For those of you who are Amazon Prime members, or looking to subscribe to their yearly service, the annual fee will be increasing starting March 20, 2014. This is not a dramatic increase, in my opinion, but it will still will cost you extra $20
- Amazon Prime – increasing from $79 to $99
- Amazon Prime Student – increasing from $39 to $49
With Amazon Prime you can actually share your membership between 5 other people (not with the student rate though). However, keep in mind that additional members on the account will not be able to activate the Amazon Mom discount – which can be huge if you are constantly buying baby items! More on Amazon Mom tomorrow…
For those of you whose membership renewed prior to April 17, you’ll be locked into the current $79 for the remainder of your membership year. After that your fee will increase to $99. However, if your membership renews April 17 or after, your annual fee will go up to $99. It seems as though some have been receiving specific emails regarding future fee, so there might be some grace period for some whose membership renews April 17 or after.
I personally love Amazon Prime as it gives me free two-day shipping which I use multiple times a week! The annual fee, even at $99/year, is definitely worth it for me!
Loophole:
Now, via Slickdeals and Dans Deals, there is a nice loophole for those that want to lock in the $79 price for the following subscription year as well. If you buy a gift membership you can lock in the reduced rate for another year after your membership year expires.
Steps to do this properly:
- First, you will need to Edit your membership subscription. You can do this here. Select the “End Membership” button and on the next screen select “End Later.” The date it ends will depend on your specific account. This will allow you to keep your membership till that date, but ensure it does not auto-renew.
- Buy an Amazon Prime Subscription Gift. When you go to checkout for this purchase you are able to select the date you want the Amazon Prime gift delivered to the recipient. Select the date after your current Amazon subscription ends. So if it ends October 28, 2014, select October 29, 2014.
If you are new to Amazon and have been thinking about getting the membership, as long as you purchase the membership by March 19, 2014, you can lock in the cheaper rate for an entire year. However, before you go ahead and just purchase an Amazon Prime subscription, you are might as well sign up for a free trial. You can always cancel the trial if you feel you are not getting the value. After the trial you will then pay the $79 rate for the year (or $39 for the Amazon student trial).
- Amazon Prime Trial – free 30 day trial
- Amazon Mom Trial – free 3 month trial
- Amazon Student Trial – free 6 month trial!
Going through the Loophole above will take about a minute of your time and well worth it to save $20! I’ll write more about Amazon Mom and Amazon Student tomorrow.
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My e-mail stated that my renewal in August will be at the $79 level and then will be $99 for August of 2015. I know I have used it quite a bit, but I cannot imagine I am in the high end of customers, do I wonder what they use to determine who gets their renewal at the lower price after April?
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Thanks Erin definitely signing up.
How can you change the end date of your Prime membership? Aren’t all memberships one year?
Also, should Shop Runner be allowed to advertise on this blog?
[…] 4) On March 20th, Amazon will be raising rates for Amazon Prime. More info and details on how to lock in the old rate HERE […]
@DWL – I signed up for the 1 month free Amazon Prime today. My paid subscription will start 1 month from today at the old 79.00 price. If I order a gift subscription for myself at 79.00, I would want it to be sent to me on about 14 April 2015. Their system says I can only order a gift subscription for up to 1 year from today, which would be about 1 month short of when it would be needed. My question, if I set up the gift subscription to deliver 1 year from today, does this mean it will be activated immediately on that day it arrives or can I save to email and activate it later, say on the the real day my account will expire? Thanks
@chuck – I know if you activate it while you are still a prime member it will just convert to a $79 gift card. However, I am not sure if you need to activate the day it is delivered or if you have some wiggle room there. Worst case scenario is it gets converted to a $79 gift card.
BTW, you can currently get Amazon Prime *free* for one year when you sign up for one of the two Blue Cash cards from American Express. It’s a special offer they have right now.
There’s the Blue Cash Everyday Card (BCE) and the Blue Cash Preferred Card (BCP). BCP has $75 annual fee; BCE does not. However, BCP has a $100 initial spending bonus (after spending $1K in first 3 months), 6% cash back at grocery stores, and 3% cash back at gas stations, while BCE has just a $50 initial spending bonus, 3% cash back at grocery stores, and 2% cash back at gas stations. There are some other differences as well.
The math is a bit complicated, so you can use the rewards calculator at CreditCardTuneUp. com to compare the two Blue Cash cards for your particular expenses.
Free Amazon Prime Six Months Free Trail Link:http://amzn.to/1FGBvdl