Amazon Offers 2-Day Shipping For $79/Year

stevejsmith writes "Amazon.com has announced their Amazon Prime service. For $79, you get free two-day shipping on all items, upgradeable to overnight shipping for $3.99 per item. The offer applies to most media (books, DVDs, CDs, etc.) and can be shared among "up to four family members living in the same household." Apparently the only way they will enforce this family-only sharing clause is by mandating that your "family members" know your birthday."

Comments

Family Members

[fembots]

Isn't a better way is to let you nominate 4 Amazon users under your account, and you can only change these users once every x months or pay a fee for each change?

The service is limited to family members living in the same household, that means goods will(should) always be delivered to that one address, and I don't see many people can abuse it.

Enlighten me please.

Re:Family Members

[Mr Guy]

Why would you assume that because it's limited to family members purchasing it should be limited in delivery address?

I'd be pretty pissed if I payed $79 a year for "free" shipping and I couldn't have my sister's christmas presents delivered to her in LA as well as my wife's delivered to my home in NC.

Re:Family Members

[rbarreira]

Why would you assume that because it's limited to family members purchasing it should be limited in delivery address?

Because it says "family members living in the same household".

Amazon Prime?

[American AC in Paris]

Unless it can transform from a tractor-trailer into a bow-wielding vixen, I'm not interested.

Re:Amazon Prime?

[American AC in Paris]

I'm not sure I want my bow-weilding vixens to be transforming into tractor-trailers anyway...

...but think all the double entendre fun you could have!

"Wait 'till you get inside! Cozy, yet surprisingly roomy!"
"I'm into leather. Heated seats, too..."
"It's very pleasant in the rear--I could spend all day there!"
"I enjoy sex with motor vehicles!"

(uh--scratch that last one.)

Free shipping is the way to go on big ticket items

[garcia]

I have bought many items over the years from Amazon as I'm always relatively pleased with their prices and ALWAYS pleased with their service... Just yesterday I purchased a new GPS for myself. Being an avid geocacher I am always upgrading my GPSr to make my life a little easier.

This particular upgrade wasn't just for geocaching but more for actual navigating. My fiancé needed to use autorouting to get around town with her sister dress shopping and autorouting would be the best way. What a great excuse for me to plop down $430 on a new GPS!

Ok, so I do some research with froogle and some of the other price watching sites and check Amazon just for kicks. They of course weren't showing me their price on the site so I add it to my cart to find out that it's $499.99 for the GPSMap76C. Eh, for kicks I check out the price on their 76CS (usually $75+ more than the C). I find it on sale for $428 and free STANDARD SAVER shipping. Estimated arrival sometime after the 10th and before the 15th.

With prices for shipping starting at $7.65 and me not really needing this for the fiancé until the end of February I took the free shipping. I am THRILLED I did. Last night I received word that even though Amazon.com original claimed the device wouldn't even ship until the 4th it was already out the door and en-route to me. This morning I check and find that the estimated ARRIVAL time from UPS is the 4th of February.

For no additional cost I just got 3-day shipping via UPS.

I guess Amazon's "Prime" service could be useful for families that order more than 7 items from Amazon yearly but don't spend enough to get the freebie shipping. I really can't imagine it paying off for many others but I am glad I held off on upgrading the shipping this time :)

Amazon Prime?

[techsoldaten]

Does Amazon Prime compete with Optimus for leadership of the Autobots?

Perhaps he is the UPS truck to Optimus's tractor trailer?

M

Good for university students

[chris09876]

That's not a bad deal... I can see this being especially useful in university residences. Just get one person in the building to buy a membership and collect their $2 from everyone who wants to use it... and free shipping for the rest of the year!

Re:Good for university students

[RonnyJ]

It seems a bit dishonourable to me how /. have essentially told people how to fradulently abuse this shipping deal.

Sure, a lot people would figure it out for themselves, and post it as a comment themselves, but is it really right for /. to post it in the actual article header?

small book stores

[CAIMLAS]

This might be greatly advantageous to small bookstores (new and used), if they can get any title for a person within two days and not have to order in bulk, etc.

