Amazon Prime Increase

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yukonjack
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Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by yukonjack »

I have read several sources indicating that Amazon may increase the price of a Prime membership from $79 to $99 or possibly $119. As a Prime member I'm kind of on the fence about this potential price hike. I enjoy the service but may cancel and go back to the old method of bundling purchases to get free shipping. What are the other bogleheads thoughts on this? Will you cancel or just pony up the extra cash and continue on with the service?
Rayandron
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Rayandron »

I didn't buy enough stuff stuff to make it worth it at $79/year, so it is a moot point to me. Kindle books are my #1 repeat purchase on Amazon and obviously those don't need shipping. Happy to have folks that buy lots of physical stuff subsidize my book prices though :sharebeer
Mike Scott
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Mike Scott »

I suspect they are floating a trial balloon just to see what people say. Of course they would like to get more money for the same service. We are prime members for the first time this year but for $119 I can bundle orders and wait a couple extra days for delivery so I am a no vote. We are using the video streaming some but not that much and their selection is limited.
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Imperabo
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Imperabo »

I plan on canceling Prime anyway now that Amazon has started collecting sales tax in my state. I expect to shop more locally. My price threshold for Prime is probably around $40 now.
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SnapShots
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by SnapShots »

I use Prime for streaming movies and Kindle books. Amazon claims there are 41,000 free movies and I don't know how many free Kindle books. It's more than I'll ever watch or read. IMO the movies alone are worth $79. The rest is icing on the cake, so to speak.

You can also share the free shipping and the other perk with up to so many friends or family. (4 I believe) You cannot share Prime Movies and Free Book Rentals...but you can give put your login on other TV or device. My grandkids can watch a movie in their room and mom can watch a movie in her room.

I would not have paid $79 for Amazon free shipping as I only occasionally buy something through Amazon.

IMO....Amazon will have to be competitive with Netflix to go up very much. My daughter has Netflix and I use her login to watch movies. With Netflix you can stream the same movie on two devices. With Amazon you can stream two movies at once but it can't be the same movie. Well...anyway that's what I understand.
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Old Guy
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Old Guy »

The quality of the movies is very bad. Very, very few recent releases.
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stevewolfe
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by stevewolfe »

I would continue to pay $79 for Prime. $119 I'd drop it in a heart beat. $99 would be tough, probably not enough value for me. $89 I'd grudgingly pay it but would consider more closely annual renewal (e.g., buy stuff i need in bulk before it expires, let it expire and wait till I need to make a big / expensive to ship purchase and sign up again right before that... I'm cheap like that).
Mike Scott
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Mike Scott »

Virtually 100% of the movies we would watch are not "free" to stream but we can generally get them on DVD at the library.
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stevewolfe
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by stevewolfe »

We stream a lot of TV shows, the movie selection is poor. As a freebie if you ship a lot, it's a nice add in. We factor it as about $2.50-$3.00 a month of the cost.
letsgobobby
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by letsgobobby »

We share a Prime membership among 3 households so it's worth it. We don't use the movies or Kindle library with this arrangement but the free shipping on every purchase is very nice.
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TomatoTomahto
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by TomatoTomahto »

I probably should share Amazon Prime with other family members, but I haven't to date. In 2013, I spent > $6,000 on Amazon. I'm not happy about the sales tax, but it is only fair, and I would pay it if I went out of the house to shop too. I am extremely happy with Amazon's customer service, and have absolutely zero desire to go shopping in stores. I do spend money at the very few "local" stores around here, but most of the stores are no more local than Amazon (Home Depot, BB&B?). I'm probably break even on shipping in January every year. It would be nice, since I've been a Prime member since the beginning, if they grandfathered me in for a year or two.

The streaming video is a bonus (although I also have Netflix).
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rob
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by rob »

Imperabo wrote:I plan on canceling Prime anyway now that Amazon has started collecting sales tax in my state. I expect to shop more locally. My price threshold for Prime is probably around $40 now.
The tax has certainly cost amazon a chunk of my money and it's no longer my first choice...... Prime... meh... certainly I would cancel if they put it up.
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buckstar
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by buckstar »

I haven't shared the membership with family members yet, but if they increase the price I will for sure to defray costs. Probably stupid of me not be doing that now anyway....
Gauntlet
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Gauntlet »

I have seen a couple threads on this. I can't see why someone using prime and paying $80 a year would instantly drop it for and extra 20 or 40 bucks a year. I mean this equals a couple trips to Starbucks. I consider myself to be pretty cheap but I can't for the life of me see what the fuss is about.
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Ged
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Ged »

Imperabo wrote:I plan on canceling Prime anyway now that Amazon has started collecting sales tax in my state. I expect to shop more locally. My price threshold for Prime is probably around $40 now.
For me it isn't so much shopping more locally - I'm using other vendors more.

