Amazon Prime's annual price is increasing to $119

[midian182]

Amazon Prime comes with plenty of perks, the main one being the free, fast shipping offered on most purchases. But would customers be willing to pay extra for the service? We’ll soon find out, as the price is going up in the US from $99 to $119.

Amazon chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky revealed the hike in an earnings call yesterday. It’s the first time in four years that the annual subscription has gone up, though monthly Prime members, who have the benefit of being able to cancel whenever they want, saw their fees increase from $11 to $13 in January.

The updated price will come into effect for new members on May 11. Current subscribers whose annual renewal date is before June 16 can get another year of Prime at the current lower rate, but if renewal lands on or after that date then it will cost $119.

Following its introduction in 2005, Prime’s annual membership fee has seen only one increase, going from $79 to $99 in 2014.

The news comes just a week after Jeff Bezos revealed for the first time the official number of worldwide Prime subscribers. Previously, it had been left to analysts and market research firms to estimate the figure, which was put somewhere between 60 million and 90 million last year, but the CEO said there are actually over 100 million paid Prime members worldwide. With the US being Prime’s biggest market, tens of millions of people can expect to see their annual fee go up.

While the new price works out at under $2 extra per month, it’ll be interesting to see how many people now decide not to renew their membership as a result of the increase.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/74351-amazon-prime-annual-price-increasing-119.html

 

[ForgottenLegion]

Hmm, will student prime increase?

 

[PixelMediaArts]

Personally I get some use out of their video service. But Netflix is far superior. The only other service that I get value from is two day shipping. So that is just silly to think that I would be willing to pay more for "free" shipping. Also it rubs me the wrong way that they just announced record profits and pay zero taxes in doing so, all on the backs of their subscribers. So firmly leaning towards saying goodbye. For now I will at least try to stop the auto payment before accidentally signing up for another year.

 

[frostyshield]

10 year span it'll be $699.99 per year

 

[Uncle Al]

While it might be justified, especially for those that take full advantage of the Prime program, a 20% increase is outrageous. Amazon, like Facebook if fast approaching the need for Federal regulations and constraints. Another caution is that once they launch their own delivery programs they are coming dangerously close to meeting all the criteria to be classified as a monopoly and will need to be treated as such.

 

[MoeJoe]

Bezos hits back at Trump through the customer base. Amazon Prime customers with the 5% reward Chase card have to be subsidized somehow ...

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

I already cancelled over a month ago because I decided it wasn't worth the cost then... this makes it even less likely I will return.

Considering the prices aren't that great anymore for a lot of stuff, which I can now get from other online retailers or even the local Walmart for cheaper and the fact the Prime video is full of a bunch of content you have to pay extra for, Prime is not worth paying for anymore.

 

[merikafyeah]

While it might be justified, especially for those that take full advantage of the Prime program, a 20% increase is outrageous. Amazon, like Facebook if fast approaching the need for Federal regulations and constraints. Another caution is that once they launch their own delivery programs they are coming dangerously close to meeting all the criteria to be classified as a monopoly and will need to be treated as such.

Amazon is only just approaching the realm of "best player in town" rather than "only player in town" which would be a monopoly. For me 99% of all the things I've ever bought on Amazon I could've bought elsewhere. Amazon just made it convenient for me to buy it all in one place. Amazon also tends to have more user reviews than most other sites so that means I usually spend more time looking up things on Amazon so I don't have to jump all over the interwebs to get a good sense of a thing I may end up buying.
I suppose others do this as well which in turn means they may be more likely to leave a review themselves which ends up creating a positive feedback loop for Amazon. It's all quite interesting really.

As a side note, Amazon's revenue has been increasing year after year but their profits, surprisingly have remained rather slim. I recommend this video for those looking to understand Amazon's core business strategy:

 

[Karlb]

My prime expires June 24th. Is it practical to cancel May 9th and sign up again as a new member to beat the price increase?

 

[TomSEA]

I'm going to have to think about this. My membership expires in September. As others have mentioned, there are other places to order from, many of whom offer REAL free shipping.

My Amazon purchases have decreased over the last 2-3 years and I rarely use the Prime video/music options.

If I had to pull the trigger today, I'd say "no."

 

[Karlb]

My prime expires June 24th. Is it practical to cancel May 9th and sign up again as a new member to beat the price increase?