I wonder if this rate deal covers the "used" 3rd party books.

Re:small book stores

[daveo0331]

I think you're misreading that statement. What they're saying is that if you buy a product through Amazon that's actually being sold by a third party -- for example, buying a Gamecube from Toys r us through Amazon -- you don't get free shipping. The $25 super saver shipping tends to have the same restriction.

That said, what you said is absolutely right. It's just covered in a different part of the terms & conditions:

Prime members are entitled to free Two-Day shipping and $3.99 per unit One-Day shipping on all eligible purchases. If you purchase a Prime membership, you may also invite up to four eligible family members living in your household (at the same address) to register for Prime membership at no extra cost. (Please note that any member under age 18 may use the Amazon.com Web site only with involvement of a parent or guardian.) The purchaser can change and/or remove guests at any time. A guest's membership will automatically terminate if the purchaser of the membership ceases to be a member or removes the guest. This program is not available for Corporate Accounts or for customers who purchase products for business or institutional use or for the purpose of resale.

Uh Oh

[nightterror]

Im in enough trouble trying to remember my wifes birthday as it is....

silly

[AtariAmarok]

....it is tech news because someone could use Amazon to order a TI Graphing calculator. Silly question.

Know my birthday?

[FingerDemon]

Well, that eliminates my family from participating.

Doesn't seem that great

[ucblockhead]

Seems to me you'd have to spend on the order of $1500/yr in merchandise in order to make this worthwhile. And then, it'd only be worth it if you would have paid for two-day shipping otherwise.

Re:Doesn't seem that great

[NamShubCMX]

The funny part is 80% of the time I get my book the *next* day, with the free shipping.

What a deal.

Re:Doesn't seem that great

[lunax]

Just for kicks I looked up what it would cost me to have a $6 Asimov book shipped two-day shipping. It was nearly $10. I don't understand where the $1500 comes from if you can order 9 books (ordered separately) for $57 and still save nearly $10 on shipping.

Re:Doesn't seem that great

[Rageon]

You might be surprised how many people order that much stuff on Amazon. I used to work there, unfortunately. There are accounts that have new orders EVERY DAY. Some people order many 3 to 5 times a day, sometimes more. There are customers that have incremental accounts (firstlast01, firstlast02, etc...) because it takes too long to load up their account history once it gets past a thousand orders or so. There are even some customers who order so much they have employees assigned directly to them for support.

I'll say this, there are people that would save thousands a year on this. However, most people won't use it enough and it will be free money for Amazon.

PS....Just for the fun of it, did you know that you cna order a 1000 pound table saw and have it shipped for about 10 bucks? They love it when those get returned and they've got to eat $400 in shipping costs.

Last Time...

[CastrTroy]

Last time my girlfriend (yes, I have one) bought something at Amazon, shipping only took 2 days anyway. What are we paying for here? In Canada, they use Canada Post for delivery, which will usually deliver stuff to most major centers in 2 days. Some places take longer, although probably not over 5 days.

That would never work!

[Mr Guy]

No, because you'd have to tell them all your birthday! See? It's FOOLPROOF.

Erm... Yeah... Nevermind.

WTF?? "For $79, you get free"

[Anonymous Coward]

For $79, you get free

It's amazing how marketing has managed to distort the English language. Hey, I'll work for Free/Hr.

Not a bad deal if you always want it NOW

[jgerry]

At about $7 per expedited shipment, you'd break even after about 12 orders. But it only makes sense if you order about once a month from Amazon (I do), and you're compulsive and always want your stuff quickly (I do).

I scanned my orders from 2004 and I spent $95 on expedited shipping costs, so for me, it might be a good idea.

Re:Not a bad deal if you always want it NOW

[captaincucumber]

I'm compulsive too, and I discovered this place called "a store". All you have to do is drive there, and you get your stuff immediately, not in 2 days. Shipping is free.

Re:Not a bad deal if you always want it NOW

[hab136]

All you have to do is drive there, and you get your stuff immediately, not in 2 days. Shipping is free.

Gas, wear and tear on your car, the car payment itself, and driving time are not free.

Plus, some people live in the sticks.