I can live with the present price as I use it for both video and shipping. But with a price increase, I'll have to think about it. Maybe another source for video plus dropping Prime would work out better.
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Leif
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Leif »

When Netflix had their big price increase I went with the DVDs and dropped the on-line. Netflix on-line didn't work that well anyway.

I buy some Amazon stuff, but the 2 day delivery is not a big deal. If they raise their price I'll consider dropping Prime and give Netflix on-ilne another try. Netflix does have a much better selection.

BTW, how do I drop them, if you know? I see last time I was only informed after the fact with a charge on my CC. Do I contact them and say don't renew and just run it until it expires?
Last edited by Leif on Wed Feb 05, 2014 2:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
jdb
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by jdb »

Have had Prime for a couple years, my wife and I are probably among the customers who may be driving up the fee for the "free shipping". First thing we ordered when got the "free shipping" service was a large metal fire pit which weighed over 100 lbs. and must have cost at least $79 to ship. We hardly ever go to brick and mortar stores anymore except for groceries (and if grocery stores in our area did on-line service and delivery would probably use that). Am sure that we have gotten far more value than $79 each of past two years on the shipping. Don't know if would pay the increase to $119, though probably would end up paying it. I suspect that Amazon slightly increases prices on all the products which it offers on Prime to make up for some of shipping cost.
GregV
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by GregV »

We've gotten good value from Amazon Prime as we shop at Amazon often and watch a lot of stuff on the Prime Instant Video. For the streaming content, we've found more TV shows (often British) than movies to view regularly on Prime. We have both Netflix and Prime and, so far, get enough value and different content from both to make having multiple services worth the money.

I just renewed Prime at the $79/year level, so I would deal with a price increase next year. What would be the level to make me drop the subscription? Not sure...however I would look at dropping Netflix (~$95/yr) as an option before getting rid of Prime.
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mhc
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by mhc »

I order a lot through Amazon Prime. If I need a $2 cable, I order it. Driving to the store costs more than $2, not counting my time. I could wait until I have $25 to get free shipping, but that would delay getting what I need/want. I probably place 50-100 orders a year. I much rather order online than go to a store. It saves time and money while having a better selection for most items.
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gerrym51
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by gerrym51 »

GregV wrote:We've gotten good value from Amazon Prime as we shop at Amazon often and watch a lot of stuff on the Prime Instant Video. For the streaming content, we've found more TV shows (often British) than movies to view regularly on Prime. We have both Netflix and Prime and, so far, get enough value and different content from both to make having multiple services worth the money.

I just renewed Prime at the $79/year level, so I would deal with a price increase next year. What would be the level to make me drop the subscription? Not sure...however I would look at dropping Netflix (~$95/yr) as an option before getting rid of Prime.

ditto -me to.-but i don't have netflix.
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pennstater2005
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by pennstater2005 »

mhc wrote:I order a lot through Amazon Prime. If I need a $2 cable, I order it. Driving to the store costs more than $2, not counting my time. I could wait until I have $25 to get free shipping, but that would delay getting what I need/want. I probably place 50-100 orders a year. I much rather order online than go to a store. It saves time and money while having a better selection for most items.
Nearly verbatim as to what I was about to post.
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fsrph
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by fsrph »

yukonjack wrote:I have read several sources indicating that Amazon may increase the price of a Prime membership from $79 to $99 or possibly $119. As a Prime member I'm kind of on the fence about this potential price hike. I enjoy the service but may cancel and go back to the old method of bundling purchases to get free shipping. What are the other bogleheads thoughts on this? Will you cancel or just pony up the extra cash and continue on with the service?
I don't have Prime and won't even consider it if the price increases. I wait till I have an order greater than $35 and get the free shipping. The items usually arrive in a few days. Fast enough for me. Now if I streamed video thru Amazon I might have a different view on using Prime.

