Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

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Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by knob »

I've been ordering stuff online a lot lately, due to the fact that it's almost always cheaper, even with shipping. But if I can skip the shipping (Yeah, I know, it'll still cost me $80 to sign up), I'd be a very happy person.


Anyone here use it? Is it worth it?

And does it work for the "Market place" buys (The "Buy New and Used" links)?
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Post by Tscott »

It does not work for Amazon marketplace items. You'll always get charged shipping for those.

I got a 3 month trial awhile ago and tried it out. Overall I was disappointed. A few items got downgraded to 3 day shipping with no explanation given, some items took just as long to ship as when I do the Free shipping for orders over $25 option. I don't know if that's because I was a 'trial' member or what, but it was annoying.

Also, I didn't like how items would never arrive on Sat with Amazon Prime, since it's shipped through UPS- I'd have to wait till Monday for an item if I ordered at the wrong time of the week.

I've let my trial member lapse without renewing and I've gone back to my old habit of making sure I order $25 or more so I don't pay for shipping.

I think they still might give out free trials so look for that if you want to try it out yourself. If you get one, you'll see it just after you click on go to checkout. It is pretty random from what I've read online at other forums, so you may see it fairly soon or you may never see it.
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Post by Hispanicgamer »

I have a three month trial and love it! I tested getting an item the next day for $3.99 and got it without any hitches. I am considering signing up for it when my trial ends.
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Post by Kobra »

Had it, not worth it..

Overnight is $3.99 per item, and the free 2nd day is nice, but many other resellers offer similar deals, without the $80 a year hit.

$50 or less, I would grab it in a second, but you gotta be a HUGE buyer to recover your cash on the 80$ deal unless you share it with other people. (which I did) But I still didn't find it worth it.
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Post by Hispanicgamer »

Kobra wrote:Had it, not worth it..

Overnight is $3.99 per item, and the free 2nd day is nice, but many other resellers offer similar deals, without the $80 a year hit.

$50 or less, I would grab it in a second, but you gotta be a HUGE buyer to recover your cash on the 80$ deal unless you share it with other people. (which I did) But I still didn't find it worth it.
I would agree. I might go with the Amazon Prime for Christmas but I might do it out of convenience to getting the product without having to pay tax and getting it in two days.
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Post by lokiju »

It comes down to how much you will purchase through Amazon. The wife and I buy about $2-3k a year from them, so I got my money's worth the first couple months. It's nice to get 2 day shipping on everything Amazon sells, but as stated, it doesn't work for marketplace sellers like Target and Toys R Us. Only Amazon direct, which is still 90-95% of what I shop for there.
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Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

Tscott wrote: I've let my trial member lapse without renewing and I've gone back to my old habit of making sure I order $25 or more so I don't pay for shipping.
I hope you actively cancelled the membership. I just signed up for the free trial (to get Diablo shipped 2nd day for free) and the small print said that if I didn't cancel after the 3rd month was up, they would automatically charge my credit card a year's membership fee.
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Post by LawBeefaroni »

I renewed in February. The first year was worth it.
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Post by Austin »

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:
Tscott wrote: I've let my trial member lapse without renewing and I've gone back to my old habit of making sure I order $25 or more so I don't pay for shipping.
I hope you actively cancelled the membership. I just signed up for the free trial (to get Diablo shipped 2nd day for free) and the small print said that if I didn't cancel after the 3rd month was up, they would automatically charge my credit card a year's membership fee.
They remind you once... about 1 month before the expiration. ;) I just made a note in Outllok to cancel the day before it resubbed. I don't use amazon enough and the few things I wanted were shipping from places that the prime membership didn't apply to.
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Post by Jeff V »

It seems like everything I want to buy is farmed out by Amazon to a 3rd party these days. Last week, I ordered stuff from 3 separate companies - Amazon stocked none of it themselves. The only thing I still bought through Amazon were some camera batteries that were $10 for the battery, $5 shipping. Two $10 batteries cost me $30 (in this case, the 50% shipping charge was still a better deal than could be found elsewhere). Another item was a camera bag selling for $42 + $11 slow-boat shipping (7-9 day). I bought the same bag at a local Helix Camera for $38 (including tax), so even the base prices these 3rd party vendors have aren't always a bargain.
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Post by LordMortis »

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Post by Kobra »

To determine if it is worth it, just look at it from a pure math perspective.

MOST products on Amazon have free shipping anyway, and Amazon is pretty damn fast with their basic shipping, usually 3 days. Unless you have some issues with waiting an extra day, who cares about 2 day?