This should be in shop.slashdot.org

[GillBates0]

News for Shoppers. Ways to save.

Two-day shipping

[MyLongNickName]

I have never bought two-day shipping for fed-ex or ups packages, yet receive everything within 2 business days of physical ship. Not just amazon either.

I once used two-day shipping with USPS, they lost the package, and found it again two weeks later. They kindly told me that two day shipping does not guarantee two-days to get there. I asked what the two-day shipping meant then, and I got a trout look.

Does two-day shipping price really mean anything?

The small print

[the_mighty_$]

The free shipping/$3.99 overnight is only available if you purchase directly from Amazon. i.e. it is not available if you purchase from third party Amazon Marketplace or zShops sellers.

For many items, Amazon is actually competing with third party sellers that are selling on their site. This new service might be the incentive necessary for many people to not buy from third party sellers, but to only buy from Amazon which will result in more money for them. That could be one of the reasons behind introducing Amazon Prime.

The New WalMart

[ChicoLance]

People are making jokes about this, but this idea could change some of the methods of online/webbased stores. Just think, without having to worry about shipping charges _at all_, then I wouldn't have to worry about making a $5 order for a little kitchen gadget. I wouldn't have to run to the store for something, just go online, and it will be here in a couple of days.

This should really increase the sales of some of their smaller items. If I've got to get a couple new drill bits for this weekend's project, I can just click and get it and not have to run to Home Depot.

This is a cool idea if it makes the consumer think first about ordering online, and not as a second or third choice.

Re:The New WalMart

[danrik]

Excellent point. I think that this is really the reason for the move. There are also numerous times that I spend a lot of time when purchasing online to find the best shipping deals - places that are close to me and standard shipping vs. places that are far away with express shipping. This type of deal could really sway folks, especially in situation where the shipping price is the deciding factor in the choice of online merchant.

Re:The New WalMart

[igrp]

Just think, without having to worry about shipping charges _at all_, then I wouldn't have to worry about making a $5 order for a little kitchen gadget. I wouldn't have to run to the store for something, just go online, and it will be here in a couple of days.

Personally, I would love that. There's a lot of stuff that I need or like but don't need right away (actually, mostly anything outside of groceries).

The problem here is, however, that Amazon still has to pay for the shipping. And even if they can bring their own handling expenses way down, and get a great bulk rate by either buying a shipping company or at least cooperating with them, there's still a per shipping charge. And eventually someone is going to have to pick up the tab.

This sort of reminds me of 1999. Back then, during the bubble, when people thought it was actually a feasible business model to offer cat chow online. And consumers would pay $6.95 S&H on a two-dollar item.

Back then, we had this local grocery store that offered online orders. Really nothing out of the ordinary. They set up a basic webshopping system on a NT box and offered free deliveries (think: small grocery store chain & big, big city). The way they thought the whole thing would work was basically this: regulars customers would still come into the store but others would be able to conveniently do their regular grocery shopping online and have it delivered to their houses at a time of their choosing. That would have worked fairly well. The problem was that everybody and their mother literally started to order individual stick of gum and have it delivered (for free) to wherever the hell they happened to be. The company eventually went bankrupt because they refused to adjust (again, this was during the bubble).

My point is this: with all flat-fee models, someone eventually has to pick up the tab. Netflixx is awesome. I use it myself. It works because people do go on vacation. It works because people do forget about their memberships. It works because people do go out and do stuff during the summer.
It's going to be tough to offer flat-fee pre-paid shipping on all items without either raising prices on individual items or attaching some strings if people pick up on this.

Amazon has such a broad inventory that I could easily order something from them every few days. And that could really come back to bite them in the a$$. A business model like that just might be feasible for a company like Amazon. It just might not work very well for a smaller company.

I don't get it...

[tekiegreg]

My packages from amazon come in 2-3 days anyways typically. Maybe once in awhile they drag their feet out to 5 days but if it's urgent I'd usually just pay the extra $ for 2 day or overnight anyways. Sorry Amazon I'll stick with your standard model. Though I especially like the Super Saver shipping on packages I don't care too much about when they come anyways :-)

Re:Hmm..

