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PSA: Amazon Will Increase Price of Prime To $119 (cnbc.com) 274

Posted by BeauHD from the heads-up dept.
EzInKy writes: Effective on May 11, Jeff Bezos says the price of Prime membership will increase to $119 from $99. Now, as much as I have enjoyed the free shipping over these many years, I just don't believe that benefit outweighs the increased cost of membership. Existing Prime members will have until June 16 to renew their membership at the current $99 price-point, notes CNBC. In its first quarter earnings call, Amazon attributed the price increase to the service's rising costs, noting that this was its first price hike since March 2014.
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PSA: Amazon Will Increase Price of Prime To $119 More

PSA: Amazon Will Increase Price of Prime To $119

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  • $10/month (Score:4, Insightful)

    by indytx ( 825419 ) on Friday April 27, 2018 @07:33AM (#56512465)

    So, $10/month for unlimited, free 2-day delivery which often includes Sunday delivery along with streaming video is too much for the poster?

    • Re:$10/month (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Desprez ( 702166 ) on Friday April 27, 2018 @07:43AM (#56512515)
      Is this surprising? That different people have different needs? If you don't order that often, it's a net loss.

      I tried prime a while back when it cost even less, and it wasn't worth it for me. Their streaming content was mostly available elsewhere, and their interface was much worse than others, while constantly trying to shove additional-cost content in my face.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

      $10 is about how much it costs extra to get 2-day delivery without prime. If you order from Amazon once a month, then $10/month is too much, simple maths.

      Now, for the other services (ex: video streaming), it is only worth it if you actually use them. If the shows you watch aren't on Amazon platform, even $0.01 is too much.

      Going from $100 to $120 may just be the tipping point for some people. And my gut feeling is that it is not by chance. Like any company, Amazon seeks to maximize profit. The $99 price was

      • The $99 price was already chosen with that in mind: make it cheaper means less profit, and more expensive means less subscriptions. With the new price, they know they are going to lose some subscriptions, but for them, the $100-$120 demographic they probably identified long ago isn't worth losing $20 per subscriber.

        This isn't just about losing subscriptions it is also about losing sales as competitors full in the vacuum.

      • $10 is about how much it costs extra to get 2-day delivery without prime. If you order from Amazon once a month, then $10/month is too much, simple maths.

        I think you seriously underestimate how often a lot of people order from Amazon. For myself I don't even shop locally for almost anything anymore. I probably order from amazon at least twice per week - sometimes a lot more than that.

    • Shipping is free on any order over $25. Put some low-dollar stuff you want but don't need right away in your cart or on your wishlist, and add one of those items to your cart when you need to get it over $25.

      The only reason to have prime is if you are always in a hurry to receive things, and if you instead only pay for that when you need it, you may be better off without prime.

      I've learned to plan ahead, and I've become comfortable with ebay and other sources, and not only do I not have to pay for prime, I

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by be951 ( 772934 )

      So, $10/month for unlimited, free 2-day delivery

      Depending on where you are, they also include one-day or same day delivery (not even counting 2-4 hour delivery of selected products, plus grocery and restaurant delivery in places "Prime Now" has been rolled out). Plus all the other stuff --video, music, kindle books and magazines, etc... -- which, to be fair, may or may not have value for you.

      And you can share (at least some benefits) of membership with family members, roommates, whatever. So you can split the cost. For people who use the benefits even o

    • Even with ordering regularly, I never got my money’s worth at the $50 student pricing level that I tried when I was in grad school. If I’m ordering online, I’m doing so because I care more about price than getting the item into my hands as quickly as possible, so whether it arrives in two days or ten days rarely matters to me. There isn’t much of a value-add there.

      Likewise, because I’m content to wait, I nearly always order more than $25/$35/whatever at a time, meaning I qualif

    • Depends on how much or often you shop online.
      It is worth bearing in mind that the shipping isn't truly totally free, or at least not completely mitigated by the membership fee, most times. I have increasingly noticed products on Amazon that are notably more expensive when bought via Prime than if, for the exact same product, the shipping cost is separate and extra; so in truth Amazon is wrapping a certain amount of the shipping charges into the upfront price of the product and just presenting it as a singl

    • Perspective.... the company doubled it's profit... as it has crushed competitors, it's using that market dominance to extract even more profit from already loyal users. The question is, just how much profit does one company or one individual need?
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • No, but it is not necessary. I don't pay shipping at all because I accumulate to the minimum and change to "free delivery" for everything. Sure, it takes a few more days. I am capable of anticipating need and do not need anything immediately. Needing to use Prime just shows a lack of planning on your part. To me it is a complete waste of money. .

