Amazon Prime Yearly Membership Fee Increasing Starting May 11th
Renew your membership before prices increase!
Effective May 11th, the price of a new Amazon Prime Yearly Membership is increasing from $99 to $119 per year – bummer! 😩 This means you’ll now be paying an extra 20% per year for your Amazon Prime benefits.
If you have an existing Amazon Prime Yearly Subscription, your cost for renewing will increase to $119 starting June 16th.
On the fence about a membership with the price increase? Here’s why we LOVE Amazon Prime:
Will you continue your Prime membership? Tell us in the comments below!
(Thanks, Benjamin!)
I couldn’t justify it at it’s current price so didn’t renew. Turns out my suspicions were correct, I was spending more because it was “free” shipping. Turns out, if I have to “go” get it, I find I truly don’t need it.
I love amazon. It is worth every penny, even with the $20 increase. So convenient, and I use 2 day shipping ALL the time. I pl lace probably around 100 orders every 6 months. It is always on time. With 3 kids under 3, amazon prime is essential for me!
Wow another increase. We dropped prime the last time they increased. Couldn’t justify the price.
With tax, it’s going to be close to $130 per year. I don’t understand why they charge tax on the membership fee. Costco and Sams club do not charge tax on their membership fees
It could be your State. We moved recently. Our last state it was $99. Our new state charged sales tax.
Has to be your state. That stinks! Bc I live in Indiana and I don’t get charged a sales tax fee.
Im a student and get the student rate. Does anyone know if that rate will go up also?
The student pricing is increasing by $10, to $59.00.
Thanks!
Don’the get me wrong I HATE that it is increasing again so soon but I simply LOVE Amazon. So darn convenient! Keeps me out of stores which saves me money from impulse buys plus gas and wear & tear on my vehicles getting there. It doesn’t take long for Amazon deals to increase in prices so I would miss a lot of them waiting for that $25 free shipping price. Incidentally I just checkwd, mine is set to renew ONE day after the price increase so I will definitely be calling to find out what I can about that.
I’m definitely keeping mine, i use the music daily and being able to stream it in our cars let us cancel our $49 a month Sirius subscription so I figure just under 3 months of music and it’s paid for not to mention the shipping and books too. Can’t beat it
You can stream it in your car?! How?
You just run the Amazon Music app off your phone (connected to bluetooth).
Ouch. Why was your SIRIUS bill so high? We have SIRIUS in both our vehicles and we don’t pay anywhere near $49/month.
I didn’t know about the music streaming via bluetooth. Good idea! I get so agitated at my radio stations! lol
I don’t know if I’ll be renewing or not. I only use prime for the 2-day shipping and additional subscribe & save discount on diapers. Without prime, the subscribe & save discount is only 5%. Prime increases it to 20% off diapers, and 15% off almost everything else in the S&S order. Now I have to figure out if Prime saves me enough to justify the price. I had a student membership for as long as they would let me and was already unhappy to move to the $99 price. This increase is hard for me to accept especially considering they earned $1 BILLION in profits last quarter. They’re getting a little too greedy and that makes me want to shop elsewhere.
I wonder if they are increasing their rate in anticipation of a possible USPS delivery rate increase? $20 extra for Prime is a huge increase though. 🙁 I also am not a fan that Amazon doesn’t have customer service here in the United States. I am tired of talking to Indian people with bad accents, bad language skills and sometimes a poor understanding of what I am asking for help with.
Ugh. They are slacking so bad lately. My last 4 packages did not arrive by the guaranteed delivery day. Customer service told me that just means they are guaranteed to ship by 2-days?!? When did they change the rules? I’m definetly considering not renewing.
My annual membership just renewed last month. So I’m good for the next 10 months! I’m going to keep my membership even with the increase. I use Amazon Prime’s benefits quite a bit. I live in Honolulu and the free shipping seals the deal for me! It can take a little longer for packages to arrive, but for the most part they’re pretty speedy. What I get mad at is the randomness of items that are marked “Prime” but are ineligible to be shipped to me! The larger items, yeah I can understand why, but even smaller stuff like a bottle of nail polish or a small kitchen item won’t ship! And I don’t know that until I’m going through the checkout process. They had better improve on this if they’re going to be charging $119 a year!
I live in Oahu Moni and I was disappointed a lot of items I wanted couldn’t ship here. That’s why I’m double thinking if I should renew with the price increase.
Ha! Just paid mine at the beginning of April. I’m good for a year
Geez..$20 increase?! WTF amazon?!