[DrNibbler]

You're less likely to buy from a competitor's site if you fell you've already paid for unlimited shipping @ amazon. Your 79 bucks pretty much assures them that you won't buy a book from B&N even it's it's cheaper.

Supersaver arrives in 2 days half the time anyway

[cshay]

I've noticed that when I order stuff with Supersaver free shipping during a non-holiday period, the stuff arrives amazingly fast.

Considering that, I think you would have to order huge amounts of items per year for this to be worth it.

Re:Hmm..

[iJames]

But what about the power buyers (like myself) who get heavy textbooks, heavier textbooks, and even heavier textbooks (grr @ orgo)? It just doesn't seem like it's cost-effective, but maybe I'm missing something..?

What you're missing is that they've locked you in as an Amazon customer. You'll be much more likely to order from them and get your $79 worth than to compare their prices at BN, Powells, your corner used book store, etc. You're staying loyal to them and paying them for the privilege. And if you don't stay loyal? Well, they've still got your money. It's a double whammy.

Note that I'm not being critical. It's really a brilliant move, marketing-wise. Like the $15 annual discount cards they've always pushed at the brick-and-mortar stores, but at a much higher price and with a much higher break-even point for the benefit. If they make a killing with this, they deserve it. (And if the customers scoff and they lose their shirts, then clearly they deserved that too.)

Don't think so.

[mckwant]

I did an order a while ago for some books through some of the resellers, and their S&H is separate from Amazon's. Turned out to be cheaper overall to pay the $0.33/book extra to Amazon, and ship for free.

YMMV.

Re:Hmm..

[mboverload]

Only people who can't do math would be stupid enough to buy this. You know how much stuff you would have to buy to make this worth the money? Tons.

Peer review

[October_30th]

Hey, I submitted the above story. How come mine didn't get posted?

As everybody here knows, Slashdot adheres to a strict peer review standard for each and every one of the submitted stories. It is just impossible that your story would be rejected unfairly.

Ok. Maybe that was just a dream I had last night.

Re:Peer review

[Reignking]

Re-submit in two days. I'm sure they'll repost it.

Re:Free shipping is the way to go on big ticket it

[Life2Short]

Exactly why this new service sounds like a waste of money to me. Regardless of what sort of shipping speed I select, it has always been my experience that Amazon ships when they're ready, and their projected dates often have no relationship to reality. I have even received items in the mail on the same day that I got an email from Amazon apologizing that they wouldn't be able to ship the item for some time. Whoever sends the emails that project shipping dates needs to communicate with the folks who are actually shipping stuff out the door.

Shhhhh!

[winkydink]

You're not supposed to do the math!

Re:Shhhhh!

[winkydink]

You are a marketing department's wet dream. They get you to pay for something and then you give them more business to justify having made your purchase. Think about it.

Re:Shhhhh!

[rm999]

Yeah - that's the point. Some people will sign up for this deal, and in the process give amazon more business. Hopefully, those people thought it out and will save money from the deal. Seems win-win to me. Instead of driving to walmart to buy a widget for 3 dollars, they can go to amazon and get it for 2 dollars without paying 5 dollars shipping. Anything that screws over walmart is good in my book :)

At the same time, I know this deal would be terrible for a person like me - Most of the things I buy are more than 25 dollars, and I don't mind shopping at the store everynow and then. I could see this being useful for people who live in a more rural setting who can't as easily run to the store for something small.

Amazon Prime?

[Have Blue]

Was anyone else expecting a first-person adventure game based on the venerable Amazon series?

incontinent bastards...

[viva_fourier]

Well, although it took little energy, I had to click to "Learn more about Amazon Prime" before I realized they only ship to continental US. So, Alaska & Hawaii (not to mention US Territories) miss out again! It's too bad we still can't sign up for the same deal and just pay the difference in 2-day/overnight shipping. Considering we don't have a ground option to begin with(here in Hawaii), this would be a nice token gesture.

*sigh*

Oh well, I'm sure hope these work-provided mai-tai's can ease my pain...

