Amazon raises free shipping minimum to $35

[West E]

I would consider myself loyal to amazon. I basically window shop at Best Buy unless I have a giftcard. Target occasionally gets my business just because we grocery shop there but Amazon stuff gets delivered a few times a week at my doorstep. I save a couple of trips out a week because of Prime. I don't mind paying $6 a month for prime. It's worth it to save on gas and not be shopping amongst rednecks and wannabe thugs

[whiteberry]

It's ridiculous but I think most people here stopped buying from Amazon when they stopped having any decent blu-ray deals. These days the only time Amazon has a deal on a blu-ray is when they are price matching a competitor. I honestly can't remember the last time I bought a blu-ray from them.

[MoulinBlu]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Amazon has been pushing to move away from casual customers. It's a ballsy move before the Christmas shopping season. If sales drastically drop, expect the minimum to be lowered once again.

That would make sense. It seems amazon is more interested in consumers who don't mind paying more for the convenience, rather the priviledge, of buying from them.

Though, apparently they've also decided it's cheaper just to act as another ebay and collect on transactions they have nothing to do with. Afterall their fees are the highest I've ever seen, they no longer actually stock many products themselves that they used to, or at least don't offer competitive prices compared to many of the smaller marketplace vendors selling there. I've actually watched a number of items in my wishlist (not movies, items like french press coffee makers and such, items that arent' discontinued for new models each year or that go down in popularity, items that have a fairly steady market year after year) double or triple in price for no apparent reason, in a six month period, as if they had a good price, but then saw what Target was selling it for, so they decided they should be getting that much too.

It's interesting to me that Best Buy changed to a $25 minimum recently and now Amazon raised their minimum. I can't help but wonder if there is connection (one responding to the other).

I don't think so. Amazon is pretty full of themselves. Like all the other changes they've made over the past few years, I think it's solely because they think they're big enough to be able to get away with it. If it does result in reduced sells, all they've got to do is return it to 25 and act like they're doing us a favor. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this move makes 35.00 min orders the norm across the net soon though. It's likely amazon's previous 25.00 minimum for free shipping that spurred BB to go up.


I've been a prime member since I first learned about it somewhere around 2006/2007. And, if you think it's a good deal now, you should have seen it then. The price was the same, but the shipping and packaging was better and amazon's prices more than made up for prime. I remember passing on an open-box clearance deal on a phone I liked at CC, knowing it would still be cheaper on amazon, which it was about $20 less brand new, than CCs scratched up display or return item. The value of prime isn't anywhere near what it used to be, if you're not into free streaming, as amazon's prices aren't the same. Popular dog food that I used to subscribe to at $10 per box with 15% subscription discount, has not only doubled in price, but now only gest a 5% discount, if amazon still caries it all - 50 to as low as 40 cent per can in store when on sale or with a coupon, which there's always one or the other available, 75 cent per can from amazon even with a grandfathered 15% off subscription discount.

I'm giving them one last year, as I hate to give up on a service I'd practically become dependent on, but this years BF deals will likely be the deciding factor, as I doubt their current pricing strategy is going to change for the better over the next 11 months, and it's the free shipping on limited time, low value lightning deals where prime seems to benefit me the most.

[MoulinBlu]

Originally Posted by West E

I would consider myself loyal to amazon. I basically window shop at Best Buy unless I have a giftcard. Target occasionally gets my business just because we grocery shop there but Amazon stuff gets delivered a few times a week at my doorstep. I save a couple of trips out a week because of Prime. I don't mind paying $6 a month for prime. It's worth it to save on gas and not be shopping amongst rednecks and wannabe thugs

79.99 divided by 12 ironically comes to 6.66 per month. Maybe it's a sign... Just thought that was funny. Thanks for the math. $6-7 does make it seem like a better deal for my current buying habits, unless they continue down the road of ever increasing prices and their seeming push for digital delivery over physical discs. Even 8.33 per month doesn't sound too bad, should they go up to 99.99 per year. But as this past year has proven, a lot can change in a year. Unfortunately, amazon seems to be like BB, changing only for the worst for my areas of interest.

I don't go along with the gas and time saving arguments: For most of us, it's not out of the way to drop by a store on the way home from work. And it's become convenient to complain about gas, yet ignore the part of the equation regarding how much per month we're paying for internet service. and I know I waste far, FAR more time searching for deals online, much less aimless browsing that little comes of, than I would finding an item in a store and standing in the checkout line for ten minutes. Fifteen years ago, the reason I could justify paying half what I do now for internet was because I got more than that back in savings on the items I bought, even after taxes and without free shipping. That's not the case anymore, now it's all about convenience, buying items that aren't carried in most stores, and tax-free shopping at best.

[JaseT]

Originally Posted by MoulinBlu

79.99 divided by 12 ironically comes to 6.66 per month. Maybe it's a sign... Just thought that was funny.

Thank GOD Prime costs $79.00!

[MoulinBlu]

Originally Posted by JaseT

Thank GOD Prime costs $79.00!

Good catch. $6.58 per month then. It's been so many years since I originally took out the service I forgot. I usually don't even think about it until the auto-re-subscribe shows up on my card statement, which always takes me a minute to figure out what the charge is for. I might have to pay more attention this time next year.

