive trend, or just that I never made an effort to compare before.
Short answer, YES. I save thousands of dollars in shipping costs each year, plus family watches movies.
119???!! When did that happen??!?
Movies are not the best except the ones that you have to rent even WITH Prime.
Messing up deliveries left and right past 4 months. Dont know what’s going on.
Fast and free shipping isn’t too hard to find anymore.
Amazon fresh is a FORTUNE.
How many orders do you place? How much stuff, total? How much stuff do you need to buy to rack up thousands in shipping costs?
plus family watches movies
I buy a moderate amount of stuff from Amazon, maybe enough to break even at the new rate, but probably not.
But I consume zero digital content over Prime. I don't watch TV. And there's way too much free video content to bother with whatever Prime has to offer.
Less then 10 dollars a month is a bargain. Of course, people can go take a class at the local community course (even a 1-credit fun course) and pay 49 dollars a year. That’s what I pay. Only need a school e-mail.
I actually like it a lot & use it frequently, including the music.
BUT... I think it’ll cause most to pause & re-think all of their Digital Subscriptions.
And free listening from Alexa...
No, I stopped it. Very little is free two day shipping and I can wait if need be.
Since I consider Bezos evil incarnate, I am helping the world by not contributing to his company.
I do use Amazon as a Sears Catalog, I look there for the products and buy them elsewhere, usually less expensively.
For example, I always compare prices between Amazon and Alibris for books, even with shipping, Alibris comes out ahead. And I don’t mind paying for shipping. as long as my total price is same or less.
I did not find their catalog of films compelling, lot of c and d rated films and I can just buy a film I want to see that is in their catalog if I want to, I don’t need prime.
Netflix has a better catalog of films and their DVD selection is great!
No, Amazon is the sears catalog of the internet. You can get better prices and better quality elsewhere.
Best thing an internet seller can do it open their own site.
I kinda agree, but I also think that Alibaba is sitting out there and capable of setting up shop in the US, and challenging Amazon. They could invent some kind of Amazon-Prime-like gimmick and just charge you $1 a year, and if they could deliver similar quality....they’d put Amazon out of business. (note: the same quality might be the question mark here).
I live in Europe, and find that in 75-percent of the cases....Amazon can beat local pricing. Toner cartridges are a good example. Last week, I ended up buying a Samsung 8 smartphone via Amazon. Typically, at the store, it would run near 550 Euro. Via normal Amazon, it would have been in the 480 Euro range. So I woke up early one morning...5 AM...logged on, and just accidentally looked up the pricing...two-hour unannounced sale in progress for the Samsung 8 (4 AM to 6 AM). They dropped the price to 301 Euro. But 99-percent of people aren’t going to log on at 5 AM to find deals like this.
I use the shipping 0-4 times a month. I guess it’s a savings. The movie selection is not that great. Forget about seeing a recent blockbuster on prime video.
I go on line for my lower prices, never the stores. If I see a product on amazon, I either find the seller at other locations on the web or I find the product at a less than or similar price via other sellers on web.
Alibaba could just clean Bezos’ clock.
I make multiple small purchases at Amazon. Plus, I just binged season 4 of Bosch and am looking forward to the next season of Man in the High Castle. So to me it’s still worth it.
I just renewed my Prime in March, but I’m not next year. I do enjoy the movies and TV shows, but $20 more is ridiculous. Low income gets a reduction and we are essentially paying for them.
No. I was Amazon Prime for a few years but dropped it this year. I was definitely not getting value for it.
I recommend cancelling your Amazon Prime account.
JoMa
Just set it so that Prime will not renew without my approval. Not going to pay $20 more. Not worth it. I am now returning 50% of the items I order because they are crap.
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