Re:Free shipping is the way to go on big ticket it

[GigsVT]

And wouldn't it have made more sense to just buy a wedding dress at the first store they went to, even if it cost $400 more? :)

Not a bad idea, but who needs it?

[digitalgimpus]

I ask this simply because I don't know anyone who pays extra for shipping.

These days it seems that you order online if you want a good price, and you go to the store if you want it quick.

I personally calculate shipping into the price, and compare. It seems there's always 1 place that offers free shipping these days. I'll wait an extra day or 2 for free shipping.

I got a LCD TV from Amazon.com. Did free shipping. 48hrs after I ordered UPS was at the door. Yea, that's right. 48hrs, and free shipping.

In most cases I found it's well under a week.

IMHO I would never pay extra for shipping. Want me as a customer? Think free.

If they let me pay $x a year for all the shipping for a year (unlimited shopping and no shipping)... I would consider that.

But not to make shipping faster. Never. And I'm sure I'm not alone.

Re:Work address

[TheViffer]

Who cares.

I can go buy my 1300 pound shipped JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank happly knowing that shipping will run me $79!

Customer retention

[binder520]

I see this offer as an innovative marketing mechanism aimed at increasing customer retention and rewarding their current list of loyal customers.

Loyal customers already do most of their shopping @ amazon, so this offer will just be a way to save on shipping costs. The biggest impact is on customers that make a significant number of their purchases online, but not exclusively at Amazon. An offer like this might be enough to push them over the edge to become Amazon exclusive shoppers.

Re:Forgot to mention PER YEAR

[MrP-(at work)]

The article description might not but the article title does:

"Amazon Offers 2-Day Shipping For $79/Year"

Re:Forgot to mention PER YEAR

[Rangsk]

Wow, titles really shouldn't contain information that the blurb does not contain. Oh well, I guess I should look more carefully next time.

Re:Supersaver arrives in 2 days half the time anyw

[kaszeta]

I've noticed that when I order stuff with Supersaver free shipping during a non-holiday period, the stuff arrives amazingly fast.

I'm sure this depends on where you are. Typically if I use their Supersaver shipping, it's a real crapshoot. Typically, when I do Supersaver, it ends up getting shipped via Airborne/DHL. This has two problems:

1. For some reason, packages shipped to my office (zip code 03755) have a disturbing tendency to get shipped to the DHL office in Enfield, NH (just down the road), and then spend 4 or 5 days bouncing around "Wilmington, OH" with "Failed delivery attempts" before showing up here. I'm still not sure whether the packages actually get diverted to Wilmington, OH, or if their tracking system is just screwed, but in either case it takes either 4-5 days or quite a bit of bitching to get them to unwedge their system and cough up my package. This has happened 4 times so far
2. Airborne also has a real history of re-using tracking numbers. It's fun wondering where my product is, and they *insist* that a package shipped on 1/28/05 to Hanover, NH was actually delivered on 1/06/05 to Morrisville, NC. Meanwhile, the actual package is still bouncing around... (this one came from Adobe, not Amazon, however)

I've found it's worth the extra few bucks to actually have my packages delivered...

I could give a tracking number for these so that you could all take a gander, but that would violate the terms of their usage agreement. Hmmm, for some reason the number 71868976281 comes to mind...

Re:Supersaver arrives in 2 days half the time anyw

[AceCaseOR]

Or, alternatively, if you and a bunch of roommates are college students, you can use this to save money on textbooks (although you save more money from buying used on Amazon rather than their list price.

Great...

[dmarx]

Now I can't tell any non-family my birthday without Amazon suing me for breaking their copy protection.

Re:Free shipping is the way to go on big ticket it

[aacool]

I blogged about Amazon Prime earlier today - assessing some impacts:

Firstly, evidently Amazon is able to better leverage pricing with the shippers - allowing them greater flexibility in the order fulfilment process. Look for Amazon to acquire/embrace a shipping company - this would mean near-complete vertical integration, and even greater cost efficiency.
... also further extends Amazon's utilization of their single-click patent - If signed in and using the Single-Click option, you see additional buttons for Prime purchases, although you can add to the shopping cart and apply the Prime option later too.
Finally, it should drive up sales for Amazon - people will be more inclined to buy if they can pick up the odd book or two without having to jump through hoops to get it shipped fast and free.Also it locks in customers.