[xander]

Originally Posted by MoulinBlu

I don't think so. Amazon is pretty full of themselves. Like all the other changes they've made over the past few years, I think it's solely because they think they're big enough to be able to get away with it. If it does result in reduced sells, all they've got to do is return it to 25 and act like they're doing us a favor. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this move makes 35.00 min orders the norm across the net soon though. It's likely amazon's previous 25.00 minimum for free shipping that spurred BB to go up.

So dead on. I haven't agreed more with a post in awhile. And you can bet your ass all us smug Prime customers are going to be the next to be tested. There's money to be squeezed there, and Amazon will have NO problem testing the limits.

[icy hot]

That's it. I'm done. I'm still buy mp3s from them, but that's it.

[troykan]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Amazon has been pushing to move away from casual customers. It's a ballsy move before the Christmas shopping season. If sales drastically drop, expect the minimum to be lowered once again.

This is a really stupid gamble by Amazon and will kill their holiday numbers.

Like you say, they will learn the hard way, this will not drive many of us to get prime.

[Servo]

Did they advertise this ahead of time (not, like a day, but an actually decent time frame)? I know I saw it today when I went for an order and that stopped me in my tracks. It IS ballsy to try this before X-Mas, but I forsee a lot of Prime trials being taken advantage of.

First they came for my tax and I said nothing
Next, they came for my shipping....

Yeah, FU Amazon. You haven't had a good deal for me in months (actually Amazon UK often has better Blu deals for me) so this stacked whammy is enough to dis-entice me from buying much more at all.

[hoytereden]

I do the bulk of my yearly purchases from Amazon during the Christmas Season roughly from early-mid Nov. through late Dec. Last year I had 9 separate orders and 5 of them would've qualified with the new $35 minimum. Under the old minimum they all did.

[deltasun]

Originally Posted by xander

So dead on. I haven't agreed more with a post in awhile. And you can bet your ass all us smug Prime customers are going to be the next to be tested. There's money to be squeezed there, and Amazon will have NO problem testing the limits.

And they're doing this even with the existence of competition. Just think what they WILL do when that's no longer the case.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by MoulinBlu

I've been a prime member since I first learned about it somewhere around 2006/2007. And, if you think it's a good deal now, you should have seen it then. The price was the same, but the shipping and packaging was better and amazon's prices more than made up for prime. I remember passing on an open-box clearance deal on a phone I liked at CC, knowing it would still be cheaper on amazon, which it was about $20 less brand new, than CCs scratched up display or return item. The value of prime isn't anywhere near what it used to be, if you're not into free streaming, as amazon's prices aren't the same. Popular dog food that I used to subscribe to at $10 per box with 15% subscription discount, has not only doubled in price, but now only gest a 5% discount, if amazon still caries it all - 50 to as low as 40 cent per can in store when on sale or with a coupon, which there's always one or the other available, 75 cent per can from amazon even with a grandfathered 15% off subscription discount.

Truer words have never been spoken about Amazon in recent times. Prime service was amazing in its first two or three years. I knew the good days were over when they started using the Postal Service as a delivery carrier for it.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by basketb

why is everybody so hung up solely about the shipping costs? Isn't the item cost + shipping cost (+ tax) the deciding factor? And you buy wherever that is the cheapest?

Not when shipping is free. Often times you could get the item costs without any other costs from Amazon. Almost always guaranteed to be cheaper than store costs + tax + gas + travel time.

[JulieL]

My husband and I didn't renew our Prime Membership after it expired earlier this year and we haven't missed it. The prices Amazon has are OFTEN more expensive or as expensive as what I can get in town. This recent price raise for Super Saver Shipping is not going to make me a customer - especially on Black Friday with all the lightning "deals."

I dunno. I think that after I use up the rest of my $100 in Gift Card credit, I will be done for good. We have seen prices go up on movies, K-Cups, Baby toys, etc. I'll stick with Target for the non-movie stuff and with a local Hastings affiliate (TradesMart) for all movie purchases.

[vocalhouse]

I understand this is a discussion board and people will b!tch about anything and everything. Last quarter, Amazon generated $15.70 billion in revenues. With their analytics, they know the breakdown of people who bought items via FSSS, those who paid shipping, and those who bought via Prime. Their models probably predicted that people will still pay to shop at Amazon for the convenience or some other reason. Remember, the people in these boards are not representative of the population.

[Ashamed Pegasus]

I don't have Prime anymore because I don't buy from Amazon that often since they no longer have any sales. Between this and the new distro center opening up in Maryland, which means they'll start charging sales tax soon, I'll rarely if ever buy from them.

[jjdpw50]

I don't buy many blus from Amazon anymore. Tax and now this, I never spent enough to justify having Prime. I grabbed a few titles during their Halloween sale but that is it. On BF, I'll favor Best Buy as Amazon matches them anyway.

[A Sith Lord?]

I remember when I did subscribe and save with Amazon on a 10 pound protein bag. It was around $68-$75, which was about $20 cheaper than almost any other place online.

Then they stopped doing it.

[Race Bannon]

Amazon Prime is a great thing for a buyer of blu-rays (and for me, books). The luxury of being able to pre-order without worrying about minimum purchase. The ability to save on all sorts of items. Plus a benefit of some streaming movies and TV. It's a valuable thing if you can convert to a power-user.