Amazon Prime --- Worth It?

[5thwheeleroldma]

Little uncertain which forum. Is the Amazon prime worth it? Not every thing you purchase is eligible, right? Not everything is eligible for 2 day shipping? Are the books in the free Kindle lending library really good, or just junk? I wonder if all theses exclusions would apply to most things I might purchase, or only to a rare few.

I just paid $35 shipping for a couple things, but not sure if they would have been "free". I figure saving the $99 annual fee might be close for me, but not sure.

[kjburns]

In your example, there is no justification. In other examples, like the wallet I bought, the Amazon Prime price with shipping was the same as Walmart's price without shipping. We were looking at some larger exercise equipment. Amazon's price was less than Walmart and again, the price included shipping.

It's rare that I find things I need for less than Amazon. Often, the items ship from a warehouse that's 100 miles away so the item arrives the next day.

[ralphnjoann]

RinconVTR wrote:

ralphnjoann wrote:
Regarding "free shipping" the merchants have employed a new backdoor technique to increase prices. It works like this: There is a small electronics item I occasionally buy. It used to cost around $3.00 and the shipping was a little over $4.00, however, I could order four or five of them before the shipping increased to the next level, usually a dollar or so (combined shipping). Assuming I ordered five items at $3.00 and shipping at $4.00, the order total would be $19.00. Now the item has "free shipping," but the price has increased to $7.00, so now there is no combined shipping and the order total is $35.00! In other words, you pay individual shipping charges on each item, but it costs the seller no more to ship than before.

Of course you will find examples like this, especially when items cost less that it does to ship an empty box. This is not very common, but when it occurs, its justified.

???? I sell an item for $3.00. This price includes my profit (let's say $2). I get a pre-paid mailer from the Post Office for $4. This mailer is good for anything that fits in it ("If it fits, it ships"). The buyer pays $7 and I make $2. If the buyer orders 5 items, which fit in the mailer (combined shipping), it costs him $19 and I make $10. Now let's look at "free shipping" and the new item price of $7. If the buyer orders one item with free shipping, it still costs him $7 and I still make the same profit, but if he orders 5 items, it costs him $35. I still pay $5 for the product and $4 for shipping. So now my profit is $26.00 instead of $10. What justification am I missing?

[RinconVTR]

ralphnjoann wrote:
Regarding "free shipping" the merchants have employed a new backdoor technique to increase prices. It works like this: There is a small electronics item I occasionally buy. It used to cost around $3.00 and the shipping was a little over $4.00, however, I could order four or five of them before the shipping increased to the next level, usually a dollar or so (combined shipping). Assuming I ordered five items at $3.00 and shipping at $4.00, the order total would be $19.00. Now the item has "free shipping," but the price has increased to $7.00, so now there is no combined shipping and the order total is $35.00! In other words, you pay individual shipping charges on each item, but it costs the seller no more to ship than before.

Of course you will find examples like this, especially when items cost less that it does to ship an empty box. This is not very common, but when it occurs, its justified.

[ralphnjoann]

Regarding "free shipping" the merchants have employed a new backdoor technique to increase prices. It works like this: There is a small electronics item I occasionally buy. It used to cost around $3.00 and the shipping was a little over $4.00, however, I could order four or five of them before the shipping increased to the next level, usually a dollar or so (combined shipping). Assuming I ordered five items at $3.00 and shipping at $4.00, the order total would be $19.00. Now the item has "free shipping," but the price has increased to $7.00, so now there is no combined shipping and the order total is $35.00! In other words, you pay individual shipping charges on each item, but it costs the seller no more to ship than before.

[RinconVTR]

I order so much from Amazon the UPS/FedEx truck is at the 3 days a week, or more. I often shop by using the prime query first. There isn't much I want/need that doesn't fall under prime for me. The streaming access is simply a huge bonus, and because of it, I no longer subscribe to Netflix streaming.

Thus, for me, even the new $99 per year pricing is a steal.

[docj]

wintersun wrote:
We make hundreds of purchases on Amazon and this includes food items, personal healthcare items, tools, containers. fasteners, books, RV items.

