questionsto renew prime, or not to renew prime... that is…


You could split the cost with a family member (up to 3 I think). Makes it a lot more affordable.


The past $39 Prime fee is irrelevant to your analysis.

Of the orders placed in any 1 year period, would you have paid more or less than $79 for shipping? If less than $79, do the other benefits make up the difference? If more than $79, then renew.

Yeah, you can avoid the shipping charges by buying at least $25 from the selected items but that means you either have to spend more or save up all your purchases to get at least $25.


The number of orders for 2012 is pretty large. The only question left to answer is if those are over $25 each. If so, I wouldn't upgrade because you generally get free shipping for orders over $25 anyway. If they are generally less than that, it would be worth it for you.


Not only do you pick up the two day shipping you can avail yourself of the instant video (yeah, search isn't great there) and kindle library if that kind of thing interests you.

As previously mentioned you can also share with 'family' members and ask them to kick in.

The very few times I've had issues with an Amazon order I felt the prime membership was of benefit towards resolving things in my favor.

Might also look into shoprunner for free (or $1). Doesn't work on Amazon but does offer free 2 day shipping on some merchants (mostly I use it on Newegg) as an alternative.


I'm just trying to fathom how a person could place 441 orders in a single year.

I have prime and I'm also wrestling with whether or not I should renew it. But I'm guessing that the savings on shipping for incidental small purchases (<$25 / order) more than makes up for the cost of the membership.


You could be lame like me and wait until you need enough things then order.. My last order was a touch pad cover (decided I needed that 2 weeks ago, with a screen protector.) Stylus for my wife (this weekend), lawn mower part for my mom (needed a week ago). shelf liner for my toolbox. (wanted 3 weeks ago)

What I am saying is change your shopping style or get Prime.


@bls1: lol ya, more than 1 order per day in a calendar year.. But again when the Mp3 deal was out, I would split up my order to 1-item-per-order instead of 1-order with multiple items in it to get more mp3 credits..


@jesseroo: that is actually a good idea..! I forgot all about that.. so $26.33/ea for a year.. is a steal.. although how does it work? I imagine its 3-separate accounts (mine and 2 others)..


I probably wouldn't. If you're such a super-heavy user that you average almost an order a day, you can just save up your orders until they hit that magic $25 free-shipping mark.


I share with a friend who pays half the fee. Worth it to me.


@teenracer6: I didn't know you can share the membership with friends. I will have to recruit one next time I renew.


They should add free shipping from Woot! to the deal....they'd probably grab/keep a lot of subscribers....


@mtrlgrl: We just share the account and password and card info and stuff. He pays for it and I deposit my half into his bank account or vise versa.


you could try going without it for a while and see how your purchase patterns change, if at all. or if you find yourself averagely losing money
i do something similar to @caffeine_dude, i manage my amazon wishlist and combine as much as possible to get free shipping. or pad my order a bit using an amazon filler item


@teenracer6: Thanks for clarifying that.

I find that I buy more when I have Prime than before, but it is very useful when you need items quickly, especially around Christmas/holiday/birthday times. I don't care for the limited amount of streaming videos. Netflix is better for that. And they should make the streaming available for iPads too.


The one (and pretty much only) think making me consider getting Prime is the Instant VIdeo. Now that Amazon Video is on PS3 and 360, I can easily get from them, and prime members can watch a bunch of stuff for free (ala netflix) that non prime members have to pay for each use or purchase on


I feel you. I am not looking forward to my prime expiring but while it seems worth it for 40 bucks, I'm just not sure if it's worth 75.



If the videos isn't a driver for you (or people you know), you can share it without having to actually share your account info. They allow you to share it with up to 3 separate amazon accounts (supposedly in the same household) for the Prime Shipping. Only the paying account gets access to the videos though.

I have been kind of disappointed with the videos and really disappointed with the lending library for the Kindle as far as finding things I was genuinely interested in. A decent amount of stuff available, but not nearly as much as other streaming options - if that was what I was looking for I would have felt I was wasting money.

However, from a shopping standpoint I feel it is worth it to me because it helps me not buy as much (to get to the $25 or stop me from going to a store to get something immediately and then buy extra stuff).


It only matters if you expect you'd pay more than that in shipping. What you used to pay doesn't matter, just what you'd save (or not).


The fact that it was $39 a year before this matters not for the future.

$79 per year is less than 22 cents a day. If you ignore the instant videos, this basically gets you two-day shipping on almost everything without any angst, order combining or other hassles. Plus, if something comes up and you suddenly need something even faster, it only costs you $4 per item.

