Amazon Prime membership price increase to $99

[mieuxmew]

I just got an email today from Amazon informing me Amazon Prime membership renewal has increased to $99.

"We are writing to provide you advance notice that the price of your Prime membership will be increasing. The annual rate will be $99 when your membership renews on October 2, 2014.

Even as fuel and transportation costs have increased, the price of Prime has remained the same for nine years. Since 2005, the number of items eligible for unlimited free Two-Day Shipping has grown from one million to over 20 million. We also added unlimited access to over 40,000 movies and TV episodes with Prime Instant Video and a selection of over 500,000 books to borrow from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

For more information about your Prime membership, visit our Prime membership page.

Sincerely,

The Amazon Prime Team"


I have been a big fan of Amazon Prime for many years, but I am now questioning if Prime is worth it.

1. I have Netflix. Amazon has thousands of movies, but seems that any movie I am interested is not included in Prime.

2. As of this year, we now have to pay 7% sales tax on every purchase on Amazon. Not Amazon's fault, but other websites don't charge tax.

3. Prime used to include overnight shipping for $3.99, which has now been discontinued.

4. 2 day shipping has not been as reliable since Amazon uses the US Postal Service.

5. Previously, any item was shipped 2 day for free. Now there are many, many items that are "add on items" that can only be shipped with a $25 minimum order.

6. I don't used the Amazon Kindle Library.

Amazon makes money from selling items. I am seriously considering not renewing my Prime membership. It's nice to have 2 day shipping, but 95% of the time I don't need an item delivered that fast.

I may seriously let my membership expire for a few months and see how it goes. I can always add the prime membership later if I miss it.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Wow. Mine renews in October also but I did not get this email. I just put a reminder on my calendar to cancel in October. I have enjoyed the convenience--for example, ordering a birthday present for a party this weekend--but somewhere between $79 and $99 they lost me. Don't you get free shipping on a lot of things even without prime, even though it won't be 2-day shipping?

 

[mieuxmew]

Yes, shipping on Amazon is free if the order is over $25. It is called "free super saver shipping."

 

[havaneselover]

Yes, shipping on Amazon is free if the order is over $25. It is called "free super saver shipping."

It's $35 now.

 

[JulieODC]

I got the email today too. I've used prime less lately and don't like the changes overall - so won't be renewing again.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I'm glad the increase was only $20. I have 3 family members on my prime; one is in college, and one lives in a v. small town, and both really appreciate the use of their Prime membership.

I use the video streaming quite a bit, check out my one book a month, and I order a lot from Amazon instead of going out to a B&M (thus curtailing my impulse spending). I haven't had any problems with late deliveries.

For me, it's worth the extra.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

I'm glad the increase was only $20. I have 3 family members on my prime; one is in college, and one lives in a v. small town, and both really appreciate the use of their Prime membership.

I use the video streaming quite a bit, check out my one book a month, and I order a lot from Amazon instead of going out to a B&M (thus curtailing my impulse spending). I haven't had any problems with late deliveries.

For me, it's worth the extra.

College students can get prime for half price. My son has prime through my account it is called amazon prime student

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

It's still a bargain for me. My Prime just renewed, so I'm good at the old price for another year.

 

[mrsp1030]

I had a huge issue with a return being a prime member recently and now am stuck with a tub filler that I am trying to sell. Kind of started my irritation with amazon along with delayed shipping and now an increase.

 

[mieuxmew]

It's $35 now.

I have been a Prime member for sooo many years I didn't even know the free super saver minimum changed. Thank you for letting us know!

 

[DisneyFansInLINY]

My email said I will be charged $79 for my renewal this year but in 2015 I will be charged $99.

 

[JillyBean1899]

College students can get prime for half price. My son has prime through my account it is called amazon prime student

Yup, just got my e-mail this morning that Student is going to $49 next year. Still totally worth it, I order so much stuff from them that I can't find around town.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

College students can get prime for half price. My son has prime through my account it is called amazon prime student

That's still $$, and he's a strapped college student trying to stretch his dimes. Using my prime is free.

 

[cjnix29]

My email said I will be charged $79 for my renewal this year but in 2015 I will be charged $99.

Mine said the same thing, so I was confused by all the reporting on this. I wondered if my email was a mis print!

