More Amazon Prime Benefits? - Comments Page 1

Free 2 day Amazon shipping for Prime has also changed. Not all items are 2 day like they used to be, even if labeled Prime. It was a shock to me the other day as a Prime member when I ordered a product labeled Prime, and it told me I would not get it for 6 days.... another reason some Prime members did not renew. I guess some of the new amenities are supposed to make up for it.

I love Amazon Prime. I always check the price against a Google search and EBay and often get the best price including free two day shipping, When I don't I go elsewhere.
I use the free video streaming (when my internet connection is up to it) as well as downloading thousands of classic and new music albums in virtually any genre to my iPhone.
I also highly recommend Amazon Smile (smile.amazon.com) which donates a small percentage of your purchase to the charity of your choice when you shop at no extra cost to you.

Perry is right. I believe that if you order an item that is in a distribution facility near you then you'll get it quickly.

Personally I was attracted to the movie streaming service. Netflix HD streaming starts at 131.88/yr and goes up from there.

With Amazon Prime you've already beat Netflix even if you never place an order with them.

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I've been a member of Prime for years... so long, in fact, that I didn't even realize the price has risen... (LOL)
I'm a fan of Prime Video in our 'cable-free' efforts to lower our monthly bills - now that we (my wife and I) are both fully retired...
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I didn't know they offer image storage... I'm going to have to look into that service, now that you've told me... and every other regular reader... (grin) ...
I guess you just can't help yourself, can you...? LOL
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Until that time. . .

You need to look closely when purchasing - if the item is coming FROM Amazon, it'll get there in one or two days. BUT, there are tons of things on Amazon's site that say "not fulfilled by Amazon", meaning some other place is sending you the item, you still get a great price but shipping can be dicey. Still, these are often things it is nearly impossible to find in a store near you anyway, so the extra few days means either getting the item or not getting it.

I don't like the price increase either, but I know I make it back in shipping costs alone and I do have broadband internet so the streaming service is fast and useful, the rest of those bells and whistles I'll never use.

I balk at the $119. Won't pay it. Doesn't he make enough already??? I don't use Amazon often enough to pay for a service I will rarely use. Just another money grab as far as I'm concerned.

Re: Ad displays. I use Ad Block Plus. It does a marvelous job.

Bob.

In 2014 you wrote in an earlier column "But lately I've found that on some "free shipping with Prime" items, the shipping costs seem to be built into the price. For example, an item that other vendors are selling for $10 plus $6 shipping, sells for $16 on Amazon with "free shipping." How is that saving me money?"

I am not a Prime member, is the above still the case? If so, should it be taken into consideration when calculating the value of Prime membership?

https://askbobrankin.com/free_amazon_prime_music_worth_it.html

Amazon is getting less and less customer friendly as time goes on.
Just in the last year, I've noticed these changes:
(1) Some items I purchase with my Prime Membership are differently priced than on my girlfriends Prime. Same web page and same item from the same vendor.
(2) They've unilaterally changed delivery dates from the moment I've added items to my cart until the time I actually checked out, which was always less than a minute.
(3) While on the subject of delivery dates, I've found on a couple of occasions tracking info on items was deliberately changed AFTER the fact, meaning someone went in and manually changed arrival/departure dates.
(4) Their review section is highly suspect already, yet when I tried to give an honest, respectful reviews of items I found to be vastly inferior than expected, they were kicked back for not meeting community standards. No idea why. Again, they were honest, respectful reviews. Upon searching the internet, I've seen where this has become an epidemic with Amazon and negative product reviews.
Overall, I still consider Amazon to be a relatively good deal, but it seems the stockholders are getting restless, just like everywhere else. It's not as good of a deal as it used to be.

I guess Amazon.ca is different. The PrimeVideo has a very limited choice of movies. I found only one. I will cancel my trial I do not buy enough to warrant the cost of the Prime service.

Agree with Diane:
I balk at the $119. Won't pay it. Doesn't he make enough already??? I don't use Amazon often enough to pay for a service I will rarely use. Just another money grab as far as I'm concerned.

Most overseas folks with access to the Army Postal Office rely on Amazon and Amazon Prime for all things American. Our only sadness is the number of vendors who won’t ship to APO because they require a special sticker (same postage, just a customs tag). Sad they don’t support the military who allows them to operate in a fairly free economy.

Gene you are correct but so is Perry. I have ordered a couple of items from Amazon in the last month that were sold by outside vendors but fulfilled by Amazon, they were labeled Prime and they took a week to arrive.

Over the past week, prime shipping has changed a lot. One item I ordered with prime shipping gave me the option of free shipping with arrival between Nov 14-26, or pay $3.99 and guaranteed delivery by Nov 26. None of the other items I've ordered since were anything less than a week. Maybe they ship in 2 days with slow delivery?
So the 3rd season of Sneaky Pete doesn't start until next spring? I enjoyed Bosch more, and recommend it to anyone liking cop series.

Prime Wardrobe lets members order up apparel items, try them on at home for up to seven days, return it back to Amazon and sell it to another person... This is DISGUSTING to wear those item after another person... Hygiene issue...

...so, purchasing and wearing clothing from a brick and mortar store where other people tried the item on, perhaps several people, didn't buy but returned it to the rack isn't (disgusting)?

I love Prime! We use Amazon Prime for the shipping, video, Whole Foods discount, and the new wardrobe perk. My best Prime story was when I ordered a large gas generator for running my house during outages. I didn't realize it, but it qualified for Prime. They sent it on a plane from the Midwest to the nearest airport in Connecticut. A courier then trucked it from the airport to my house. Yup, two-day shipping! The generator weighed hundreds of pounds! Free shipping!

I have no interest in the "perks" of Prime and I've had so many problems with wrong items being shipped, items arriving broken due to inadequate packaging, and the incompetent service of Amazon's delivery "service", I no longer buy anything from Amazon except ebooks since they haven't figured out how to mess them up (yet). At least 60% of the time, I can find better prices and 90% of the time, better customer service somewhere other than Amazon.

Like MS and Google, Amazon has gotten too big for its britches. Or should I say skirts in the day of PC? Prime has never been attractive to me. If I need it quickly, there are stores in my town. (Being retired, shopping helps pass some time.) If I don't need it quickly, then I can shop on line and kill some more time. I can't say that I never purchase anything from them, but I can say that it is so infrequent that Prime would cost me money. Sometimes, I love being a grumpy old white man. Even when I don't, I find solace in reading Bob's stuff.

Amazon? Meh.