So the cost savings on anything greater than $25 is ZERO.. If you order a lot of little things from Amazon, then it can save you a couple bucks per item. I don't buy DVDs (ever), but looking on Amazon, it is about $2.49 to ship each DVD using their standard method. So you would have to order 35 DVD's a year to BREAK EVEN on the membership - thats a giant amount of DVDs.

Even when sharing it with a couple other people, we barely broke even at the end of our membership, so if I was to have one just for myself, it would be a rip off. Not to mention a TON Of products they sell don't even qualify for the Prime perks.

I have yet seen anyone I know that has a prime membership, demonstrate with actual figures, how it is a cost effective thing. $80 is a huge amount of money to spend for nothing more than faster shipping, and I can't see where it would be a wise move.
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Post by LawBeefaroni »

Kobra wrote: I have yet seen anyone I know that has a prime membership, demonstrate with actual figures, how it is a cost effective thing. $80 is a huge amount of money to spend for nothing more than faster shipping, and I can't see where it would be a wise move.
It's been cost effective for me. I'm not going to dig up a year's worth of account information to prove it so you'll just have to believe me. If it's inconcievable to you that it could be cost effective there's no point in "actual figures" anyway.

And that before trying to pin any value on quicker shipping.
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Post by Lee »

LawBeefaroni wrote:
Kobra wrote: I have yet seen anyone I know that has a prime membership, demonstrate with actual figures, how it is a cost effective thing. $80 is a huge amount of money to spend for nothing more than faster shipping, and I can't see where it would be a wise move.
It's been cost effective for me. I'm not going to dig up a year's worth of account information to prove it so you'll just have to believe me. If it's inconcievable to you that it could be cost effective there's no point in "actual figures" anyway.

And that before trying to pin any value on quicker shipping.
Same, it's easily worth it. There usual free shipping is 4-5 days, when I used to do it, so I always paid for 2 day. If you order a large volume of stuff from Amazon, it's worth it.
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Post by glr200 »

Austin wrote:
Ralph-Wiggum wrote:
Tscott wrote: I've let my trial member lapse without renewing and I've gone back to my old habit of making sure I order $25 or more so I don't pay for shipping.
I hope you actively cancelled the membership. I just signed up for the free trial (to get Diablo shipped 2nd day for free) and the small print said that if I didn't cancel after the 3rd month was up, they would automatically charge my credit card a year's membership fee.
They remind you once... about 1 month before the expiration. ;) I just made a note in Outllok to cancel the day before it resubbed. I don't use amazon enough and the few things I wanted were shipping from places that the prime membership didn't apply to.
FYI
There is also a check box under your Prime preferences to not renew automatically at the end of the trial period.
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Post by lokiju »

Lee wrote:
LawBeefaroni wrote:
Kobra wrote: I have yet seen anyone I know that has a prime membership, demonstrate with actual figures, how it is a cost effective thing. $80 is a huge amount of money to spend for nothing more than faster shipping, and I can't see where it would be a wise move.
It's been cost effective for me. I'm not going to dig up a year's worth of account information to prove it so you'll just have to believe me. If it's inconcievable to you that it could be cost effective there's no point in "actual figures" anyway.

And that before trying to pin any value on quicker shipping.
Same, it's easily worth it. There usual free shipping is 4-5 days, when I used to do it, so I always paid for 2 day. If you order a large volume of stuff from Amazon, it's worth it.
Also, if you order multiple items and have Prime, they can ship ALL your little items separately so you get them faster, whereas with Amazon's normal free shipping, it *has* to be $25 or more. This way, I have more boxes to ship my OO trades in. 8-)
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Post by driver »

Did the trial & loved it.
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Post by LawBeefaroni »

lokiju wrote: Also, if you order multiple items and have Prime, they can ship ALL your little items separately so you get them faster, whereas with Amazon's normal free shipping, it *has* to be $25 or more. This way, I have more boxes to ship my OO trades in. 8-)
Yeah, that too. There's something to be said for being able to order a $5 book or DVD without having to pad to get to make shipping free or even reasonable % wise.
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Post by Tscott »

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:
Tscott wrote: I've let my trial member lapse without renewing and I've gone back to my old habit of making sure I order $25 or more so I don't pay for shipping.
I hope you actively cancelled the membership. I just signed up for the free trial (to get Diablo shipped 2nd day for free) and the small print said that if I didn't cancel after the 3rd month was up, they would automatically charge my credit card a year's membership fee.
Yes, I actively cancelled. Under manage my account there was an option to not renew after the trial time was up. I checked it, they didn't automatically renew.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by Lee »

Sorry for the resurrection, but got an email today saying Prime eligible items ordered Thursday before 5 EST will arrive on Saturdays now at no extra cost. Pretty damn awesome.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by Chaz »

That is awesome. I've never liked the weekend delay. Saturday delivery FTW!
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by telcta »

There were a couple of times that a Saturday delivery would've been nice so I welcome this addition. I read somewhere that Amazon is trying out same day delivery in a few cities. I think the cost was something like $5.99 per item.

