Amazon Prime - free for one month trial

[GA Russell]

Perhaps those of you who are big spenders already know about this.

When Amazon released its Kindle Fire tablet a few weeks ago (for $199), it announced that with the purchase one would get a free one-month trial of Amazon Prime. I don't know a great deal about Amazon Prime, so I will let those who already have it discuss its benefits.

Anyway, today I ordered a space heater for $168, and qualified for the free one-month trial. Apparently it is the size of the purchase rather than the item itself that determines whether you qualify.

I figured I had nothing to lose, so I signed up. I've already written a note in my calendar to cancel before they charge me for the year.

[BeBop]

Peripherally related, I suppose: I bought a Kindle Fire -undoubtedly my one splurge for 2011. A few days later, I had to buy a couple of modestly priced things for my wife's birthday. Without the fast shipping...well you know.

[Noj]

It's only worth it if you order enough items from Amazon per year that the cumulative cost of shipping would be greater than the membership fee.

[golfcrazy1984]

I have had Amazon Prime for several years. I too agree that the program is only worth it if you buy enough off of Amazon.

Luckily for me, I am addicted to buying books and cds And I love the fact that if someone on this board mentions a recording that they've been digging, I can get it next day if I want.

Buying off of Amazon is a big time saver, especially for Christmas shopping for relatives, I can buy as much as I want, and it'll be free 2nd day air mail.

I know there's iTunes, but for me, if I can get the physical product, that's the way I go.

LOVE Amazon Prime

[Chuck Nessa]

Me too.

[RDK]

With Prime you also get access to Amazon's movie streaming service - which is like Netflix.

[Noj]

GA Russell, what did you have to do in order to sign up? I have a bunch of stuff in my shopping cart over there, and I ought to qualify if I place the order. However, it's only giving me the option to place the order and a button stating "Amazon Prime Eligible" does nothing when clicked.

I'm thinking I will join this service and quit eMusic, just considering the price of a CD against eMusic's new pricing structure...

[GA Russell]

Noj, a "screen" superimposed upon the regular screen, covering about 90% of the monitor screen, came up and said that I was eligible. At the bottom were two buttons, to accept and to reject.

It just appeared - I didn't do anything for it to come up.

My total bill was $185, so I am assuming that it came up because of the size of my order. But it didn't give me any explanation.

[GregK]

Amazon Prime has been free for one-month trials for a long time. Nothing special about it right now.

It is useful that it offers the streaming movies/tv, but the selection as bad as Netflix. Not much there....

[stephenrr]

Can't say enough good things about Amazon Prime...once you get over the sticker shock of paying your yearly dues, you'd be surprised how often you end up using it...from coffee, kitchen gadgets, all my holiday gifts, clothing, glassware, music, books, whatever...whenever we need something, we check Amazon first. Not a week goes by that UPS doesn't make at least two or three visits....all for zero shipping, zero tax, and second day delivery. And on big ticket items...like my new computer...we saved over a hundred bucks on sticker price alone rather than ordering from HP...and HP was charging a hundred bucks for shipping (not second day) and sales tax. Apart from the ethical qualms of avoiding state sales tax, I just don't see a down side. Great marketing, superb merchandising, and for me, incredible service. Wish to hell I'd bought stock in Amazon ten years ago.

[Noj]

Noj, a "screen" superimposed upon the regular screen, covering about 90% of the monitor screen, came up and said that I was eligible. At the bottom were two buttons, to accept and to reject.

It just appeared - I didn't do anything for it to come up.

My total bill was $185, so I am assuming that it came up because of the size of my order. But it didn't give me any explanation.

Thanks GA Russell! I was considering buying a Kindle Fire but decided to stick with my regular Kindle for the time being. I still may join, but will do so during another purchase.

[GA Russell]

I guess you saw the other day that Amazon has raised the minimum threshold for Super Saver Shipping from $25 to $35. I imagine that this will spur many to sign up for Amazon Prime.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/amazon-tightens-shipping-requirements/?_r=0

[mjzee]

Prime is good. Even with Super Saver Shipping, it could take a week or more for delivery. Now I have it in 2 days, pretty much like clockwork.

Amazon is a good resource for a whole bunch of things. If I have trouble finding something in a local store, inevitably it's easier to purchase from Amazon. Recent examples: graphite, citric acid, Simple Human garbage bags. Having worked for many years in a retail environment, I feel really bad about these developments: I think about all the people who work in retail, and how this is making it much harder for them. I hope retailers can innovate enough to keep ahead of Amazon.

[jazzbo]

I'm a Prime member this year, helping Amazon to take over the world and ruin every other little business. (Soon it will be like "Eenie meanie minie mo" and all the "meanies" and "mod" will be gone.)

Edited October 28, 2013 by jazzbo

[GA Russell]

Amazon announced that the week before Christmas alone it sold a million Prime memberships.

It has also announced that this Christmas season it shipped more Prime packages than Super Saver Discount packages.

http://www.geekwire.com/2013/amazon-prime-top-20-million-members-as-company-touts-best-holiday-season-on-record/

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/12/26/amazons-impressively-successful-holiday/?KEYWORDS=amazon+prime

[Rooster_Ties]

Every time I want to buy something from Amazon, I look on my "wish list" (which has about 100+ items on it, mostly CD's, but plenty of books, and a few other things) -- to see if I can get to $35 in stuff I really want to buy right now. If so, great, then free shipping. If not, then I add the new item to my wishlist, knowing it will be there the next time I want t to buy something from Amazon. Rinse, and repeat!

As a result, I only buy from Amazon 5 or 6 or maybe 8 times per year, and never without the benefit of free shipping.

Or, another way of looking at it -- Amazon ALWAYS has free shipping on nearly EVERYTHING (even without prime) -- if you just aggregate your purchases into $35 increments.

Without the "wishlist" function, it would be a huge pain in the ass -- but with it, I never have any trouble getting to the $35 threshhold (and almost never with a bunch of purchases I don't need, as long as I remember to wishlist everything I ever lookup on Amazon).

Edited February 2, 2014 by Rooster_Ties

[Jazzmoose]

I decided to give the free trial a shot, as I figured the streaming movies would be more useful than the two-day shipping, although like Tom, I've never paid for shipping from Amazon anyway. But Greg is correct; the selection is pretty poor.

[Scott Dolan]

We used the free trial earlier this year, or maybe late last year. The free two day shipping was nice, I guess. We cancelled before we had to pay, though. Just didn't see much bang for the buck with it.

[Jazzmoose]

Well, after a month, I decided to keep it. Like Netflix, if you really want to watch something, you can find something (just finished off Season 1 of Columbo this week), and being able to get a single book in two days is pretty nice. I'm actually a time traveler; I come from before the internet. If I get the urge to read a book, generally I'll still have that urge in two days.

[Dave Garrett]

I was skeptical about Prime for a long time, but after finally taking advantage of the one-month free trial when I got a Kindle Fire a couple of years ago, I quickly became a believer. I can see where its utility would be limited for those who don't order at least semi-frequently from Amazon, unless the infrequent orders were counterbalanced by heavy use of the free streaming service.

Amazon just reported earnings, and their stock was down over 10% as a result of earnings coming in lower than expected. There's been some discussion that they're going to raise the annual cost of Prime membership between $20-40 in the near future. Not too surprising if that comes to pass, as their costs for shipping alone have got to be increasing, and that's a trend that's only going to continue.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Dave Garrett