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inbox788
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by inbox788 »

Mike Scott wrote:I suspect they are floating a trial balloon just to see what people say. Of course they would like to get more money for the same service. We are prime members for the first time this year but for $119 I can bundle orders and wait a couple extra days for delivery so I am a no vote. We are using the video streaming some but not that much and their selection is limited.
I don't know if Amazon is going to get the expected result from raising prices on Prime membership. It's not like they're losing money on Prime members that buy more than non-members. They will lose members, who in turn will buy less. So for every member that leaves, they not only lose the $79 membership fee, but also all the profits from the sales the ex-member doesn't make, which could wind up being more than the membership cost itself. And every remaining customer who now has to pay an extra $40 will resent the price increase, and won't have anything to show for it.

Their main cost they're trying to offset is high cost of shipping. Losing a member who pays an annual fee, but doesn't ship a lot of things isn't going to help. Also, losing a member that uses it mainly for Amazon Video isn't going to help. They should actually reward folks that buy a lot by LOWERING the annual fee. Programs like add-on and making other ways to let the customer help them make shipping more efficient like they did providing free MP3 credits for slower delivery should be pursued. Low cost items might be exempted or delayed. This way they attack that shipping cost more directly.

I used to be a Sams Club and Costco member, but they're not worth it anymore for me.

I've simplified and reduced the number of credit cards I have, and avoid store credit cards, but the free Target Red card 5% discount and free shipping make it worthwhile. If they start charging or take away one or the other benefit, and I'd probably get rid of it too.

Other stores are slowly getting better at their online operations, and I think it would be foolish for Amazon to help them out by giving up some of their best customers.
nash031
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by nash031 »

Old Guy wrote:The quality of the movies is very bad. Very, very few recent releases.
Um, they are free. And we saw Flight and Hunger Games on Prime for free right after they came out on DVD... I have several TV series and movies on my watchlist.

Prime may not be for everyone. We use it mostly for the shipping for gifts and such, but I am also buying a lot of toiletries, paper towels, etc. in bulk through Amazon where I would probably do the same at CostCo (pay membership) or pay more at the grocer. I haven't really run the math, but at $79 I'm sure it pays for itself. At $99 and $119 it probably does as well for what we use. Either way, we like it and would probably keep it.
denovo
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by denovo »

You can share your prime account with a number of other individuals/households to defray the cost, you can even do it now. I think it's up to 5 people so $79/5 is not a bad deal. Of course only the primary account holder gets the crappy videos and kindle book sharing service. I got to admit, I LOVED Amazon's tv production "Alpha House". So if more than 2 people want to watch that, you may want to arm-wrestle over it.
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Dutch
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Dutch »

It's not worth it for me at the current price. I wish them good luck with the price hike.
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by rj49 »

Leif wrote:When Netflix had their big price increase I went with the DVDs and dropped the on-line. Netflix on-line didn't work that well anyway.

I buy some Amazon stuff, but the 2 day delivery is not a big deal. If they raise their price I'll consider dropping Prime and give Netflix on-ilne another try. Netflix does have a much better selection.

BTW, how do I drop them, if you know? I see last time I was only informed after the fact with a charge on my CC. Do I contact them and say don't renew and just run it until it expires?

There's a setting to cancel automatic renewal of Prime membership on your account page.

I just finished "the everything store" about Amazon, and it talks about how prime encourages excess spending through free, quick shipping. So the $80 is a teaser to get you to buy more stuff, just as the various kindles are. But then so are supermarket loss leaders, costco hot dogs, ikea meatballs, cheap casino hotel rooms, and credit card reward programs, using the temptation of a deal to get you to spend more than you otherwise would.
JohnF
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by JohnF »

mhc wrote:I order a lot through Amazon Prime. If I need a $2 cable, I order it. Driving to the store costs more than $2, not counting my time. I could wait until I have $25 to get free shipping, but that would delay getting what I need/want. I probably place 50-100 orders a year. I much rather order online than go to a store. It saves time and money while having a better selection for most items.
Yes, but so many of their low cost items are now "add-ons". That is you have to have a prime order of at least $25 before ordering the item. Or am I missing something?
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SnapShots
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by SnapShots »

nash031 wrote:
Old Guy wrote:The quality of the movies is very bad. Very, very few recent releases.
Um, they are free. And we saw Flight and Hunger Games on Prime for free right after they came out on DVD... I have several TV series and movies on my watchlist.