Wow my membership renews on June 14th for $99! I barely made it by two days, I’ll be good for another year!!! The increase sucks though, I may not renew next year.
IMO if you use any of the services a good bit, $20 increase (for the course of a year) is not very much. I would pay that for just the shipping, and you get a lot more than that. Mine should have already renewed but I got several months free, and now it won’t until September…and I’m totally fine with paying the $120 then.
Other than shipping, our favorite features are Prime Photos & the music, and I pay more for the music unlimited. Totally worth it though, literally every song & artist you could want, my husband & I both stream it in our vehicles, around the house, etc etc. And I’d be lost without Prime Photos!
I recently joined prime and i really do love it. But if they are going to increase than no I will not renew. I struggled to part with my 100 dollars as it was. So they will lose me as a member when it’s time to renew if they go up.
No, I won’t when it is up Jan I am done. See you prime.
Has anyone else noticed that what used to be two day shipping with prime now can be several days?
Yes! A lot of my “prime” packages are taking way longer than the two days. I might just drop prime when it increases. Not happy with their service lately.
I have definitely noticed that the “2 day” shipping is not truly 2 day shipping anymore when you go to check out, I can be as many as 3 or 4 days. I have no desire to keep prime now that they have started pulling that. I can wait until I have a $25 order or order from Walmart and do in store pick up.
I also noticed the longer times and inquired with customer service. They are calling the longer wait time “processing time” but the shipping is 2 day. So of the 5 days it takes to get your items, 3 are processing & 2 are shipping, which keeps them in line with “2 day shipping”… which probably really translates to they get it out the door the same day, but use slower/cheaper shipping.
Yes! I have had ALOT of problems with prime. 2 days turns into “we didn’t ship it till Wednesday and you get 2 days after we ship”. Well Wednesday was three days after I ordered!
😞
I am not entirely sure. I find quite a lot of cheap prices on walmart.com and there is free shipping with a 35 dollar order ( I think that is the price). I can just get on there and order stuff I know I routinely need. The only thing I will miss is the firestick. We haven’t been watching much TV lately as it is though. I really think the 120 is a complete insane jump. When you get on amazon a lot of times they will show things you do not need at a cheap price and you will end up getting it. Not good if you are truly trying to be frugal
I just order the minimum price of $25 whenever I place an order on Amazon and then it’s free shipping. Why pay when you don’t have to! I always have a couple items in my cart and then save them for later if my total is around 25.
For Prime Photo, Prime Music, Prime Video…..
This is why I hope they eventually move to tiers of service. I’ve been a Prime member since the beginning, but I use it only for shipping (and as I’ve noted in other comments, true 2-day shipping is increasingly rare for me). I don’t take advantage of any of the other services and don’t want to subsidize what I don’t use. Honestly, it’s a pretty weird to lump “free shipping” with all of these media services, too.
Mine doesn’t expire until October, do you think I should still renew this early?
Technically, you can’t renew early, but I’ve read that the work around to this is to shut-off auto-renewal, buy a gift Prime subscription for the current price, but schedule the delivery of the Prime membership for the day after your current Prime membership expires.
Amazon needs to step up the service if they are going yo charge that much. In the last two weeks to issues with orders. Both problems required a call to vs. Cou ld not be resol ed otherwise which would be fine except that if I didn’t call ibwould have been left as a charge on my account
This might be a silly question, but is the Subscribe and Save linked to Prime or is it an option without Prime, too?
I do belie You have to have prime to use subscribe and save
Hi Rachel, You can get Subscribe and Save without having a Prime account.
We’ve discovered that since we let our Prime membership expire several months ago, we’re spending a lot less on impulse purchases. I simply wait until I have $25 worth of merchandise, then place an order. Also, you don’t need to be a Prime member to purchase Subscribe and Save deals.
Not going to renew. Target has free 2-day shipping, so why would I pay for Amazon Prime? If I need some obsure item or book that only Amazon has, I will pay for shipping. I don’t use it enuff to justify the cost. Plus I feel guilty when i order a make up sponge, for instance, and it comes with a ton of eco-unfriendly cardboard and plastic and a big truck delivers it. I feel like the carbon footprint to get it to me is too big.
Does anyone know if they offer a discount for military membership?
I’ve never had prime, but have definitely noticed their shipping is slower this year! Things I ordered on Amazon used to ship within a day and arrive in like two or three days. Placed an order three days ago, still hasn’t shipped, and says will arrive between the 30th and 4th! That’s 10 days after I ordered! Anything I order on target or Walmart comes much quicker!
I am a current prime member, but I recently started back to school so is there a way to change it so I get the student rate?