    • Prime is a lot more than [amazon.com] free shipping and streaming music, video, and ebooks. The two biggest Prime benefits IMHO which most people don't know about are
      • the Amazon Prime Visa card which gives 5% back on all purchases from Amazon. It's rewarded as credits you can apply to new purchases on Amazon, so has an effective 4.75% cash back rate. So if you spend more than about $2100/yr on Amazon (going up to $2500/yr @ $120 for Prime), it's actually more expensive not to get Prime.
      • Prime Photos which gives yo

    • Well, I buy maybe $50/year from Amazon... So all those Amazon cultists trying to convert me by claiming I'll save money should go find another sucker.

  • . . . probably not worth it.

    On the other hand, if you're like **our** household, buy quite a bit, and quite often, from Amazon, and stream their Included-in-Prime video content, 10 bucks a month is dirt cheap.

    So the question is, does Prime meet your needs for the price charged? IF so, get it. IF not, don't. It's THAT simple.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by RobinH ( 124750 )

      I don't use the video service - it didn't seem to have much that interested me. On the other hand, I regularly find stuff to buy that's less expensive than the store (even basic household items) that I regularly just order it from my phone when I realize I'm almost out. It arrives 2 days later. Even if it were the same price it'd be more convenient that I don't have to go to the store for one item, but it's almost always cheaper!

      Also, many things that are $10 or $20 on Amazon or e-bay are $3.25 from AliE

      • Also, many things that are $10 or $20 on Amazon or e-bay are $3.25 from AliExpress, free shipping, if you're willing to wait 6-8 weeks.

        Aliexpress we generally find takes about 2 weeks in Australia. Not bad for saving between 70%+ on amazon prices.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Malenx ( 1453851 )

      There's more to it. I love Prime and have had it since it'd debut. We still order goods of amazon weekly, if not more. However, when I first got Prime, the landscape for competition was much different than today. Amazon's success has driven competitors to follow suit and offer free / expedited shipping, reducing the value of Prime. Now they are increasing the cost and justifying it by tacking on extra services.

      That's great if you use those services, but consumers that don't are seeing an increase in pr

    • Re:IF you don't buy a lot at Amazon, and don't str (Score:4, Interesting)

      by turp182 ( 1020263 ) on Friday April 27, 2018 @08:33AM (#56512701) Journal

      My wife stumbled upon our order history in Amazon recently, we place a Prime order about every 3 days (for at least the past 2 years).

      Prime is worth every penny for us.

      We do watch more Netflix than Amazon streaming, but Amazon is where we purchase things rather than our crappy cable provider - AT&T.

      • You seem to buy a lot of stuff.
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Depends on what is being bought. A lot of people go shopping every day but don't actually buy very much.

          I went to the shops today just to buy a kitchen roll. That will come up as a statistic that I went shopping today (I typically go every day since it's on the way from work). I know people who go shopping once a week who buy a shitload more than I do.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by JD-1027 ( 726234 )
        Like you I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon as well. But I'm never in a hurry for it so standard free shipping has always worked for us. If we don't quite hit the $25 minimum order for free shipping, stuff sits in our cart until it does hit $25. $25 is a pretty low amount, which we seem to hit pretty easily.

    • . . . probably not worth it.

      On the other hand, if you're like **our** household, buy quite a bit, and quite often, from Amazon, and stream their Included-in-Prime video content, 10 bucks a month is dirt cheap.

      So the question is, does Prime meet your needs for the price charged? IF so, get it. IF not, don't. It's THAT simple.

      This is /. Please stop trying to bring logic and reason into an argument.

      I am in the same situation. I enjoy a number of the Amazon originals plus the some of the back catalogue. Music is OK as well but not as much of some artists I like is available. I find the shipping to be useful as I can buy any Prime item without worrying about shipping costs or getting enough to get free shipping. That makes it useful for smaller items that I can't easily find locally or simply don't want to spend the tase to drive t

  • Blue Origin has become more expensive? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Uh-oh, Jeff's hobby hiking in price?

  • There's also Twitch Prime, which links your Amazon Prime account with Twitch streaming service, removes ads, includes one free channel subscription and a few other perks. Not everyone's thing but it's value-add if you watch Twitch streams on a regular basis.

    Is it too much to hope that the extra money goes towards paying their workers better? :/
    =Smidge=

  • The devil in the details (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jmd ( 14060 ) on Friday April 27, 2018 @08:14AM (#56512637)

    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-earnings-more-than-double-sending-stock-toward-record-highs-2018-04-26

    From the article: "Amazon.com Inc.’s massive growth just grew even more massive in the first quarter, as the e-commerce giant reported Thursday that profit more than doubled and sales continued to accelerate, and the company announced an increase in Prime subscription prices that should add even more."