Prime may not be for everyone. We use it mostly for the shipping for gifts and such, but I am also buying a lot of toiletries, paper towels, etc. in bulk through Amazon where I would probably do the same at CostCo (pay membership) or pay more at the grocer. I haven't really run the math, but at $79 I'm sure it pays for itself. At $99 and $119 it probably does as well for what we use. Either way, we like it and would probably keep it.
A few days ago Prime Instant Video offered Captain Phillips for Free. I see very few recent releases so the old releases are new to me. I, too, like the TV series. My daughter has Netflix for $7.99/mo. Between Amazon and Netflix there are lots of choices. I'm probably going to drop my cable movie channels. Or, I may keep HBO.

If you're having problems streaming movies it's an Internet problem on your end. My Router is on an the extreme end of my house. A Belkin Extender/Repearter helps move the signal further and you can also plus an Ethernet cable from the Repeater into a computer or device such as a Roku; helps boost the speed and keeps the signal a little steadier. Internet speed is getting cheaper and cheaper. I just saw where your can get up to 30 mbps for $10 more: Time Warner/SuddenLink. When talked with my cable company about changing things around they offered me 50mbps for $50. I'd rather have reliable and fast Internet than cable TV. :P
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mhc
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by mhc »

JohnF wrote:
mhc wrote:I order a lot through Amazon Prime. If I need a $2 cable, I order it. Driving to the store costs more than $2, not counting my time. I could wait until I have $25 to get free shipping, but that would delay getting what I need/want. I probably place 50-100 orders a year. I much rather order online than go to a store. It saves time and money while having a better selection for most items.
Yes, but so many of their low cost items are now "add-ons". That is you have to have a prime order of at least $25 before ordering the item. Or am I missing something?
I just looked through my last 6 months of orders. I had items ranging from $2 to $700 (over 100 items). I do not remember add-ons ever being an issue for me. Maybe it depends on what you want to buy?
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denovo
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by denovo »

mhc wrote:
JohnF wrote:
mhc wrote:I order a lot through Amazon Prime. If I need a $2 cable, I order it. Driving to the store costs more than $2, not counting my time. I could wait until I have $25 to get free shipping, but that would delay getting what I need/want. I probably place 50-100 orders a year. I much rather order online than go to a store. It saves time and money while having a better selection for most items.
Yes, but so many of their low cost items are now "add-ons". That is you have to have a prime order of at least $25 before ordering the item. Or am I missing something?
I just looked through my last 6 months of orders. I had items ranging from $2 to $700 (over 100 items). I do not remember add-ons ever being an issue for me. Maybe it depends on what you want to buy?
It only started within the last few months, and not all items are restricted.
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Imperabo
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Imperabo »

denovo wrote:
mhc wrote:
JohnF wrote:
mhc wrote:I order a lot through Amazon Prime. If I need a $2 cable, I order it. Driving to the store costs more than $2, not counting my time. I could wait until I have $25 to get free shipping, but that would delay getting what I need/want. I probably place 50-100 orders a year. I much rather order online than go to a store. It saves time and money while having a better selection for most items.
Yes, but so many of their low cost items are now "add-ons". That is you have to have a prime order of at least $25 before ordering the item. Or am I missing something?
I just looked through my last 6 months of orders. I had items ranging from $2 to $700 (over 100 items). I do not remember add-ons ever being an issue for me. Maybe it depends on what you want to buy?
It only started within the last few months, and not all items are restricted.
I'm finding this as well. More likely it will be a $6 cable or it will be an add-on item. I don't recall the last time I ordered a $2 item with prime.
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Imperabo
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Imperabo »

jdb wrote:Have had Prime for a couple years, my wife and I are probably among the customers who may be driving up the fee for the "free shipping". First thing we ordered when got the "free shipping" service was a large metal fire pit which weighed over 100 lbs. and must have cost at least $79 to ship.
Don't feel guilty. The shipping was already baked in to price of the item. Amazon isn't going to let you take advantage of them. Often you can buy large/heavy items locally for cheaper than online, though ordering online still has a number of benefits.
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TomatoTomahto
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by TomatoTomahto »

rj49 wrote:[snip...]I just finished "the everything store" about Amazon, and it talks about how prime encourages excess spending through free, quick shipping.
I'm a third or so into the book, and it's quite interesting.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
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Imperabo
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Imperabo »

mhc wrote: I just looked through my last 6 months of orders. I had items ranging from $2 to $700 (over 100 items). I do not remember add-ons ever being an issue for me. Maybe it depends on what you want to buy?
In the interest of science, could you go back and look at the items under $5 and see if they were shipped with Standard vs 2-day shipping?