I've been a Prime member for a few years and never had a problem. They even bumped me up to overnight for free in some cases where I don't have a shipped or status update the next day.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by LawBeefaroni »

I put in a regular (2 day) Prime order this Monday afternoon and it was delivered on Tuesday by a service called A-1 Courrier. That was a nice surprise.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by The Meal »

LawBeefaroni wrote:I put in a regular (2 day) Prime order this Monday afternoon and it was delivered on Tuesday by a service called A-1 Courrier. That was a nice surprise.
Yeah, there are certain select cities (9 IIRC, Chicago being one of them) where this is a new service for Prime members. Was reading about these changes last week.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by Chaz »

I regularly get Prime 2-day orders next day. There's an Amazon shipping facility within a day of my house, so as long as that place has it, I'll get it next day. It's pretty awesome.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

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I'd have to say almost half of my orders arrive the next day. All depends on the warehouse they ship from. Too bad you can't tell that when you're ordering but if they did that then you wouldn't pony up for overnight delivery.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

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Hello from the woodwork!

I used to order a lot of books - before I got a kindle so this was well worth the money. The service paid for itself last christmas but I suspect I will be canceling it next year. With Prime I find that I do the majority of my shipping online now, or I did. Need a new printer? Click order and I have it two days later.

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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by malchior »

I love Prime. I buy almost everything through Amazon. I just set it to 2nd day, and often it'll come the next day anyway as they ship from a facility within 40 miles of me across the border in Pennsylvania. I didn't get the saturday delivery email, but if that's true, that's another big plus in my book.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

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Update on my post in this thread from 2006- apparently, I've since changed my mind, because I've using Prime for a couple years now and love it. Only problem is that the dog now goes crazy whenever anything resembling a UPS truck drives by the house. I've been doing a lot of preorders. Stuff that in the past I would've been trying to find time to run into Best Buy on release day (and hope they had it in stock) now gets delivered right to my door. And Amazon usually price matches the best advertised prices, and with their pre-order price guarantee, they'll refund any price drop from between when they shipped and release day.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by Chaz »

This is exactly why the last two years I've been preordering all my games through Amazon. Half of the big titles get release day delivery, most of them give me a $10 coupon back, and I don't have to deviate from my daily routine.

Had a funny experience with Muramasa too. Apparently there was a promotion for a free poster, so I filled out my address for that. A few weeks later, the poster arrives. A week after that I get an email from Amazon apologizing that the distributor couldn't provide enough posters for everyone, so to make up for it, they were giving me a $10 coupon. Whee!
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

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I have no reason to use it. I ordered a camera on Saturday, selected free shipping. Shipped out the same day, got it tuesday.
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Prime rules.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by Jeff V »

I use it a ton, not only for things like books or games, but a lot of their grocery items qualify as well. Things that make sense buying by the case (like canned tuna) work out great.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by dbt1949 »

I've been using it for a couple of years now. Well worth the money.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by Lnorigb »

prime was something tinyogre brought into the marriage. i don't know life without it. i lovelove it.

i'll have to make sure i ask for it if there's ever a divorce decree. :D
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by Odin »

As much as I'm not a big fan of waiting for my Amazon stuff to come (and they clearly sit on your order intentionally when you opt for free shipping), I've never been able to justify $80 (per year? I think) for Amazon Prime. I just suck it up and accept that it's generally going to take 2-3 weeks to get my stuff. I shop locally if I need something in a hurry.
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by Jeff V »

Sith Lord wrote:As much as I'm not a big fan of waiting for my Amazon stuff to come (and they clearly sit on your order intentionally when you opt for free shipping), I've never been able to justify $80 (per year? I think) for Amazon Prime. I just suck it up and accept that it's generally going to take 2-3 weeks to get my stuff. I shop locally if I need something in a hurry.
They don't sit on anything with Prime. More often than not, I have my stuff the next day...even when I order the evening before!
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Re: Amazon Prime -- Anyone use it?

Post by Smoove_B »

I gave up shopping locally. More often than not, I can find it cheaper and waste less of my own time and gas driving around looking for things. Amazon Prime is a lot like my TiVo -- until I started using it, I had no idea what I was missing. And now? I can't live without either.

We ordered an outdoor playhouse earlier in the year via Amazon Prime. Not only was it cheaper in price than Toys R Us, but the shipping was completely free. TRU wanted an additional $120 to have it delivered.
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