Amazon is preventing non-Prime members from buying some games and DVDs

[davislane1]

You really underestimate what one person's purchasing power can do. Sure if you put only the amount you gave them vs their total of course it's going to sound like pigeon feed. What you're missing is that your individual purchases effect stock, which affects supply and demand. Amazon might decide to markup or markdown based on their stock. When you purchase something you not only decrease their stock but you also increase the demand. The little "Only x Left" next to something is to get people to buy the last few and can easily be spurred by individual purchasers.

I know all about supply and demand. And let me tell you, one customer not doing business with you, is meaningless. "I'm done with Amazon" means nothing to anyone other than the person reciting the affirmation.

There's also word of mouth. If less and less people are talking about Amazon that translates directly to less sales.

You aren't seeing the full issue here. Nobody cares if there's a bunch of naysayers talking bad about Amazon. That's because the naysayers are in a very small minority. The market they are targeting is going to rave on about how great the Prime service is and how much faster it is than non-Prime. Then, when the naysayers confirm that the standard service isn't as great as Prime, you will have made the sale for them.

There's also the problem of the naysayers having zero credibility. Look at all the people here saying Amazon won't let you buy things without a Prime subscription. It's a lie. How do you think that squares with Amazon's pitch when the negative word of mouth isn't even reliable?

"But, Davis, it's $100 a year and it doesn't offer me value!"

Again, bobody cares. "You" are not the market. "I" am not the market. The market is the millions of other people who see the value equation differently.

I used to purchase almost everything from Amazon when I had the 1/2 off student membership. That expired so I canceled prime. Now, due to the high free shipping requirement I very very rarely do business with amazon. The 2 times I have done buisness with them have been horrid as well. Each order took 2 weeks just to get to me. That's worse than every other website and I can even get imported goods faster than that. In addition free users still have to pay the prime premium. That is, items that are on offer from Amazon are more expensive that other online stores to compensate for the cost of 2-day shipping. This is funny because many Ebay top sellers offer 2-day as the base shipping at no additional cost and they won't wait 2 weeks to ship your product out like Amazon will. Did I forget to mention that they don't charge a prime premium either?

Completely anecdotal. I order non-Prime once or twice a month. Ship time on the invoices is usually 5-7 days. The average over the past year has been about 4, with one package arriving next day (admittedly, an outlier because the wearhouse it shipped from is only a few hours from my home).

This is how Amazon sells Prime: For less than $10 a month, you will get FREE 2-day shipping on all Prime Elegible items listed on the Amazon Marketplace. That's an average annual cost savings of over $500 on shipping alone! But it gets even better. With Amazon Prime, you get FREE on-demand access to thousands of streaming television shows, movies, music, and FREE same-day shipping in applicable areas.

It's literally cheaper than Spotify. The sales pitch writes itself.

 

[Kibaruk]

Unless you are not from the states (Canada for example) and you can't stream

 

[davislane1]

Unless you are not from the states (Canada for example) and you can't stream

Valid point, but they tailor the copy for the target market.

 

[Jilly]

One thing I hate about Prime, I do not own a credit card. Also, If there is a rare out of print DVD/Blu-Ray of Disney titles, Amazon tells me "You need to be a Prime Member to buy this item" which kind of sucks. I'll stick to digital content then Prime members since I cannot afford $100 per year! This stinks.

 

[Kibaruk]

One thing I hate about Prime, I do not own a credit card. Also, If there is a rare out of print DVD/Blu-Ray of Disney titles, Amazon tells me "You need to be a Prime Member to buy this item" which kind of sucks. I'll stick to digital content then Prime members since I cannot afford $100 per year! This stinks.

At least in two very different countries I've been the new debit cards are VISA, so all you need is a bank account and you are good to go. Mmm I once thought it was too expensive, then I converted into 5 pizzas a year and I was like phew that's actually not expensive

 

[cliffordcooley]

If they are not exclusive to Amazon, then Amazon exclusives will be lost revenue for Amazon. I can't believe they would be so stupid.

 

[CrisisDog]

I've never had a Prime membership, and don't think I ever will. Sorry, I'll just get my game fix from another distributor...

 

[OgnDulk]

I've weened myself from amazon, walmart, ad mcdonald's and you can too. whatever it is you can get it from more ethical sellers.

 

[SirGCal]

I've weened myself from amazon, walmart, ad mcdonald's and you can too. whatever it is you can get it from more ethical sellers.

I stopped all fast food years ago. OMG I can't believe I used to eat that trash. No more, none at all.

However, I moved to a town with no Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. That was a decade ago. Now there are three of the four within one mile of my house... And not even as the crow flys. People not shopping there isn't stopping them.

 

[Tanstar]

Ok so you are shooting blanks everywhere here.

People will get into it for the easy-ness, we are "savvy" in what we do or we wouldn't be commenting here so for us this is blasphemy, for the common folk it may be a price they are willing to spend for hassle free purchases.

Lesson 1: Forget everything you thought you knew.
Lesson 2: Big corporations never loose.

Lesson 3: The word is "lose". "Loose" is your shoelaces or your high school girlfriend.

 

[Tanstar]

So you think deception is smart marketing?

That is literally all marketing is. People go to school for 4 years to learn how to properly, effectively deceive people.

Personally, I love Prime for the free shipping, free video options and ridiculous amount of free CDs you can download. I know they're not free, but that $99 is well spent as much as my wife and I use it. I also appreciate that if I'm not in a hurry to get something, I can choose to get slower shipping and get a $1 credit for ebooks, videos, etc. I'm guessing that the Prime Exclusive items helps them keep stock of the items their Prime customers buy regularly, which means they can more often provide them via 2 day shipping.

 

[Kibaruk]

Lesson 3: The word is "lose". "Loose" is your shoelaces or your high school girlfriend.

Lesson 4: You can multiquote in a single reply.

Thanks for the 3rd one, english is not my native language but I'm kind of getting better at it.

I wish we could stream from Amazon Prime in Canada, Prime as it is is great but with stream it would be hands down the way to go. I'm spending around $100 a year just for Google Music... which is kind of making me go old school on all the streaming music now that I've put a figure up there...

 

[cliffordcooley]

Thanks for the 3rd one, english is not my native language but I'm kind of getting better at it.

You are better than half the US population. I'd say that's pretty damn good.

 

[Tanstar]

Lesson 4: You can multiquote in a single reply.

Thanks for the 3rd one, english is not my native language but I'm kind of getting better at it.

I wish we could stream from Amazon Prime in Canada, Prime as it is is great but with stream it would be hands down the way to go. I'm spending around $100 a year just for Google Music... which is kind of making me go old school on all the streaming music now that I've put a figure up there...

I agree with Clifford on your English. That is just my personal pet peeve. I spend a lot of time on athletic message boards and the word "loss" and its various forms are butchered there daily