    Profits double and Amazon raises Prime membership fees. Why? Because they can.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Profits double and Amazon raises Prime membership fees. Why? Because they can.

      That and there still isn't anything quite like it.

      If I want to order something from Tesco or Wilkes, I have to pay £3 or more for delivery... and there's no guarantee that is next day. With Amazon prime I pay £79 a year (probably £99 now) which means I just need to order 2.5 things a month to get my money's worth. That doesn't include Amazon Prime video.

    • Bezos just announced last week that they have over 110 million Prime subscribers. So an extra $20 a year means potentially another $2.2 billion in their pockets. Sure, they'll lose a few but the number that drop the service over the increase but the vast majority won't. I'd be surprised if even 5% didn't renew because of it.

    • Re:The devil in the details (Score:5, Informative)

      by SlaveToTheGrind ( 546262 ) on Friday April 27, 2018 @10:38AM (#56513367)

      Just to be clear, the number of profit dollars more than doubled, not the profit margin . Revenue went up significantly as well, as you can imagine.

      Net profit went from ~2% last year to ~3% this year. Unexpected oopsies can soak that up real quick.

      Another fun way to think about it is that $1.6B net profit was about two tenths of one percent of Amazon's $738B market cap. Increase that by another 10-20x and they can actually start thinking about paying a dividend.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by JD-1027 ( 726234 )

      Profits double and Amazon raises Prime membership fees. Why? Because they can.

      Thank you, this is a good point to remember.

      Do they really need a reason to raise the prices other than "people will pay more"?

      So they didn't raise the prices previously because they were just being nice?

  • My prime just renewed in March. Unless I change my mind I think that will be it for me. Prime streaming is useless in my opinion on account of the poor content library and mediocre interface, so it's just a matter of the sometimes free shipping.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Hodr ( 219920 )

      They have a couple of good shows (I like Bosh and Sneaky Pete), but more importantly they are investing in a good deal of scifi-fantasy that doesn't typically get a good shake on network TV.

      Worth the entire price of Prime? Not really, but where I paid $99 for prime shipping only (and I use it more than ever) the prime video may be worth $20 to me.

  • The fact that many orders I have ordered in the recent past have failed to be delivered or even shipped on time makes me believe Amazon can no longer live up to the Prime requirements.

    When you overnight a Prime product on a Wednesday you should not receive a ship date of the following Monday.
    Things like that have already happened to me several times this year and all items were FBA so no third party can be blamed for shipping delays.
  • Yeah, now I'm paying more for NFL content I don't want.

  • --They could have raised it from $99 to $105 and made MILLIONS. $120 feels like extortion, and should be pushed back against. How do we get the massive public outcry started?

    • These days? Better get in line - there's so much stuff that deserves massive public outcry, I doubt this even makes the top 10.

      Some news stories, a smattering of angry people say they'll cancel their subscriptions, life goes on and Amazon gets more money.

      It sucks, but personally it's still worth it to my household, another $20/year is way below my threshold for going on the warpath.

      • These days? Better get in line...

        These days? Good luck finding enough people to actually form a line on any topic. Sure, quite a few people might complain in an "outcry" of sorts, but companies already know that less than 1% of their customers would ever actually get off their ass and DO anything other than rant. This is why they'll continue to do whatever the hell they want to customers; statistics have already proven you won't do a damn thing about it.

        It sucks, but personally it's still worth it to my household, another $20/year is way below my threshold for going on the warpath.

        Death by 1,000 cuts is the preferred tactic because it always seems to work. And n

  • PSA? (Score:2)

    by ebcdic ( 39948 )

    What does PSA in the headline mean?

  • I use to wait til I had the 50-60 minimum to qualify for free shipping. They would sit on it almost two weeks and then ship it in 2 days anyway. Overall the prices are good on amazon. I tried it during the an xmas season one year and did the same the next and I was hooked. I had a bunch of bigger items I wanted to buy and it really was cheaper so I just let it continue. It is really convenient to not have to think about shipping costs. I buy more online because of it. I don't have to do shopping lists, buy

  • There are two things in TFS. One is that a company is raising the price on a service. Another is that one individual person doesn't consider the increased price worth it. In what way is this significant?

  • They have way too much market share and are acting just like cable monopolies by bundling services and increasing prices. Considering how many billions they brought in last year this is pigging out at the expense of the consumer.

  • No, I don't mean complain to Amazon about the price increase. I mean just go ahead and 1) Subscribe to Prime. Then, 2) Whenever a package is late or the contents are damaged, call in and complain. The email route will sometimes work too; but you'll have better results calling in and talking to a human. A few words to the rep, especially about how "this has become a pattern lately" or in November and December "this is very troubling during holiday shopping time", will net you a free month of Prime, and s

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