Kindle Prime Members

[sparklemotion]

He didn't say he was a student, he just said he never renewed right away and Amazon would then always send him a special offer. I think he must of been exaggerating though. I can't see them ever offering it for as low as 40.00 really. I heard about a special they ran for 59.00  a year once, but that was about it.

[BTackitt]

There are special Prime categories. . .for Moms, for Students.  I'm skeptical of anyone who says they got it for $40.  I'm guessing we don't have the whole story.

But it doesn't really matter to me. . .I find it well to be worth the $79 a year. . .for which I will be billed again in less than 2 weeks.

My first year as a Prime student was Free, now I'm using my second year and the renewal rate was $39 as a Student. It will remain $39/year renewal for the next 2 years.

[mooshie78]

Yep, that's how it worked for all student accounts.  I imagine they'll keep it that way as students probably spend a lot on average since textbooks are expensive.  So they can make a lot of money by giving them discounted Prime accounts to get them ordering all their books from them rather than shopping around.

[Sandpiper]

I love it.  I ordered six smaller Prime items yesterday, a holiday, at 3:15 p.m. Central  They were delivered by UPS this morning at 9:30.  Gotta love Amazon.

My BFF has an Amazon account, but doesn't have Prime.  Is there a way to gift her a year of Prime?

[Ann in Arlington]

My first year as a Prime student was Free, now I'm using my second year and the renewal rate was $39 as a Student. It will remain $39/year renewal for the next 2 years.

Right!

I realize my post wasn't very clear. . .what can I say. . .it was BC -- Before Caffeine.

I was trying to communicate that I knew there were special prices for moms and students and such but that it didn't seem right that a person not in one of those special categories -- like say, ME -- was able to wrangle a half price deal on prime unless there was more to the story.  

I mean, if I called Amazon and said, "look, I like Prime, but I don't want to pay $79 for it, I only want to pay $40" they might even ask some questions to see if I fit in a category that might qualify for a discount.  But if not, I'm still going to have to pay $79.  Or just cancel it.  I don't think they want people in the program badly enough that they'll give a discount just to keep 'em signed up.

I can, however, conceive of a discount being offered if there had been some fairly egregious service break over the last year. . .something more than just one package a day late.  I mean, we do that in the tax office all the time. . ..if some goof of mine causes my client correspondence that he shouldn't have to worry about, I'll absolutely give him a break on the price next year to the extent that I'm allowed. . .a combination of "I'm really sorry" and "Thanks for not losing faith in me."

Which is why I say there's more to the story. . . . . .

[DG Sandru]

I like it, and considering that I'm buying a lot on Amazon, it more than pays for the shipping. The free borrowing is good too

[Jan Strnad]

As noted in my earlier post, I was considering renewing when my 1-month trial was over.

Since then, I've had two occasions where the two-day shipping came in very handy!

I'm almost certainly going to renew now.

The books are a bonus.

[KingAl]

Isn't the Student Prime membership $39 per year (after the first year for free)?

[KindleGirl]

Isn't the Student Prime membership $39 per year (after the first year for free)?

Yes, the student prime membership is $39/year after the free time has expired.

[DreamWeaver]

Isn't the Student Prime membership $39 per year (after the first year for free)?

It's $39 a year for up to four years (college students). Here's more information about Amazon Student.

[Zero]

I have prime through "Amazon Mom" - so I get the free shipping, but not the movies.  Since I already have Netflix...is there a huge difference in the types of movies available?  Netflix has been great for my kids, and we find a lot of movies (age 2 to 8 category) that they watch all the time.  How is Amazon's prime movie offering? 

[DreamWeaver]

I have prime through "Amazon Mom" - so I get the free shipping, but not the movies.  Since I already have Netflix...is there a huge difference in the types of movies available?  Netflix has been great for my kids, and we find a lot of movies (age 2 to 8 category) that they watch all the time.  How is Amazon's prime movie offering?

I've never had Netflix so I can't compare the two, but you can check out the Amazon Prime movies and TV shows here.

[robertk328]

Becoming a prime member simply for the 12 free books a year is rather worthless, but that's not what Amazon Prime is about anyway. It's FREE 2 days shipping no matter how big or small your order is. Then they added the bonus of 1 free book borrow a month, and free streaming videos on top of that.

Just for the books? Don't bother. Shipping? we're on our second year because we love it so much. Movies & TV streamed to us for free, great bonus.

+1!

[robertk328]

I got Prime because of the videos. It's cheaper than Netflix. Shipping is a bonus and now books are another bonus.

The videos are better too, at least compared to when we had Netflix last year.

[Jeff Shelby]

I've had my Prime membership for two years now and while the ability to borrow is great, I keep it mainly for the 2 day shipping.  I'm a lazy shopper   The addition of the streaming movies is a great added benefit, too.

[mooshie78]

I have prime through "Amazon Mom" - so I get the free shipping, but not the movies.  Since I already have Netflix...is there a huge difference in the types of movies available?  Netflix has been great for my kids, and we find a lot of movies (age 2 to 8 category) that they watch all the time.  How is Amazon's prime movie offering? 

Netflix has a much broader selection.  Doubt you'll find much on Amazon that's not on Netflix.

Both are very good for older movies and tv shows, indie films, foreign films and documentaries.  Not so much for recent Hollywood movies.

Currently I just have Netflix 1 disc at a time plan.  I canceled the streaming as I just wasn't using it enough.  I love the more obscure stuff from time to time, but not when I can't even find time to keep up with recent releases.  I'll add streaming back sometime when I have more free time probably though as I had close to 200 things on my instant queue (have over 200 on my disc queue currently as well).

