Amazon boosts monthly Prime subscriptions to $12.99 per month, retains $99 annual fee

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2018
Amazon slightly jacked the fee for monthly Amazon Prime subscribers by $2, making the annual subscription a better value than it was before.

Jeff Bezos with Amazon logo


The price of the monthly Prime membership for new members increased from $10.99 to $12.99 on Friday. Students weren't left alone -- the price of the discounted Prime Student monthly plan for new sign-ups also from $5.49 to $6.49 .

Existing monthly Prime and Prime Student members will pay the new price for renewals after February 18, 2018. Annual Prime members continue to pay $99, with Prime Student members continuing to pay $49 for the service.

In an email to subscribers, Amazon also noted that there were no changes to benefits like Prime Video provided to subscribers. The reason for the increase beyond making more money from month-to-month customers wasn't made clear.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 36
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,624member
    After seeing them hike the price and include Prime Video in the UK subscription, I expected the worst for my Spanish subscription last year.

    They included Prime Video but didn't hike the price. My subscription for 2018 just renewed and is still under 20€.

    I think the reason is that Amazon Prime Spain isn't really primed for prime time.

    There were a lot of series with south American dubbing and others only in English. This year is only slightly better.
  • Reply 2 of 36
    Sigh!
    Amazon has little influence outside the US.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 36
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Still a great service at that price. Amazon Prime has ruined delivery charges across the board as people now often expect deliveries to only take two days and be free of charge.
    jahbladeboltsfan17gatorguybluefire1muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 4 of 36
    flydogflydog Posts: 1,123member
    I won't be renewing because Amazon's service has gone steadily downhill the past few years. It's become common for shipments that are supposed to arrive on a particular day to arrive late.  Amazon has also started using private couriers who are generally morons that get lost or leave packages at the wrong house.  And if you contact Amazon to complain, you just get precanned responses from someone sitting in a room in Southeast Asia who doesn't bother reading your complaint. If it wasn't for AWS and commissions off third-party sales, Amazon would have ceased to exist long ago. 
    watto_cobrabadmonk
  • Reply 5 of 36
    Soli said:
    Still a great service at that price. Amazon Prime has ruined delivery charges across the board as people now often expect deliveries to only take two days and be free of charge.
    Agreed. I was a holdout for the longest time (for the silliest of reasons: I could not stand to shop at Amazon because I could not stand their website).

    I have to say that, even thought the website still remains an eyesore, I am now a convert. Excellent suite of services -- part from just free two-day delivery -- for the money.
    edited January 2018 jahbladegatorguyStrangeDaysmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 6 of 36
    It's a 30% increase over the old amount. How is that "slightly jacked?"
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 36
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    MrWally said:
    It's a 30% increase over the old amount. How is that "slightly jacked?"
    $2 per month doesn't exactly break the bank. And, it's not 30%
  • Reply 8 of 36
    MrWally said:
    It's a 30% increase over the old amount. How is that "slightly jacked?"
    Well, it’s closer to 18%.  And while I understand what you are saying, as Mike pointed out it’s just a couple of bucks a month.  If AI was saying that the cost of a base model iPhone X was increasing slightly by 18% that would be much different.  Or if housing costs were increasing by 18% that would mean thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.  When the amounts are relatively low the percentage increase matters less.

    I don’t use Prime but I’m curious, for those that do do you tend to use Amazon exclusively or do you still shop around for the best price?
    watto_cobramuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 9 of 36
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Soli said:
    Still a great service at that price. Amazon Prime has ruined delivery charges across the board as people now often expect deliveries to only take two days and be free of charge.
    Completely agree. What's even better is if you live in an area where Amazon offers free same day delivery. I use that quite often. 
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 10 of 36
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Soli said:
    Still a great service at that price. Amazon Prime has ruined delivery charges across the board as people now often expect deliveries to only take two days and be free of charge.
    Agreed. I was a holdout for the longest time (for the silliest of reasons: I could not stand to shop at Amazon because I could not stand their website).

    I have to say that, even thought the website still remains an eyesore, I am now a convert. Excellent suite of services -- part from just free two-day delivery -- for the money.
    I agree about the website, but I honestly don't know how to make it look better when you have that many products to sell. From a technical standpoint it's fast and effective when searching for items. I've also found their chat-based customer service to be excellent… even if Amazon goes out of their way to make it difficult to locate.