Oh bummer
We are to blame because we are just going to let them do it and keep paying. They announce some of the best earnings this year and now we get an increase on the membership. 🤦♂️
Does anyone know how much do you have to spend to get free shipping if you don’t have prime?
$25
Well I’ve been a member since 2008. I use my Prime account for both my offices (East & West coast) and myself; my mother & father are on my account, along with my boyfriend and my sister – luckily, since I added them way back when you could share your Prime shipping with any 3 people, they are still grandfathered in (I believe now you can only share benefits with 1 adult and children but they have to be in your household). Just between my offices and myself, I’ve placed 480 Amazon orders since 2015 so yes, I’d say even with the $20 increase it’s worth it for me. I don’t have any issues with shipping; everything comes w/in 2-3 days including Sat & Sun at home, but no Sat or Sun deliveries to the offices. I’m glad they use USPS now; I find it much more reliable than FedEx. Even though it is worth it for me, I still feel somewhat slighted by the increase.
Does anyone know if you can buy another year before your renew date? Mine is not up until sept. I really am not sure I will pay 120 for a shipping membership. With prime I have switched to purchasing a great many more items on amazon however these item are available in the stores.
I replied to someone who asked a similar question above: Technically, you can’t renew early, but I’ve read that the work around to this is to shut-off auto-renewal, buy a gift Prime subscription for the current price, but schedule the delivery of the Prime membership for the day after your current Prime membership expires. YMMV. I’ve never done it myself, but I was looking for ways this morning to get around the increase since mine renews in June :/
This bums me out. I love Amazon and the convince but looking over my past orders for the year they were almost always over $25 which would have qualified for free shipping anyways. I don’t think im going to renew my membership. The cost has way out weighed the benefit.
We will be done as well… That’s ridiculous.
I’ve been thinking about not renewing, because they don’t always have the cheapest prices and fastest shipping (although they do a lot, & it’s been really convenient for gift buying). I’ve also been thinking of switching my focus to local stores. But I would miss the streaming – my kids and I love watching Wild Kratts, Ninjago, and a few other shows through there (we don’t use cable).
There is an app for pbs that lets you watch Wild Kratts and other shows for free!
Some people make me so angry. I am one of THOSE people getting a discounted rate because we are on Medicaid. I started listing out all the reasons why prime is such a help to us, but I’m not going to grovel. I shouldn’t have to.
My point is…
Even IF – and this is a big “if”- this increase is a direct result of giving discounts to all THOSE people, we are talking about $1.66 per month. LESS THAN TWO DOLLARS PER MONTH. Some people are so damn greedy.
With all due respect, I don’t think you have to justify anything Amazon is giving you willingly…but if you’re receiving a discounted rate, you really shouldn’t be telling others how much we should be willing to pay. After all, I could make your same argument that you could just pay the measly $3.91/month to make up the difference so that no one subsidizes anyone.
You shouldn’t have to beg. I’m not on the discounted program, but people are acting like those that do are getting it for free. They’re still having to pay something. A good majority of those on state assistance do work contrary to popular belief. And because some have to work more jobs ( I know a mom that works 3 jobs & it’s still tough for her), the convenience of Amazon is a great tool for them. I would hate for some of these people to get in a bad situation (sudden job loss, death of a spouse, single parent, etc) and would have to use assistance at some point. because stuff like that just never happens right?
And I highly doubt that’s part of the reason it’s going up. Look at Disney & Costco. Their prices keep increasing even though they’re doing better than ever. They should be blaming the greedy corporations, and not those getting a couple dollar savings.
Many of us are thinking the price increase has something to do with ^ the new low income customers coming on board.
However, hospitals also charge us more for the same reason. Someone has to pay for the high deductible and non-insured patients.. I am a billing manager for a hospital network.
This argument goes way deeper than this.
I highly doubt that’s the reason. Heck, this will be getting them even more customers, therefore, more money. It’s like I already mentioned, numerous other large companies are/have raised their prices as well. Is it because they’re “catering,” to those with medicaid?
They’re doing better than ever even!
The hospital situation is slightly different. The prices are insanely high & are the top reason people are in debt in this country. And yes, I understand it partly has something to do with some not/can’t pay, but it’s basically a vicious cycle. People can’t afford insurance/their bill–>cost goes up–>people can’t afford it even more–> costs go up, and so on & so forth. WIth the Amazon increase, people are still paying something. They’re not getting it for free. The discount may go up for that too we don’t know yet.
