For those of you who are Amazon Prime members, or looking to subscribe to their yearly service, they are currently having a one-day sale where you can purchase a year membership at 25% off! This means instead of paying the $99 fee, you can pay just $72. This is actually less than it was a year ago prior to them increasing the rates. The email I received this morning said that it was to celebrate the 72nd Global Globe Awards and that the sale ends tonight at 11:59pm PT. They are also giving everyone (Prime and non-Prime members) free access to stream the entire first season of the Golden Globe winner the Transparent.
With Amazon Prime you can actually share your membership between 5 other people (not with the student rate though). So will $72 might sound like a lot to subscribe to an online shopping service that delivers to you in a just a few days – if split between 5 people it is just $14.40 each. Although, there are some added benefits that just the main subscriber has that the additional add-ons do not. For example, 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! And if you live in NYC and are an Amazon Prime member (primarily and additional add-on members) you have access to Amazon Prime Now!
If you currently have a prime membership or are not looking to activate a membership just yet, you can lock actually lock in the $72 price for a future time. This can be done by purchasing a gift membership (even though you are really purchasing the gift for yourself!). While it states that this offer is for new Prime members, I do believe this roundabout method will work, although clearly I won’t be able to test it out for myself until my current Prime membership expires. This did work nicely, however, last year when rates were increasing.
UPDATE: It looks like ending the membership early isn’t working for some. However, if you purchase a gift subscription for amazon prime and the person already has amazon prime then you can trade it in for an amazon gift card for the equivalent amount.
Steps if you are already an Amazon Prime member:
- 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 (YOU!). Select the date after your current Amazon subscription ends. So if it ends October 28, 2015, for example, select October 29, 2016.
- If, by some chance you later on decide you do not want another year of Amazon prime, prior to the scheduled delivery date you can call Amazon and they will cancel the gift order.
Steps if you are not currently an Amazon Prime member
- 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 (YOU!). Select the date you want your Amazon Prime subscription to start. The gift will then be delivered at that date allowing you to activate then for a full year from that future point.
- You might as well start at least 30 days from today and get a free months trial first (just make sure to not continue the trial and then activate the gift membership purchased from above).
- Amazon Prime Trial – free 30 day trial
- Amazon Mom Trial – free 30 day trial
- Amazon Student Trial – free 6 month trial! (Amazon Student rates are only $49 everyday, so if you are a student then do not purchase the today only special of $72! – all you need is a .edu email address which anyone can set up at a local community college – with this membership you cannot share it with other people)
Going through the Loophole above will take about a minute of your time and well worth it to save $20! Keep in mind though after the year your Prime membership will auto renew at $99. So make sure to chance your settings to keep it from auto renewing if you are not 100% if you’ll want to continue the service. The gift membership, however, will not auto renew.
Remember, a few American Express credit cards recently had a sign on bonus that included a free year of Amazon Prime, so make sure to activate your membership if you applied for the card under the offer. If so, you can then go through the loophole I described above to continue the membership at a discounted rate.
Key Links to purchasing this discounted Prime membership:
- Amazon Prime Subscription at $72 – purchase here
- Amazon Prime Subscription Gift at $72 – purchase here
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What if I am not the primary holder of existin prime membership. Will I be considered a new subscriber?
Looks like the loophole is closed. It won’t let me click the button to end my account later.
My prime just auto renewed 3 days ago. I went in and cancelled it and received full refund(so they say it will be in 3 days). I then bought a $72 gift membership with my Amazon account I just cancelled prime on. I sent this to a different email address not associated with the just cancelled prime account. Clicked email link Amazon sent and it took me to my Amazon account which I was still logged into and it asked if I wanted to add the $72 prime gift to this account… Clicked Yes and I am now good for another year for $72. Thanks for posting this deal!
Yes didn’t work for me either.