    Since I take college classes as one of my hobbies I get the benefit of Amazon Prime for $49 per annum, which is obviously even a better deal. If possible—and it's almost always possible—I rent textbooks from Amazon, which by itself is a huge benefit over buying from the campus store.
  • Reply 11 of 36
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Soli said:
    Still a great service at that price. Amazon Prime has ruined delivery charges across the board as people now often expect deliveries to only take two days and be free of charge.
    Completely agree. What's even better is if you live in an area where Amazon offers free same day delivery. I use that quite often. 
    I wish I had that luxury (but maybe it's better than I don't :D). Obviously, if I don't have same-day delivery then I also don't have that one-hour delivery service they offer in some cities. I wonder what kind of damage I could do if that was an option.
  • Reply 12 of 36
    Bezos needs the money I guess.
    watto_cobradewme
  • Reply 13 of 36
    tzeshantzeshan Posts: 2,351member
    Many items sold by Amazon are not the cheapest. Walmart and Target often beat Amazon. 
    watto_cobraTomSawyer
  • Reply 14 of 36
    retrogustoretrogusto Posts: 1,109member
    Amazon slightly jacked the fee for monthly Amazon Prime subscribers by $2, making the annual subscription a better value than it was before.
    This is a marketing illusion. The annual subscription is the same price for the same services as before, so the value hasn’t really changed, but the higher monthly price is instead a worse value than before, which makes the annual deal look better in comparison. Most of you know this deep down, of course, but there’s no point in boosting Amazon’s marketing by speaking of the illusion as if it were the truth. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 36
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Soli said:
    Soli said:
    Still a great service at that price. Amazon Prime has ruined delivery charges across the board as people now often expect deliveries to only take two days and be free of charge.
    Completely agree. What's even better is if you live in an area where Amazon offers free same day delivery. I use that quite often. 
    I wish I had that luxury (but maybe it's better than I don't :D). Obviously, if I don't have same-day delivery then I also don't have that one-hour delivery service they offer in some cities. I wonder what kind of damage I could do if that was an option.
    I definitely have spent more ever since Amazon started offering same day delivery. I live in a city that has Prime Now as well. I've used that a few times ordering from restaurants. It's pretty convenient when you don't feel like dealing with all the traffic, especially during tourist season here. 
  • Reply 16 of 36
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    tzeshan said:
    Many items sold by Amazon are not the cheapest. Walmart and Target often beat Amazon. 
    It really depends on the items. Household stuff, I'll check the Target app before I order from Amazon. If Amazon is only a few dollars more, I will order from them. I would rather pay a few dollars more than dealing with traffic and crowds at Target. Blu rays, Amazon is always cheaper for me. 
  • Reply 17 of 36
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Soli said:
    Soli said:
    Still a great service at that price. Amazon Prime has ruined delivery charges across the board as people now often expect deliveries to only take two days and be free of charge.
    Completely agree. What's even better is if you live in an area where Amazon offers free same day delivery. I use that quite often. 
    I wish I had that luxury (but maybe it's better than I don't :D). Obviously, if I don't have same-day delivery then I also don't have that one-hour delivery service they offer in some cities. I wonder what kind of damage I could do if that was an option.
    I definitely have spent more ever since Amazon started offering same day delivery. I live in a city that has Prime Now as well. I've used that a few times ordering from restaurants. It's pretty convenient when you don't feel like dealing with all the traffic, especially during tourist season here. 
    I just got Uber Eats in my area, but since I absolutely refuse to support Uber in any capacity I won't be taking advantage of that convenience.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 36
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    MrWally said:
    It's a 30% increase over the old amount. How is that "slightly jacked?"
    Well, it’s closer to 18%.  And while I understand what you are saying, as Mike pointed out it’s just a couple of bucks a month.  If AI was saying that the cost of a base model iPhone X was increasing slightly by 18% that would be much different.  Or if housing costs were increasing by 18% that would mean thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.  When the amounts are relatively low the percentage increase matters less.

    I don’t use Prime but I’m curious, for those that do do you tend to use Amazon exclusively or do you still shop around for the best price?
    I still shop around. If it's camera gear I'm just as likely to buy from B&H or Adorama as Amazon. For general stuff like household goods, various and sundry consumables, some specialty consumer goods or certain hard-to-find items it's typically Amazon that ends up with the sale. But Amazon isn't as certain to offer the lowest prices as they once were IMO.

    Still nearly impossible to beat their service tho. As Soli said earlier in the thread I've come to expect 2-day service as the norm no matter the online retailer, which puts many sites at an immediate disadvantage.
    edited January 2018 muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 19 of 36
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    flydog said:
    I won't be renewing because Amazon's service has gone steadily downhill the past few years. It's become common for shipments that are supposed to arrive on a particular day to arrive late.  Amazon has also started using private couriers who are generally morons that get lost or leave packages at the wrong house.  And if you contact Amazon to complain, you just get precanned responses from someone sitting in a room in Southeast Asia who doesn't bother reading your complaint. If it wasn't for AWS and commissions off third-party sales, Amazon would have ceased to exist long ago. 
     I agree that I’ve had a lot of late deliveries. And I also agree that their canned email responses are pretty lame, and they often don’t appear to have read your original email to them. But if you bug them long enough if they will give you credit. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 36
    d_2d_2 Posts: 117member
    gatorguy said:
    MrWally said:
    It's a 30% increase over the old amount. How is that "slightly jacked?"
    Well, it’s closer to 18%.  And while I understand what you are saying, as Mike pointed out it’s just a couple of bucks a month.  If AI was saying that the cost of a base model iPhone X was increasing slightly by 18% that would be much different.  Or if housing costs were increasing by 18% that would mean thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.  When the amounts are relatively low the percentage increase matters less.

    I don’t use Prime but I’m curious, for those that do do you tend to use Amazon exclusively or do you still shop around for the best price?
    I still shop around. If it's camera gear I'm just as likely to buy from B&H or Adorama as Amazon. For general stuff like household goods, various and sundry consumables, some specialty consumer goods or certain hard-to-find items it's typically Amazon that ends up with the sale. But Amazon isn't as certain to offer the lowest prices as they once were IMO.

    Still nearly impossible to beat their service tho. As Soli said earlier in the thread I've come to expect 2-day service as the norm no matter the online retailer, which puts many sites at an immediate disadvantage.
    I tend to shop around for more expensive items, >$50, and especially factoring in sales tax for even more expensive items (B&H and Adorama not charging, yet).

    For other items like USB-lightning cables, power adapters, etc I look at and buy from Amazon exclusively - the combination of price, App ease of use from search to purchase, reviews to mostly know what is is decent vs junk, and delivery time makes them an easy choice.

    My only regret is being a Prime member for a few years before buying AMZN... live and learn, I suppose
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