It is not really surprising that some people feel the need to blame a small price increase on people who are receiving some kind of assistance. Usually those people blame us for everything else that is wrong in the country as well, do yourself a favor and tune them out. It is absolutely not worth engaging with people like that. For many years I pad the regular fee and was happy to do so, as a mom it saved me a ton of time and money. Now that my circumstances are different and I get the reduced rate, it still saves me a lot of time and money. For some of my friends who live in very rural areas and get the reduced rate, it is far more than a luxury. It means being able to get what you need for your kids in a few days versus having to drive 1-2 hours to get what they need. Sometimes the only way to get healthy food or basic items is to have it shipped in. That is not a luxury.
What anyone pays for their membership is the business of no one. Stop being jerks because someone is paying less than you. Low income people should not have to live like dogs to appease your sense of superiority.
You’re on the discount program for medicaid and you are telling the full priced members not to complain. They are subsidizing your discount. They have every right to complain.
Look at it this way: are you willing to pay $1.66 more a month to continue free shipping, Amazon Prime movies, music, photo storage, free kindle books? We all folk over that much mindlessly on impulse items at the Dollar store. Let’s say you place 5 orders a month. What are we talking here? A measly 33 cents an order increase? Is that enough for a weeping and gnashing of teeth goodbye to Prime response?
Am I happy that Amazon is raising their fees? No. But for now, IMO their Prime membership is still an amazing bargain.
Prime is worth every penny ESPECIALLY around the holidays, keeps me out of malls and stores. Also Amazon’s CS is amazing with returns, way better than Target and the Amazon selection no one can compete with. As a single working mother the $120/yr is worth is hands down in the time it saves me from having to run to the store.
Also – my account still says “On November 8, 2018 you will renew for $99,00” Will that change?
That I will change to new rate. I just spoke with a rep because my date is September 25. I suggested they offer a rate or plan for senior citizens. She said it would need about 1,000 feedback comments before they would even consider it.
Yes! Love amazon Prime and keeping it. Everything else is going up and this was gonna happen eventually. Tons new services are added.
Amazon is definitely worth $10 a month. Just music and video is worth that.
I plan to renew even with the rate increase – it boils down to $9.92/month and for the million orders I place in a single month, the free 2-day shipping quickly becomes well worth it. Not to mention the movies, books, cloud storage, etc that’s also included. Well worth it for me.
Do you have the link for the membership if you get gov benifets?
They just raised the rates not long ago .I will probley not renew my prime if it raises again so soon
I am not sure I will be keeping Amazon Prime either. For those of you who are interested I get $36 back per year by installing Shoptracker on my my pc automatically downloads my Amazon purchase history once a month after the initial setup. I also have the Amazon credit card which gives me 5% on all my Amazon purchases. This helps with the cost somewhat.
I gotta offers 20 back with amazon gift card for new Amazon customers. I will let mine run out and wait on a deal.
I let mine expire and was considering renewing but have second thoughts now. The last order I made without prime took Amazon about 3 weeks to deliver so I kind of suspect it’s so slow on purpose to get you to subscribe. When I was a Prime member, I found myself buying things I didn’t need because it was a “good deal.” I live in a small community and our local businesses are struggling because of large companies like Amazon. At least Walmart and Target provide jobs in our area and now Target is offering free 2-day shipping on many things for Red Card holders. Amazon is just getting a little too large and too ingrained in my everyday life for my comfort. It seems like poor marketing that they announce the price increase right after announcing a record-breaking profit. I am going to have to think about this more before making a decision.
I spend a lot of money every year on Amazon instead of jacking Prime up they should have it-if you spend so much a year you have free prime membership .your supposed to save money on Amazon here’s an example I get the Ritz bits crackers the one with peanut butter or the other one with cheese their little nibbling crackers my store is always out of them so I thought I’d try Amazon for the two cases which is 12 in each it was over 98 dollars, look at Walmarts app same thing and free shipping because of spending so much it’s only $60 so what is that saying about Amazons prices .dont think I will renew next year
Once again I’m really disappointed in those blaming those getting discounted prices due to assistance. I’m not on the discounted program & in no way I’m blaming them for this situation. Though the situation sucks, and $20 is a crazy price hike.
However, did we not all see Disney prices going up once again & having to now pay for parking? Is that because medicaid/Food stamps folks are getting discounted rates? No. What about Costco’s price increases in the last couple years? Same thing? No. Are these companies also doing better than they ever have? Yes. That’s just the way business works. People are willing to pay for it, therefore, it’s allowed to happen.
Hate the increase but I use it so much it more than pays for itself.