...worked out some numbers that would make this palatable. Using the Amazon shipping rates for 2-day shipments, and assuming purchases of books, music and CDs, it would take a purchase volume of 25 books, 15 CDs and 2 electronic items(approx 6 lbs per item) to cover the cost of approx $76. Alternatively, it would take about 4 shipments in the (slower) super saver shipping scheme. So if this works for you, give it a shot.

Big shoppers will embrace this model

The end of truly 'free' shipping?

[jmscott42]

I haven't seen anyone comment on the possibility that this will be the end of Amazon's "free super saver shipping." They'll yell for a few months about what a great deal this is. Everyone will moan that all you have to do is spend $25 and it's truly "free".

So Amazon pulls free shipping entirely, leaving you the option of $5+ per order, or $80/year.

It's brilliant, really, unless consumer backlash is worse than they're prepared for.

(I will say Best Buy ending their free shipping pretty much put an end to me ordering from them...) [oops, does that make me a Devil Geek, admitting shopping at both BB and Amazon?]

And this is the "introductory special price"

[fv]

Your $1500/year assumption also assumes that the price will stay $79/year. Their ad calls this a "special introductory price". The worst thing is that unless you pay enough attention to cancel before hand, they will charge the next non-special, non-introductory fee to your credit card in exactly 12 months without any notification to you. From the Terms and Conditions:

"YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR MEMBERSHIP WILL AUTOMATICALLY RENEW AND YOU AUTHORIZE US TO CHARGE TO YOUR CREDIT OR DEBIT CARD (WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU) THE THEN-APPLICABLE ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE AND ANY TAXES, UNLESS YOU NOTIFY US BEFORE RENEWAL THAT YOU WANT TO CANCEL YOUR MEMBERSHIP."

They don't provide (AFAICT) any option to buy just one year. By purchasing Amazon Prime you are giving them permission to choose any price and charge it to you next year. They may also "in our discretion change these Terms ... or any aspect of Prime membership without notice to you ... YOUR CONTINUED MEMBERSHIP AFTER WE CHANGE THESE TERMS CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHANGES." So they can change their terms without telling you, then you automatically accept if you don't immediately notice and cancel. Great!

I hate it when companies try to pull this. Forcing an annual set fee on people is bad enough -- but to raise the price arbitrarily and still charge people's card without notification is outrageous. This is the kind of thing sleazy porn sites do (or so I hear :).

There may be some advantages to this program, but I certainly won't sign up until they let me buy ONE YEAR at a known price. None of this blank check nonsense.

-Fyodor
Concerned about your network security? Try the free Nmap Security Scanner.

Re:And this is the "introductory special price"

[bastion_xx]

For auto-renew programs, just use a credit card. Technically the merchant should indicate these are recurring payments but most put them through a regular ecommerce transactions.

When you see the renewal on your credit card statement just call them up and ask for a refund (supposin you don't like the service). Most intelligent merchants will honor such requests.

Why? Because if they don't you can chargeback the transaction and seeing that this was a card not-present transaction, you're about gauranteed to win any disputes. Plus the merchant knows their card processor will charge them $5-30 per chargeback regardless of the result.

Amazon (and other merchants that do this) count on people not fighting it. Today I just cancelled my Experian Credit Watch service that "auto renewed". At first I was soft-sold on the "value of the product to know my credit score, etc. A polite "no" then garnered a free $25 gift certificate for either MasterCard or Visa if I kept the subscription. Another "no" and confirmation of the return of funds to my card. I won't dispute the contractual aspects, but I don't like these types of contracts either.

To keep on-topic, I'll have to check my Amazon purchases for the last year and see if this is of value to me.

Bugger

[Simon Garlick]

This program is limited to certain products sold by Amazon.com on www.amazon.com that are shipped to continental United States addresses

"Products are eligible for Prime ONLY IF..."

[honold]

"Products are eligible for Prime only if designated on the website"

eh?