What's The Deal With Amazon Prime

[tomteriffic]

I've gotten a couple of things lately that couldn't have been had, realistically speaking, anywhere but Amazon.  I keep getting hounded by "fast free shipping", and I've been tempted.  But aren't there a number of "gotchas" involved with Amazon Prime?  'Splain me please?

[geowolves]

1 minute ago, tomteriffic said:

I've gotten a couple of things lately that couldn't have been had, realistically speaking, anywhere but Amazon.  I keep getting hounded by "fast free shipping", and I've been tempted.  But aren't there a number of "gotchas" involved with Amazon Prime?  'Splain me please?

For the yearly fee you get free 2 day shipping on most items sold by Amazon. Sellers selling on Amazon you won't get free 2 shipping unless Amazon is fulfilling the order but item's will always have the Prime logo on the page to alert you of the free 2 day shipping. I have my wife as the prime member but we both get the free shipping. She gets free Kindle books, access to Amazon prime music also. You also get prime video if you have a Roku or other streaming device. Also works on gaming systems. For the money I think it's worth it. And in the event something comes past the guaranteed delivery date you just call customer service and kindly explain you were disappointed that the item did not arrive on time and most likely will get a credit towards your next order on items sold by Amazon. 

[mathman]

Everything said above and also some items will ship free if you add them with other items that are prime shipping. You may have to add $25 worth of stuff to get to that point for free shipping.

 

It's quite a good collection of music for free and some of the stuff on Amazon prime video was not available on Netflix or other places.

[Dave Scepter]

I just wait until I gather $35 worth of stuff, then it's free 3 to 5 day shipping...

[DaveL]

definitely keep an eye on the "fulfilled by amazon" vs fulfilled by an affiliate  (which can range from an

excellent seller to, some guy with no feedback who just signed up).   

 

  Also,  one thing I find,  when you opt for the free shipping (say $35 or above) when you get to the cart, 

they change the shipping options on you,  you need to go back and choose the free option.    They are

trying to upsell the options above the free shipping.    Just bought something that was estimated as

free shipping ETA in 8-10 days,  got it in 4.  

[murkat]

We have been prime members for a very long time. All points covered above are true. Since Judy is a savy shopper, and we have a new amazon hub near us,

We have incurred substantial savings, ships to our door within hours, days, leaving more time for us than try to hunt down whatever from store to store.

Prime has been good for us.

[kizanski]

13 minutes ago, DaveL said:

They are trying to upsell the options above the free shipping.    Just bought something that was estimated as free shipping ETA in 8-10 days,  got it in 4.  

That was always my experience until lately.
Time was, they would try to up-sell me on the 2 day shipping, but I take the Free 3 - 5 day shipping and receive it in 2 days anyway.
My last few orders, however, following the same formula has my items arriving in 5 days, minimum.
They're making sure you get what you're paying for with the Free option.

[Hbom]

I think it's all about Location, Location, Location

. I've been shopping Amazon for about 10 years and a Prime member for a little over a year. When I wasn't a Prime member(or when I don't log in as a member) I see an item I want and Amazon says "In Stock. Will ship today if ordered by x oclock." And I get free shipping if the order is over $35. If I order that way, stuff usually ships in 24 hours or less for free.

But if I use my Prime account, and all else stays the same, ie. In Stock will ship for free on Amazon Prime, it may take 5-10 days before the stuff gets shipped! It still ships 3-5 day, but they sit on the stuff for what seems like an unreasonable amount of time before shipping it.

Last week the wife wanted new remote controllers for the Wii system, grand kids baby sitter. We ordered 2 that were "In stock. Will ship immediately from Amazon." So one ships from Utah on Wednesday and arrived on Saturday. The other one shipped out on Monday(yesterday) of this week from a point in Texas! And with no tracker so probably won't get here for 10-12 days! What a rip! There were several choices for these things. All saying they had 2 or more in stock, but I picked the ones that were supposed to be "In stock and ready to ship from Amazon today!"

I actually signed up for Prime to take advantage of the Prime Video. They had several old TV shows listed on their site that I wanted to watch so thought between the free shipping, the music and the TV shows it would be worth it. Turns out ALL of the shows I am interested in are not available on Prime! I can buy them but they aren't part of the free video package.