It boils down to what you think the convenience and hassle reduction is worth. I know many people who will plunk down more than five times that 22 cents several times a day for the convenience of not having to make their own coffee. Even the people I know that use K-cups are spending way more than 22 cents a day for the convenience of watered down coffee and the opportunity to fill our landfills even faster. Some of them think Prime is a horrible idea; others think it is great.


I'd say yes. I do the same thing… order a LOT of stuff..

I spend usually 3-6 months a year overseas where my mail is sent to APO/DPO.

Amazon = free apo shipping at a good price, very convenient. Subscribe & Save big plus.

Wife = $18 for a small crappy flat rate box, gas, kids in the post office line, time out of her very busy day. She and the kids LOVE sending me stuff but it is usually $100 minimum a month in shipping stuff out here.

Just an example, I ordered $300 for our gym overseas. A four 6 packs of 2x2 foot mats, scale, measuring tape (fitness style), body fat thingy, shoes, shirts, shorts, push up bars, pull up bar.. Just those floor mats alone would have cost in excess of $200 to ship b/c of bulk.

Another example, diapers + Subscribe & Save = ballerness. If you are planning it right, get your diapers via subscribe and save. You get a good %off an already good price. In a pinch, $3.99 overnight. My grocery store/target is 15 miles away.

Amazon Prime is baller.


I agree with @baqui63 on this one. How much do you spend on a cel phone per month? That would probably pay for 1 year of free 2-day shipping. How much does it cost to send 1 item somewhere, much less a year's worth? Buy one item per month and you will come out ahead. @jsoko: I hear you. ;)


Do it. Problem solved :). If it'll make you feel better, just blame me.

As much ordering as you do it's more than justified. I'm going to renew my student, I'm just waiting until I get back into ordering much before I do.. squeeze as much out if it as I can :D

Plus..*TWO DAY SHIPPING! Who has time to wait 4 business days for a package of AA's? Not us.


Have you figured out what you've saved in sales tax? I added all mine up for 2011 and I saved $81 in sales tax. Only a few dollars over what prime costs, but add it to the free two-day shipping and it makes a difference.


I received a Kindle Fire for my birthday last month and it came with one month's free Amazon Prime. They are now sending me emails about signing up.

While I do really like being able to shop and just buy without trying to fill up my cart to $25 (and love getting it so fast), I do not like how it's encouraging me to shop impulsively. It's too easy and I've bought more from Amazon in the past 3 weeks of prime than I had in the past 4 months!


@pooflady: The law is, you still owe sales tax if an online seller doesn't charge it.

You are required to file it on your income taxe form, it's called use tax.

Not doing so makes you a tax cheat and a lie teller in that you sign the form saying it is accurate when it isn't. Unfortunately, over 90% of people who owe the tax are those tax cheats.


@craig234: You're right but also wrong. If the merchant doesn't charge sales tax, you do still owe it; however, you do not file it with your income tax form. It is called Use tax and has it's own form for this exact purpose.

In Florida, for example, you file your Use tax on a DR15 form. That is if you do it with paper. As for me, I pay mine electronically so I go to a different page which requires a taxpayer ID and password. Here's the link to the Florida version of the form:


I'm lucky to know someone who is now my "nephew". His family is loaded and doesn't even think twice about paying his Prime membership, despite the fact that I'm not sure he even uses it.


I had this question in January. My membership was up, and I didn't wantr to pay the $39 for a student account. Two days later my daughter came home and said she needed an English Lit text book. Like, Yesterday.

Book without Student Prime: $68, shipping next day $36. Book with Student Prime: $58.99, next day shipping $3.99.

I happily bought Prime. Saved me $5.


@craig234 & @cengland0: Also, use tax is usually cheaper than sales tax. You are not paying county and city taxes, just state tax. In Texas use tax is 6%, where sales tax in my county is 8.25%. Not a significant amount, but helpful when purchasing frequently and large amounts.

Texas will be paying sales tax to Amazon starting in July.



Actually, it depends on the state. Starting about four years ago in NY State, sales (or use) tax can be filed on and paid with the yearly income tax form.

One can also file and pay sales/use taxes separately, for example when registering a vehicle.


Reasons I still have prime:

I live in an expensive area and do not have a car. Sometimes it's cheaper and easier to just order stuff I need for everyday life from Amazon and know it's coming in 2 days.

When I need to send a gift, I almost always find something on Amazon. That way I don't waste money I could be putting towards the gift on shipping it. And when the holidays come around, I ship my family's gifts directly to wherever we're celebrating and gift-wrap them there. That way my apartment doesn't get cluttered and I don't have to schlep anything from the city.

I don't have to waste time or money looking for items to meet the $25 free shipping threshold.

Yeah, the streaming selection isn't great, but it's getting better and it's a nice little add-on. They finally added a queue a week or so ago!