Amazon increases Prime membership fee to $99 per year

Posted:
in General Discussion edited March 2014
Amazon's Prime service, which offers free streaming video and book borrowing to Apple iOS device users, has seen its annual price increase from $79 per year to $99 per year, while student members will also see a price hike.




The new annual fee marks the first time Amazon Prime has seen a price increase in its nine-year history. Amazon Student members will also now pay $49 per year for their membership.

Current Prime and Student members will be contacted via email by Amazon to provide the renewal date specific to their membership. The increase applies to existing customers set to renew after April 17. The Prime Fresh membership, which offers same-day grocery delivery in Los Angeles and San Francisco, will remain $299.

In its email announcing the change in pricing, Amazon noted that Prime subscriptions have remained unchanged "even as fuel and transportation costs have increased." It also noted that 20 million items are now available for two-day shipping, while 40,000 movies and TV shows are available on Prime Instant Video, and a half-million books can be borrowed for Kindle.

In addition to unlimited streaming with Prime Instant Video and book lending from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, Amazon Prime also comes with free unlimited two-day shipping for eligible purchases.

Video content available to stream for free through Prime can be accessed through the official Amazon Instant Video app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The software also includes built-in support for Apple's AirPlay wireless streaming, allowing content to be viewed on an HDTV via Apple TV.

Also available for Prime subscribers is the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, which allows users to choose from more than 500,000 books to borrow with no due dates. Once titles have been borrowed from Amazon's website, they can be accessed through the official Kindle for iOS application.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 81
    Amazon Insider
  • Reply 2 of 81

    I really do think they loss led this for a while.  Looking at online pricing, it was hard to beat their pricing and shipping if you factored in the convenience of getting it in 2 days.  I figured that almost every shipment (i have 3 subscriptions a month, and spot buy a lot of things), is worth the $11 a month in convenience fees.   I often won't go to Target, Home Depot, or even Albertsons and instead just have amazon ship it to me.

     

    But now at an extra $3 a month ($.10 a day) is that convenience still worth it?  Most will say yes.   So if 50Million people subscribe, all of a sudden  there's a Billion in the black (or less red).   All the while luring us into commitment...

     

    Clever Girl.     

     

    As for Amazon Prime video and books... meh.  Not much more than what's on Netflix, and save for Alpha House (and that's REALLY lame compared to House of Cards), I can't remember content I've watched on Prime.  and I'm a book buyer.

  • Reply 3 of 81
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    HEY AMAZON BREAK IT UP
    I do nt want the other services don't use them why pay for them
    Amazon the new cable company

    How do we contact amazon??
  • Reply 4 of 81
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    DOJ to investigate Apple.
  • Reply 5 of 81
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Satalite View Post



    Amazon Insider

    "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer"

     

    Contrary to many, Amazon is Apple's real competitor.    Many people may hate Samsung, but they are a distant 4th place.

     

     

    It's all down to 'owning' the sales channel to the consumer.   Amazon Prime vs AppleID.  Kindle vs iOS.

     

    Amazon is taking the low [no] margin big box warehouse store route... Apple is taking the curated Nieman Marcus catalog approach...  Both working towards frictionless purchacing.  And they are working towards each other (digital books is the beachhead on Apple's shore, inApp purchases is apple's toward Amazon's vendor marketplace).

     

     

  • Reply 6 of 81
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Ugh. Someone here just lifting any story off of The Verge's home page now?

    Why not start covering all of the top news stories, anything at all... What's happening with that Malaysian plane crash? ????
  • Reply 7 of 81
    adrayvenadrayven Posts: 460member
    I don't buy that much from Amazon.. and I prefer my Netflix over Amazon prime Video.. at $50/year I would consider it.. I almost did at $79.. now, at $99, not going there..

    I'll save me the $99/ year and just use Netflix for my video.. They have beefed up their selection lately.. very happy with Netflix..
  • Reply 8 of 81
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,520member
    Same here in the UK, although we have been price gouged more than the US customers (as usual).

    We were already the most expensive Amazon prime country despite being the smallest.

    I'll be dumping prime once I get to renewal, I don't want their film service & refuse to pay for it.
  • Reply 9 of 81
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post



    Ugh. Someone here just lifting any story off of The Verge's home page now?



