Is Amazon Prime Any Good?

Amazon.com sells a wide range of products ranging from books and electronics to food and household goods. While they got their start as an online book seller, they've rapidly expanded over the years rivaling many brick and mortar stores that sell nearly everything.

A few years ago they began offering a service called Amazon Prime, in essence a service that offers faster shipping and other perks for a fee. As of July 2010 the fee is $79 dollars a year but free trial periods are offered almost year round. To decide if faster shipping is worth $79 a year to you, you'll need to consider the pros and cons of Amazon Prime.

Pros:

-Unlimited free 2 day shipping on nearly all Amazon items labeled as eligible for "Amazon Prime."

-No "cart minimums" to qualify for free shipping. Their standard "Super Saver shipping" for all users requires a certain dollar amount worth of purchases in your Amazon cart before free shipping is allowed. With Prime you could order a 10 cent item and have it delivered in 2 days for free. No waiting for your cart to fill up.

Cheaper upgrades to next day shipping. For a fee of $3.99 per item you can have the item delivered the next day. An advantage to this is that you only pay for next day shipping on items you need right away. If you need a textbook for class tomorrow but you have a few other items in your Amazon cart that can wait 2 days, you don't need to pay for every item "next day" just the textbook.

Lots of chances for free trial periods, even if you had a "trial period" previously. For college students they offer a 1 year free trial of Amazon Prime and for other customers they often run 1month promotions of a free month of Prime services.

You can share "Prime" with up to 4 other members of your household. They can use their own Amazon accounts, names, and payment methods. So technically the $79 dollar fee can be split between multiple household members.

You can send packages to other people as gifts or to another address under Prime for the same free unlimited 2 day shipping.

Cons:

Not all items are eligible for "Amazon Prime." While they are clearly marked as being "Prime" eligible, only items direct from Amazon or direct from an authorized Amazon partner can be shipped with free 2 day shipping.

Used items not sold by Amazon and items sold by individuals or third parties not associated with Amazon are not eligible for the Prime benefits.

You do need to be a frequent Amazon shopper for the fee to be worth it. In theory if you always used "Free super saver shipping" and waited until your cart filled to the minimum requirement, then Prime isn't worth it for you.

If an item that is the same as a "Prime" item is cheaper due to a third party seller or used status you'll have to decide whether the "Prime" eligible item is worth the higher price to get it quicker. So there is more need for comparison shopping.

Overall since Amazon gives out a lot of free trials for Amazon Prime it is worth a try. It is nice to get an item in 2 days and not have to buy more items just to be eligible for free shipping. The $3.99 per item for next day delivery is also a nice touch, without Prime next day delivery can cost 3 or 4 times that price.

You do need to comparison shop a little as well, its easy to fall into the "Prime" only mindset and end up paying more for an item when another merchant might be cheaper on a certain item. But if you love Amazon and are a frequent shopper on Amazon it can be a very convenient service.

Amazon Prime official website: http://www.amazon.com/gp/prime?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0