Talked with customer service which says that their system will preclude my strategy

 

[Halcyon]

While it might be justified, especially for those that take full advantage of the Prime program, a 20% increase is outrageous. Amazon, like Facebook if fast approaching the need for Federal regulations and constraints. Another caution is that once they launch their own delivery programs they are coming dangerously close to meeting all the criteria to be classified as a monopoly and will need to be treated as such.

Yeah, that's the answer, get government involved. *eye roll*

Or you could just let the market decide. I, for one, will not be renewing. I have never once used the streaming services. I just liked the free 2 day shipping and this new price isn't worth it for me.

Instead of calling for daddy government to come save you from yourself, how about stop being a rube and taking your business elsewhere.

 

[MaikuTech]

While it might be justified, especially for those that take full advantage of the Prime program, a 20% increase is outrageous. Amazon, like Facebook if fast approaching the need for Federal regulations and constraints. Another caution is that once they launch their own delivery programs they are coming dangerously close to meeting all the criteria to be classified as a monopoly and will need to be treated as such.

Atleast I understand why trump went stupid crazy on the ceo of amazon.com.
I like amazon.com and there are somethings I can't get elsewhere without grief.
But I'll be damned if I need another price increase in monthly payments ?

 

[Tanstar]

Mine renews next month, so I'll stay for another year. Whether I stay beyond that depends on whether I dump Cable and consider Prime Video a part of that.

 

[celia milton]

Ridiculous. I'd venture to say that most prime customers spend more because they, in theory, have free shipping and some other perks (though I was told today that '2 day shipping' means 2 days from when the shipper ships it, not from when you order it. ....

Does Amazon REALLY not make enough profit?

 

[Vrmithrax]

Well, it would be interesting to see if that 100 million Prime subscribers drops after the price increase. As others have said, it's not as attractive now as it was initially - there's plenty of worthy competition out there, and some of the core reasons for me to pony up the fee to be a Prime member are dwindling:

- Other retailers and online stores are matching similar prices and shipping benefits.
- Prime Video has very little exclusive content that isn't available on at least 1-2 other streaming services
- Prime Music - they already lost me on this when they pulled a big chunk of content to put it behind a pay wall for their "Unlimited" streaming service.

There is already less incentive for me to maintain a Prime membership as is. Why would I then pay 20% more for that service?

 

[p51d007]

I'll keep it this year, but if they increase next year, I'm out. I use Amazon Video/Music quite a bit (documentaries mostly). Plus order about 1-2 times a month. Shipped to work, beats driving in the city looking for something. If the price goes up next year, I'll just do without video/music.

 

[Morphine Child]

If you order stuff from Amazon on a regular basis (like at least few times a month) and you use some other services it may still be worth it, as long as you would pay more for normal deliveries.

If you order stuff few times a year like me, then no. Video is crap, Netflix is far superior as someone already stated. I don't even know what other benefits I had from prime when I had it...

 

[merikafyeah]

Does Amazon REALLY not make enough profit?

This surprises many people but Amazon makes almost NO profit at all. In fact it's not unusual for most fiscal years to end with a net loss. Think of any major company and Amazon probably makes less profit than them.
The video I linked to in my post above explains why this is so and will most likely continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

 

[tipstir]

I can live without prime in my life. I use to have it when it was $80. CEO just making way to much money and should give some of that perks back to it's so called prime members but slashing the price in half. No matter what he's making money. From company that started off in garage and now has grown into more that online retailer. So this is the future we're all been waiting for.. I can't even jump into my Crossover MUV and just go pickup 18 gauge 100 foot speaker wire just to find out it has be purchased online because everyone that sold electronics locally are dust in the wind!

 

[MaikuTech]

Ridiculous. I'd venture to say that most prime customers spend more because they, in theory, have free shipping and some other perks (though I was told today that '2 day shipping' means 2 days from when the shipper ships it, not from when you order it. ....

Does Amazon REALLY not make enough profit?

Thats not really true, if you buy a shotgun, it may say prime or fulfilled by prime/amazon warehouse.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I5NVFPI/?tag=httpwwwtechsp-20
Yes they do ship on the same day, if you were to order at 7am, they will ship out by 12pm or 1pm.
Thats a good perk to have especially if you need it quickly
Now if its through another retailer or local seller, yeah you are bound to their shipping rules.
Half of them will ship when they say they will, some will just sit there on a bump on a log and act like they didn't see it.
I had to wait for a few items that took 2 weeks on first class usps mail or ups ground shipment ? right......