[teachmath912]

I tried the Prime membership and decided to cancel it.  I don't order enough things from Amazon to be excited about the 2-day shipping, and to be honest, the few times I have ordered from Amazon, my stuff has arrived in 3-4 days anyway, so it doesn't matter to me.

I am a little upset with the way they do the book loaning.  Initially I was excited thinking that I would be able to borrow books and there was not a long waiting list for some like there is on the download library that I go to- but then I discovered that I could only take one book a month.  Even if I finish the book in a week, I still need to wait the entire month before being able to get a book again.  With the download library, I can take out 3 books at a time and can return and then take out another book whenever (well, they have a two week borrowing period, but that is enough for me.)  Also, I am finding that a lot of the books they are offering with the Prime membership are books that either have been free at some point or are free right now. 

Needless to say, I am no longer a Prime member.  I have Netflix and will just use that for the videos that I want to watch.

Is anyone else as disappointed with Prime as I am?

[StephenLivingston]

Being able to borrow books is great.  Being limited to one per month is not so good.
Best wishes, Stephen Livingston.

[KingAl]

I tried the Prime membership and decided to cancel it.  I don't order enough things from Amazon to be excited about the 2-day shipping, and to be honest, the few times I have ordered from Amazon, my stuff has arrived in 3-4 days anyway, so it doesn't matter to me.

I am a little upset with the way they do the book loaning.  Initially I was excited thinking that I would be able to borrow books and there was not a long waiting list for some like there is on the download library that I go to- but then I discovered that I could only take one book a month.  Even if I finish the book in a week, I still need to wait the entire month before being able to get a book again.  With the download library, I can take out 3 books at a time and can return and then take out another book whenever (well, they have a two week borrowing period, but that is enough for me.)  Also, I am finding that a lot of the books they are offering with the Prime membership are books that either have been free at some point or are free right now. 

Needless to say, I am no longer a Prime member.  I have Netflix and will just use that for the videos that I want to watch.

Is anyone else as disappointed with Prime as I am?

No. I think it's great.

The lending library (and the streaming video) is just icing on the cake.  Since Amazon has to pay the publishers for the privilege of lending you books, it is easy to see why Amazon limits you to one per month. 

[Meemo]

I'm not disappointed with Prime - I've realized that if I order late in the week that I won't be getting my stuff in literally 2 days, but that's okay, I still get it faster than with regular super-saver shipping.  I don't mind the lending limits, I've got more than enough books hoarded to read, plus the Overdrive library books - Prime lending is just icing on the cake, and I've got a nice little wish list going for those books.  I've enjoyed the free streaming videos as well, and have a wish list going for them, too.  So I'm happy - I'd thought about joining Prime for a while even before the videos and Kindle lending became available - all those options made it worth it for me.

And as far as the Kindle lending goes, Amazon walks a fine line there between keeping the authors/publishers happy, and keeping customers happy.  The system they've got probably doesn't make either totally happy, which means in the end, it's probably reasonably fair to both. 

[DreamWeaver]

I tried the Prime membership and decided to cancel it.  I don't order enough things from Amazon to be excited about the 2-day shipping...

I also decided not to convert to paid Prime membership after my one-month free trial ended. Like you, the two-day shipping doesn't entice me. I do order from Amazon quite often, but I'm fine with free Super Saver Shipping, as I never need anything within two days. Being able to borrow one book per month isn't a big deal either. I have about 3,000 ebooks in my personal collection, and I can always borrow library ebooks too. I do have to say that there are some indie books in Prime Select that I'd like to read, but many of them are offered as short-term freebies to everyone anyway. My husband and I watched about 40 videos during the free one-month trial. It was fun, but we were finding it difficult to find movies that we wanted to watch.

Having said all that, we will probably reconsider sometime in the future, especially if Amazon expands their Prime video selection. That's really the only reason why we'd subscribe to Prime. It breaks down to $6.58 a month ($79 a year), so it's not a big expense. We just didn't think we'd make best use of it right now.

[Shastastan]

I thought similarly, but super saver shipping has always been for orders over $25 for me. I buy lots of stuff for less than that so Prime has saved me a lot of trips to the store and a lot of $$ on cheaper stuff.  also, we live in a small town and our stores don't have a lot in stock.

I agree with you on the movie selection.  We watch a lot of old Tv shows instead rather than movies most of the time.

Stan

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk

[cagnes]

My BFF has an Amazon account, but doesn't have Prime.  Is there a way to gift her a year of Prime?

Five people can share an account, but only the main account will be able to get the free prime videos & free prime kindle lending... the others do get the shipping advantages though. Just go to your amazon account & click Manage Prime Membership, from there you can invite members.

[krm0789]

Five people can share an account, but only the main account will be able to get the free prime videos & free prime kindle lending... the others do get the shipping advantages though. Just go to your amazon account & click Manage Prime Membership, from there you can invite members.

I believe you're only supposed to share with family members living with the same household, per the Prime help section: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200444180. I don't know if they check to see if you're actually at the same address or not, but they do ask you to define the relationship when you extend an invitation.

[cagnes]

I believe you're only supposed to share with family members living with the same household, per the Prime help section: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200444180. I don't know if they check to see if you're actually at the same address or not, but they do ask you to define the relationship when you extend an invitation.

I didn't read the tou's beforehand and haven't had a problem, since it doesn't look like they check addresses. I have two family members who live in my home town & two sons who lives in a different state on my account.