BUT, in all fairness, shipping costs to Alaska have become completely insane the past 2 years. So the fact that Amazon will sell and ship to me at all is Amazing!

[hamerhead]

They make it too easy to spend too much money. It's all their fault.

[geowolves]

1 hour ago, hamerhead said:

They make it too easy to spend too much money. It's all their fault.

It was actually easier to spend more money before they started collecting sales tax! F#@k NJ, it costs too much to live here now! 

[Toadroller]

Amazon Prime also opens a number of other services from Amazon, such as Prime video- all the television series they produce, many more movies, and Prime Music- an okay service, who am I to complain if I can only get a portion of an artist's collection for free.

Amazon Prime makes up for the annual fee pretty easily, and even up here in the woods of Maine, two day delivery happens.

Prime is excellent.

[mrjamiam]

YMMV, of course.  I was among those disappointed by the "free" video selection, which didn't include much of anything I wanted to watch.  There was a charge for the good stuff.  I didn't check out the music selection, and dropped Prime.  I live close enough to distribution center(s) that I can get things in a couple of days anyway with the minimum order free shipping.  Except that I also have noticed that recently they have taken to sitting on orders for a while, even when in stock, before shipping them out (after I refuse to re-up for Prime).

I figure that anything they push that hard has to be for their benefit, not mine, whether it's pure profit (remember, you can still get free shipping, so it's baked into the price) or through increased ordering to make sure you get the most out of a Prime membership.

[mathman]

I live in a small town outside a larger city.  (Tampa)  So the shipping has value for us)   The video choices are limited but we've found a few things worthwhile.  I've found quite a bit of music to listen too.  For us it is the shipping cost that make it worthwhile.  The books, movies and music are extras.

 

[cynic]

At the end of the day, I probably don't use most of the prime features very regularly, but I still get at least $10 per month usefulness out of it. 

[hamerhead]

It's worth it just to see the Top Gear guys on The Grand Tour.

[tommy p]

I signed up for the free trial last Christmas so anything I ordered would be delivered quicker.  I guess because it was the season that didn't really happen which was a letdown.  I also didn't find enough streaming choices, nor do I order enough year round, to make it worth paying for.  However, when my trial was nearing its end and I went to cancel before being charged, they offered me another month for free.  When that month was over, they did it again!  So a 3-month trial for free wasn't too bad.  I'll probably do it again this year if they offer it.

[BubbaVO]

The savings on the shipping alone are worth it to us.  Then throw in the music and videos and it's a no brainer. 

 

[cmatthes]

It's been working very well for us for the last 3-4 years or so.  Made it extremely easy (and cheap) to send things to kids in college out of state as well.

I'm a fan, although there are some of the contract local delivery companies (Lazership, etc.) can be pretty shitty though.  So, you'll have an "Out for Delivery by 8pm today" message, and at 9pm, there will be a status update for an "attempted delivery", even though no such thing ever happened (I live on a dead end street and at the top of the hill, so know if a truck has attempted a delivery or not).  I believe they do that BS to keep from getting dinged in their ratings.

[JES1680]

We've had it a couple years. Pays for itself in shipping just around the hollidays, movies and music are ok, but I opted for the monthly music fee which opens up much more, and since my wife got us an Echo for Christmas last year and it's pretty useful think of a song and ask to play. 

[Ting Ho Dung]

On 4/12/2017 at 11:00 AM, cmatthes said:

It's been working very well for us for the last 3-4 years or so.  Made it extremely easy (and cheap) to send things to kids in college out of state as well.

I'm a fan, although there are some of the contract local delivery companies (Lazership, etc.) can be pretty shitty though.  So, you'll have an "Out for Delivery by 8pm today" message, and at 9pm, there will be a status update for an "attempted delivery", even though no such thing ever happened (I live on a dead end street and at the top of the hill, so know if a truck has attempted a delivery or not).  I believe they do that BS to keep from getting dinged in their ratings.

You also get prime for half the yearly fee if you sign up your college student. We've been getting it half-price now for going on 4 years.

I ran out of bong screens and didn't know it. Amazon Prime, 50 screens for 5 bucks and free 2nd day shipping. Love it. 

I've watched several original Amazon features and have enjoyed them since they are included in the Prime fee. One I really liked was Mad Dogs. Has great photography, acting, dimensional characters, etc.