 

[DaniMoon]

This is supposed to be a way to get the $79 rate at least for this year ? ? My renewal is in October. So I'm not sure what I'll be doing yet.

I am an avid Kindle user and I do get free/reduced books every month. Decisions, Decisions.

http://lifehacker.com/get-another-year-of-amazon-prime-for-79-even-as-a-cur-1543360940

 

[MolonLabe]

It's funny Amazon went through with the price increases when this story and lawsuit about how they've been scamming Prime members is making front page news:
http://gma.yahoo.com/amazon-accused...sts-210708580--abc-news-personal-finance.html

I don't watch their old movies or old books so that part of the subscription doesn't mean anything to me.

The fact that 2 day prime now means 3-4 days thanks to the crappy smartpost service, I've been upset with my prime membership for a couple of months.

Now they want a 25% increase for declining service? No thanks.

My email said my renewal in May would be for $99. I won't be renewing, I'm done.

You know, this is honestly the wake up call I needed, I've become lazy and too reliant on amazon. I'd buy stuff and then wonder why a few days later.

I wonder how many other 'golden geese' amazon woke up and killed by pulling this stunt?

That and their lobbying for an internet sales tax, which would make it more costly for little guys to sell online, should have been the final straw last year anyway.

See ya amazon, you just lost a 5 year prime member.

 

[MAJPLO]

College students can get prime for half price. My son has prime through my account it is called amazon prime student

When I was a student my Prime membership was free for three or six months.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

That's still $$, and he's a strapped college student trying to stretch his dimes. Using my prime is free.

When I was a student my Prime membership was free for three or six months.

He did get Prime for free for the first 6 months there after it is half the cost of the regular rate of Prime. Snarlingcoyote how do you mange to get prime for free? BTW since I have also used his Prime I offered to pay his cost. So he has the deal of not stretching his dimes for it. He buys most of his text books through Prime and whatever school related if it is cheaper than getting it through the University store.

 

[EMode]

It's funny Amazon went through with the price increases when this story and lawsuit about how they've been scamming Prime members is making front page news:
http://gma.yahoo.com/amazon-accused...sts-210708580--abc-news-personal-finance.html

I don't watch their old movies or old books so that part of the subscription doesn't mean anything to me.

The fact that 2 day prime now means 3-4 days thanks to the crappy smartpost service, I've been upset with my prime membership for a couple of months.

Now they want a 25% increase for declining service? No thanks.

My email said my renewal in May would be for $99. I won't be renewing, I'm done.

You know, this is honestly the wake up call I needed, I've become lazy and too reliant on amazon. I'd buy stuff and then wonder why a few days later.

I wonder how many other 'golden geese' amazon woke up and killed by pulling this stunt?

That and their lobbying for an internet sales tax, which would make it more costly for little guys to sell online, should have been the final straw last year anyway.

See ya amazon, you just lost a 5 year prime member.

I'm not renewing either. Last year I wasn't going to renew because alot of what I was buying ended up as add on items so they wouldn't ship until I had a $25 order anyway. Then a deal came up (cant remember where) for $59 Prime so I did renew at that price.
I still haven't used it all that much, I don't use the streaming and I get my e-books free from my library. The "prime" shipping time ends up being more than 2 days more times that it gets here in 2 days. Why would I pay even more for that

 

[angwill]

Mine said the same thing, so I was confused by all the reporting on this. I wondered if my email was a mis print!

Anyone who's account renews by April 17th will be $79. My renewal date is April 30th so I get the $99 renewal.

I think if it is worth it is a personal choice. I am not thrilled that I am stuck less than 15 days after the renewal date at the lower cost. In reality, I don't borrow books and the free movies are very limited and nothing that really interests me so I don't use that either. I do like the two day free shipping but it is rare that I need something fast anyway and for that I could just run out to the store in the future. Recently I have also been running into items that say they are prime but they are not and when I call CS nobody can tell me why only that it will be sent regular mail and I will get it in about a week. Between that and the new add on items for my personal use I am not thinking it will be worth the $99. I am sure for a lot of people it is well worth it to them especially if they love buying cheap items on prime and don't want to have to wait till they need $35 worth or will buy stuff they don't need to get the free shipping.

I did read that you could buy a gift membership before 3/17 at the $79 price and use that when your account renews too but I think you will have to cancel and then apply the gift membership after.