I have bought two batteries and had them shipped for free along with many other items that would have been too expensive to buy online in any other manner. I bought a $15 battery for my Verizon Mifi device and it was $15 and not $15 plus $8 shipping.

I just bought a grinder face shield and some cut-off wheels for $35 from Amazon with free shipping. No need to drive to a building supply store and have $8 in vehicle expenses. UPS brings it to my door.

I also benefit from user reviews of products so I tend to research most things I buy on Amazon to determine which are best.

The free shipping also includes shipping to anyone anywhere in the USA. I have a brother who lives more than 3,000 miles away. Shipping for gifts can be a large percentage of the total gift cost but with Prime the shipping is free and it gets to him in 2 business days.

X2; using Prime effectively requires that you "think outside the box". Ordering a $5-10 item doesn't make sense at first, but it often makes sense if you don't have to pay for gas and maybe not even sales tax.

[wintersun]

Should also add that on two trips in the past year I needed something and was able to get it shipped to our next stop and with 2-day shipping I did not have to worry if it would arrive in time, nor did I have to go shopping in strange towns along our route.

[wintersun]

We make hundreds of purchases on Amazon and this includes food items, personal healthcare items, tools, containers. fasteners, books, RV items.

I have bought two batteries and had them shipped for free along with many other items that would have been too expensive to buy online in any other manner. I bought a $15 battery for my Verizon Mifi device and it was $15 and not $15 plus $8 shipping.

I just bought a grinder face shield and some cut-off wheels for $35 from Amazon with free shipping. No need to drive to a building supply store and have $8 in vehicle expenses. UPS brings it to my door.

I also benefit from user reviews of products so I tend to research most things I buy on Amazon to determine which are best.

The free shipping also includes shipping to anyone anywhere in the USA. I have a brother who lives more than 3,000 miles away. Shipping for gifts can be a large percentage of the total gift cost but with Prime the shipping is free and it gets to him in 2 business days.

[drsteve]

You can also share the shipping benefits:

Free or paid Amazon Prime members can share their shipping benefits with up to four additional family members living in the same household. If you purchase a Prime membership for a small business, you may invite up to four co-workers to shop with this corporate account. Other Amazon Prime membership benefits such as Prime Instant Video and the Kindle Owners' Lending Library can't be shared.

Sharing the cost of the Prime membership makes it a real value.

[strollin]

A few years back I got 90 days free use of Prime. I found that very few of the "free" movies were worth watching (I don't think I watched a single movie during the 90 days) and I don't order enough stuff from Amazon to make the free shipping worthwhile. To be honest I think I got zero benefit from Prime so did not renew when the 90 days ended.

As always, your mileage may vary.

[jjjandrbaker]

Only you can decide if Prime is worth it for you. It all depends on how many items you order in a year. I, for example, had 59 orders in 2012 and 57 orders in 2013. I use the Amazon scanner anywhere I shop. If Amazon beats the price, I order it. There is no doubt for me that I am saving by using it.

[tgr2975]

It isn't worth it to me, but their shipping practices for non prime customers has resulted in my shopping elsewhere.
Last week I bought a Nokona fielder's glove for my daughter. Paid $6 more and had it in 2 days. With Amazon it wouldn't have been shipped for close to 2 weeks.

As with most things we have options to choose what works best for each of us.

[kjburns]

Aridon wrote:
You get free super saver shipping on orders over $35 so unless you NEED it in 2 days, Prime isn't really worth the money spent.

If you want streaming Netflix is better is almost every say with the exception of Nickelodeon shows.

We have Prime and a Netflix account. The problem with Netflix is that almost every movie we want to watch is not on Netflix, but is on Prime. I would estimate that 5% of the movies we come up with for a night are not on Netflix. I always start with Netflix, with no luck, then I find the movie on Amazon and we watch it.

[docj]

I didn't see anyone mention sending gifts to grandchildren, but at Christmas and birthdays the service pays for itself. Sure, the kids don't really need the fast shipping but it's nice to know when things will get there.

During the winter it's a ~30 minute drive for us to get to major shopping and I often buy $5-15 items from Amazon because it's a lot more cost effective than driving to town and hoping I'll find what I want. As long as I can plan a day or two in advance, Prime is wonderful.