    Why not start covering all of the top news stories, anything at all... What's happening with that Malaysian plane crash? ????

    Good suggestion.  Here are some headline possibilities:

    Missing jet may have been downed by faulty iPhone battery.

    Apple's Find iPhone fails to find MH370.

    20 Freescale engineers on doomed flight. (This last one was an actually story)

  • Reply 10 of 81
    tundraboytundraboy Posts: 1,884member

    Here comes the monopolist's price squeeze.  All you people who were celebrating Amazon's amazingly low prices will now get a glimpse of what Amazon is planning to do once they kill all their major competitors and cement their monopoly.  Not that easy to accomplish but a lot easier if you have a brainless Department of Justice providing you with an assist.

  • Reply 11 of 81

    I agree with Nofeer.  I am most likely cancelling my Prime membership over this.  I do not use the Prime streaming or eBook functions, which are likely the biggest reasons for this increase.  If Amazon were to break this up into a Prime shipping for $79 and Prime Streaming for $20, then I would gladly subscribe to Prime Shipping and they could keep getting my $79 a year.  As it is they are likely going to lose my $79 a year, rather than get an extra $20 from me.

  • Reply 12 of 81
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member

    I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon since their prices are usually the best, but I don't do Prime and I never pay for shipping (I notice they changed the free-shipping minimum from $25 to $35 over the holidays).  I expect that Amazon hates customers like me.

  • Reply 13 of 81
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    malax wrote: »
    I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon since their prices are usually the best, but I don't do Prime and I never pay for shipping (I notice they changed the free-shipping minimum from $25 to $35 over the holidays).  I expect that Amazon hates customers like me.

    No worries. Amazon never has and never will make a profit under their current business model. They have been called 'a charity for investors.'
  • Reply 14 of 81
    _rick_v__rick_v_ Posts: 142member

    As someone who buys a ton of stuff for the office from Amazon (hard drives, computer supplies, various supplies, etc), I conned convinced my company to pay for my Amazon Prime membership.  We buy enough from them that it's really a no-brainer, it more than pays for itself.

     

    That said, if it were just for me (not my company), I don't think I'd do it. I still prefer Netflix over Amazon. And iTunes over Amazon for paid content (yup, have an AppleTV).  And I certainly don't buy enough personally to justify it.  And $99 would cement that decision.

  • Reply 15 of 81
    jungmark wrote: »
    DOJ to investigate Apple.

    Haters to blame Apple for this.
  • Reply 16 of 81
    qwrtyqwrty Posts: 6member
    The article mentions borrowing books with kindle for iOS. This inaccurate, it is only a feature for kindle hardware http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200757120
  • Reply 17 of 81
    Hey, for the record, and unless they changed something (I couldn't find that they had) but this is not true. You need a physical kindle device to get this service.

    [QUOTE]Once titles have been borrowed from Amazon's website, they can be accessed through the official Kindle for iOS application.[/QUOTE]
  • Reply 18 of 81
    mobiusmobius Posts: 380member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by malax View Post

    Good suggestion.  Here are some headline possibilities:

    Missing jet may have been downed by faulty iPhone battery.

    Apple's Find iPhone fails to find MH370.

    20 Freescale engineers on doomed flight. (This last one was an actually story)

     

    Unfunny and tasteless.
  • Reply 19 of 81
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Mobius View Post

     
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by malax View Post

     

    Good suggestion.  Here are some headline possibilities:

    Missing jet may have been downed by faulty iPhone battery.

    Apple's Find iPhone fails to find MH370.

    20 Freescale engineers on doomed flight. (This last one was an actually story)


     




    Unfunny and tasteless.

    Thank you for your contribution.

  • Reply 20 of 81
    negafoxnegafox Posts: 480member
    Ugh. Someone here just lifting any story off of The Verge's home page now?

    Why not start covering all of the top news stories, anything at all... What's happening with that Malaysian plane crash? ????

    Yeah -- I am a bit confused as to what this has anything to do with Apple related news. How does Amazon Prime's pricing affect me as an Apple consumer exactly?
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