Looking back through my own history I'm finding $5 seems to be cutoff for Prime eligibility. Many items in $5 - $7 range also were not eligible.
denovo
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by denovo »

TomatoTomahto wrote:
rj49 wrote:[snip...]I just finished "the everything store" about Amazon, and it talks about how prime encourages excess spending through free, quick shipping.
I'm a third or so into the book, and it's quite interesting.
You can easily make the opposite counterfactual. If one doesn't have prime, but doesn't want to pay for shipping, it may encourage them to add frivolous items to the order to get to 35 bucks.
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mhc
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by mhc »

Imperabo wrote:
mhc wrote: I just looked through my last 6 months of orders. I had items ranging from $2 to $700 (over 100 items). I do not remember add-ons ever being an issue for me. Maybe it depends on what you want to buy?
In the interest of science, could you go back and look at the items under $5 and see if they were shipped with Standard vs 2-day shipping?

Looking back through my own history I'm finding $5 seems to be cutoff for Prime eligibility. Many items in $5 - $7 range also were not eligible.
Here is the only one I found for less than $5 that is not an add-on. It does appear that a lot of the things under $5 are now add-ons. I did some random searches and sorted by price. Just about everything under $5 is an add-on. The value of a Prime membership is dropping.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LN ... UTF8&psc=1
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inbox788
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by inbox788 »

mhc wrote:
Imperabo wrote:
mhc wrote: I just looked through my last 6 months of orders. I had items ranging from $2 to $700 (over 100 items). I do not remember add-ons ever being an issue for me. Maybe it depends on what you want to buy?
In the interest of science, could you go back and look at the items under $5 and see if they were shipped with Standard vs 2-day shipping?

Looking back through my own history I'm finding $5 seems to be cutoff for Prime eligibility. Many items in $5 - $7 range also were not eligible.
Here is the only one I found for less than $5 that is not an add-on. It does appear that a lot of the things under $5 are now add-ons. I did some random searches and sorted by price. Just about everything under $5 is an add-on. The value of a Prime membership is dropping.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LN ... UTF8&psc=1
I disagree. It's foolish for Amazon to spend $2 to ship a $0.50 item. In the long run, for Amazon to remain a good company, it has to make a profit, and can't sell things for a loss forever. I'd prefer they keep a lower annual fee and eliminate the money losing shipping items, and when possible, combine items to reduce shipping. Maybe they can give each member a limited number free shipping, like AAA service calls.
Jerrybaby
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Jerrybaby »

Gauntlet wrote:I have seen a couple threads on this. I can't see why someone using prime and paying $80 a year would instantly drop it for and extra 20 or 40 bucks a year. I mean this equals a couple trips to Starbucks. I consider myself to be pretty cheap but I can't for the life of me see what the fuss is about.

Whenever someone suggests that they may raise the price of something by 25% to 50%, you're going to raise an eyebrow no matter what it is. Free two day shipping sounds great, but my real world experience is not significantly better than before. Where I live, items from Amazon would generally take about 6 days to arrive. Most recently with Prime, I ordered a pair of sunglasses on Jan. 31 and received them on Feb. 4th. I've been a Prime member for the last six months and have ordered a good bit, so mildly pleased with the two day shipping but certainly not ecstatic. Regarding the movies, virtually no new additions of interest in these six months, to give you an idea of how often they add new movies. I'm not very pleased with the quality of movies, and after my first pass where I did see a lot of movies, there's not much else for me. I do find needles in the hay stack often enough to keep me interested.

