Is Amazon Prime Worth It?
If you’re not yet an Amazon Prime member, the service’s price hike from $ 79 to $ 99 and more recently to $ 119 might leave you wondering if signing up at all is worth it.
Of course, you want to receive your parcels quickly. But is it worth spending more than $ 100 a year on top of what you spend on the actual items you buy?
If you ask Amazon Prime members, many of them will argue endlessly on behalf of the service. However, not everyone should subscribe.
You will benefit from this service if you buy items on Amazon 10-20 times a year, on average less than $ 25 per order, and take care of getting your items in less than a week.
You also win if you want to pay for Amazon’s video streaming or music streaming services, which they include as a membership benefit. As a result, you end up with three completely different services that make it difficult to estimate the real value of Prime. In the end, you will find that the service is worth it if any of these benefits prove even remotely beneficial to you. There are also two services, Wardrobe and Photos, which are not as well known but are worth taking a look at.
Let’s break down both services to get a more specific idea of what gets you $ 119 a year.
The main advantages of delivery
The Amazon Prime shipping benefits only matter to those who care about how quickly you receive your items. If you consider yourself patient enough, know that your patience should last for a week or so. Anyone can get free shipping from Amazon by ordering $ 25 or more from an online store. While this option costs you nothing, it takes 5-10 business days (on average) to receive your items, unless you pre-order certain products that offer free shipping before the release date. If you’ve never had a hard time hitting the $ 25 minimum, you don’t mind the wait, you don’t need the benefits of Prime delivery.
But let’s say you want to receive an item in less than 5-10 business days, and sometimes you are looking for items that cost $ 2.98 so that you can reach the free shipping threshold. Will Prime save you money? Look:
- Standard shipping costs a minimum of $ 5.99 per shipment. Standard shipping may take up to a calendar week.
- If you want your items to ship faster, you can often pay for two-day, one-day, or same-day shipping, although not all options are available for all items. Two-day shipping usually costs $ 8.98, while one-day shipping usually costs $ 9.98.
- Some sellers who fill and ship their own inventory charge a shipping fee, which means that even if you hit the $ 25 minimum order amount, you still have to pay for some items to be shipped.
So what does it all boil down to? It really depends on your individual use and how quickly you want to get your stuff. Standard shipping takes half the lead time compared to the free shipping you get for orders over $ 25, but it doesn’t offer much of a benefit for a service that costs more. On the other hand, the two-day regimen costs a little more, but provides significant time savings.
If you order on Amazon 20 times a year and pay for Standard Shipping every time, you’re broken even if you get Prime. If you choose expedited shipping always or even most of the time, you will save a lot of money. At the end of the day, it all comes down to how quickly you want to get your stuff. If you can’t wait a week, Prime includes two-day (and now often one-day) shipping, which more than pays for itself.
However, these numbers can change quickly if you share your Prime membership with others. Since Prime allows you to invite another adult into your family – not that Amazon actually stops you from inviting someone across the country – you can split the costs with others and pay $ 60 a year for your benefits. If you do this, it should be pretty easy to get Prime.
Prime Video
Netflix charges a monthly fee of $ 8.99 per month, which is $ 107.88 per year. Hulu starts at $ 5.99 per month and has an annual cost of $ 71.88. Amazon Prime costs $ 119 per year, which is about $ 9.92 per month. Apart from the shipping benefits you get with Prime, you pay about the same for Netflix and less for Hulu. If services had the same library of options, you could instantly justify a Prime membership. Things get a little more complicated because Prime lets you stream one content but charges you for another. In addition to its own shows such as Homecoming, The Amazing Mrs. Maisel, Fleabag and Catastrophe, Amazon is also known for offering a solid selection of films.
Even if you don’t make a lot of purchases, Amazon Prime can only pay off because of the video streaming options.
Prime Music
Amazon Prime members get ad-free streaming access to two million songs from Prime Music. If you break it down by month, Prime is $ 9.92, while Spotify, Apple Music, or Pandora are $ 9.99 each. Prime users can pay an additional $ 7.99 / month for unlimited access to 50 million songs, up from the $ 9.99 / month non-Prime price.
If you haven’t paid for one of these competing services yet, you might enjoy choosing Amazon. You can justify your Prime membership even if you just want to stream music.
Prime Photos
Prime users get unlimited high-definition photo storage and 5GB of video storage with their membership. The downside is that you only get the photo storage and not the various file types.
Most other services like Apple, Dropbox and Google will cost $ 10 a month for substantial storage space (around 2TB), including Amazon’s cloud add-on. It’s nice to have some storage space for your photos if you plan on keeping your Prime membership, but that’s not a reason to sign up in and of itself.
Prime Wardrobe
Prime members may choose two or more eligible garments to ship for their seven-day home fitting period. Your payment method will be charged after you decide which items to keep and which items to ship back. This is good for people who find it difficult to determine their size from online charts and who want to touch the clothes they buy before making a purchase. Wardrobe boxes must be returned via UPS, which can be a disadvantage if there is no drop-off point near you. Amazon will usually deduct return shipping costs from your refund, and you may also end up paying a return shipping fee, even if you have Prime.
There are not many other similar services, and styling services like Stitch Fix and Trunk Club charge an upfront styling fee of $ 20-25 before your selection is shipped. If you shop through one of these services more than five or six times a year, Prime may be a better option. But you should feel confident choosing your own fitting items, not styles.
Verdict
When deciding whether to subscribe to Amazon Prime or not, your own needs play an important role. It basically boils down to this: if you want expedited shipping for most of your Amazon orders, you might find content you want to watch or listen to, or both, you should get it. If none of these circumstances apply to you, Prime is probably not worth it.
Take a look at your Amazon purchase history to see how much you spent on shipping last year. See what you watch on Netflix (or TV for that matter) and see if Amazon offers the same. This information will quickly show you if you should register. If you can split your Prime membership with someone else, it could lower the cost and make it more than worthwhile.
If you fit the bill, you’ll love Prime. If not, be glad you’re saving $ 119 a year on what you don’t need. However, if you’re not sure, you can always try it for a month for free and see if you like it.
This story was originally published on Aug 6, 13 and was updated on Jun 26, 19 to provide more complete and up-to-date information.