So, they want to raise the price by 25-50% on something that I'm not enthusiastic about? Its a matter of principle, not cost, for me.
Unless they are losing their shirts on Prime, what they should do is raise the price 10-15%, and spend two years watching impact.
Last edited by Jerrybaby on Thu Feb 06, 2014 10:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
Sriracha
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Sriracha »

The DW and I have gotten our money's worth out of Amazon Prime over the past couple of years, but I doubt that I could stomach a 50% price increase. We use the heck out of the 2-day shipping b/c it's such a convenient time saver over B&M shopping. I'd be happy to start thinking further ahead to bundle purchases if the price increases. My wife is more into instant gratification and it might take her some time to get with a non-Prime program. My guess is that we'd experiment for a year or two as non-Prime folks if the price rises significantly in one year (or if increases are implemented on any sort of regular basis) and see how the bottom line works out. It's not like Amazon won't take us back if we end up deciding later that the high price is worth it.
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leod
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by leod »

I signed up for prime to try their streaming, it comes with nice discounts on amazon mom + subscribe and save if you have a small one. I dont own a kindle device so the never tried the free book. grocery items seems to be more expensive than local store so no benefit there.

Went back to netflix for streaming and I don't plan on renewing when my subscription expires since i already bought a few small items that i need.
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kenyan
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by kenyan »

It might be noted that Sunday delivery was recently added to Amazon Prime in some cases. We got a couple of deliveries on Sunday. Confused the heck out of us at first, but is a nice bonus.

Since we don't have Netflix and do use both the free Kindle books and streaming video, Amazon Mom (on top of at least 50 purchases/year), I think we'll probably keep it, but definitely hoping they keep the price below $100.
Retirement investing is a marathon.
ThatGuy
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by ThatGuy »

If they raise the price, I'll end my one year trial subscription. I'm finding that Amazon is no longer has the cheapest prices, and many of the small items I want to purchase are add-ons.

With regard to the movies, few of the 'free' offerings are of any interest to me, but more importantly, their compression sucks. The HD versions only look as good as a DVD to me, with worse sound. I often have trouble understanding what is being said during dialogue, where I don't have as many issues with a blu-ray.
Work is the curse of the drinking class - Oscar Wilde
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kenyan
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by kenyan »

ThatGuy wrote:
With regard to the movies, few of the 'free' offerings are of any interest to me, but more importantly, their compression sucks. The HD versions only look as good as a DVD to me, with worse sound. I often have trouble understanding what is being said during dialogue, where I don't have as many issues with a blu-ray.
I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to streaming video, I suppose. I watch very little television (perhaps a half hour or less per day on average), so one show will keep me busy for months. I also watch on my iPad, typically, so video quality isn't as much of an issue as it would be on a 60-inch screen.

Our other major use of streaming is for kids' shows via Roku, though, and there seems to be plenty of selection for that.
Retirement investing is a marathon.
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Leif
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Leif »

leod wrote:I signed up for prime to try their streaming, it comes with nice discounts on amazon mom + subscribe and save if you have a small one. I dont own a kindle device so the never tried the free book. grocery items seems to be more expensive than local store so no benefit there.
FYI - If you have an iPad you can download the kindle reader from iTunes then pull the free books to your iPad.
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Leif
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Leif »

rj49 wrote:
There's a setting to cancel automatic renewal of Prime membership on your account page.
I went to "Manage your Prime Membership". I didn't see a link to cancel automatic renewal. There is a "End Membership" link. If I click that do they:

1. End the membership and refund the balance?
2. End the membership and don't refund the balance?
3. Keep the membership until the membership expires then stop it?
TallPines187
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by TallPines187 »

I may be way after the curve on this one, but here goes............usually bundled purchases, then gave Prime a try for >1 year. Found Netflix beats Prime on movie streaming (variety and ease of us). Plus my on-line Amazon ordering (post-Christmas 2012) decreased to 'not cost effective.' Now I bundle - also helps with self-discipline........all of which are good deterrents for my tendency towards impetuous purchases.
sscritic
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by sscritic »

I don't understand all the references to $25. I read bogleheads, so I know the correct reference is $35.
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... 1&t=125264
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Ged
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Ged »

Leif wrote:
I went to "Manage your Prime Membership". I didn't see a link to cancel automatic renewal. There is a "End Membership" link. If I click that do they:

1. End the membership and refund the balance?
2. End the membership and don't refund the balance?
3. Keep the membership until the membership expires then stop it?
None of the above. If you click it you get a screen which presents two choices.

1. End the membership. Whether it's enabled or not depends on how long you have been a member.
2. Don't automatically renew the membership.
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Leif
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Re: Amazon Prime Price Increase

Post by Leif »

Ged,

Thanks. I was afraid to click the link since I didn't know what it would do and I don't want to end it.
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