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Amazon Prime Membership is $79 Tomorrow Only, £59 for U.K. Customers Starting Today

jdag said:
While I have been a Prime subscriber for many years and will continue my membership for years to come, I find the fact that they are not offering the $20 discount for renewals a bit offensive. I just checked and I have placed 113 orders to date in 2016, on top of 135 in 2015. The $99 Prime cost is super-minimal to me. But at the same time, I would have appreciated that 1 day sale so that I could opt to early renew for 2017 (I believe my renewal is in February).
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Go ahead and be offended, doesn't matter to Amazon. They've got you hooked and know you aren't going to leave.

If you owned a business, would you give away free money to existing customers when you knew you didn't have to? In the end they'll forget all about this and go right back to buying just as everyone has since they offered the last discount to new customers and not existing just a couple months ago.
 
rdas7 said:
I'm all for a bit of entertainment, but what Amazon are basically saying with this show is "As long as you make us money, you can say and do whatever you want in public."
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Kind of like Apple after they hired a high level executive with a repetitive history of far greater violence and an actual conviction?

Still using Apple stuff?
 
OldSchoolMacGuy said:
Go ahead and be offended, doesn't matter to Amazon. They've got you hooked and know you aren't going to leave.

If you owned a business, would you give away free money to existing customers when you knew you didn't have to? In the end they'll forget all about this and go right back to buying just as everyone has since they offered the last discount to new customers and not existing just a couple months ago.
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I did say "a bit offended"...it is not the end of the world, but I also think that Amazon could have gained a lot of goodwill by allowing existing customers to renew at this sale price. It is only a 1-day sale, and it would be for a renewal, so their exposure would have been pretty limited (relatively speaking).

And, it would have accelerated revenue and locked people into another year now, versus waiting for the current subscription period to end. And no, they don't know I am not going to leave. By allowing expiration there is always a chance for a customer to reconsider. You never want a subscription to expire. How do I know? Well...

I, in fact, do own a business. And more applicably, the business I own sells subscription services, and I've been doing this for ~15 years. We are constantly very aware of any pricing or promotional changes impacting existing clients, and we always have allowances for those existing clients. I would never structure a promotion that does not allow a client to give me more money now versus letting their contract "hit the streets" for a competitor to grab.
 
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arkitect said:
Excuse the off topic post, but.
And that's the BBC for you. Closest thing in the UK to "A job for life."
Your "Bake a Cake" show gets canned? Never mind. Now you're an expert on Architecture… etcetera.

Say something "outrageous"? Just take a few months holiday and you're back.

Same old faces recycled all the time.
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Until you get caught touching kids, haha
 
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Atlantico said:
No thanks, Amazon prime is pretty much worthless, you're basically *paying* for an incentive to buy more from Amazon.
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Worthless? Is Netflix worthless? Amazon Prime may not have as many movies and tv shows as Netflix, but you also get free music with it as well. If people are paying nearly that much for Netflix and you get music and two-day shipping rates as well, how is that "worthless"? It doesn't work with your AppleTV? Aw.... I guess that's why I switched to FireTV with Kodi installed. I can even still Airplay music to it. Now if you aren't going to use any of that stuff and you don't buy much from Amazon maybe it's "worthless" to you, but I think others would disagree.

I think I do half my non-food shopping online now since stores never have ANY selection. For example, I just got two LED E17 Microwave/Hood lights from someone on Amazon because Lowes and Walmart don't carry LED E17 (medium base) bulbs, just ancient incandescent in that size. Now I can leave my hood light on all I want for accent/nightlight lighting since it only uses 8 watts total for two bulbs (putting out 70 watts equivalent) and has a rated 30000-40,000 hour lifespan on the bulbs (will outlast the microwave likely). As a side note, LED lights have really come down in price. I switched almost the entire house over and the electric bill has dropped noticeably and I got over 2x the light at 1/3 to 1/4 the power in many rooms like the bathroom where more light is useful. They even have dimming chandelier type clear lights that look like incandescents and dim exactly the same (used in my dining room).

rdas7 said:
For those who don't know, one of the presenters was fired from the previous show after physically assaulting one of the producers. His tv persona is based on making racist and offensive comments.

I'm all for a bit of entertainment, but what Amazon are basically saying with this show is "As long as you make us money, you can say and do whatever you want in public."
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You're from London and you didn't like Top Gear? I'm not saying that Jeremy Clarkson is a stand-up guy, but those three clicked together and the new Top Gear isn't even close to the Clarkson lead version.
 
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kdarling said:
Is Amazon Prime an incentive? Obviously yes! And as with many others, Prime is incredibly worth it to me. Their prices are as good or better than any other place. If I need anything, I'll often turn to Amazon first because it's so quick, easy and good value.
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Well, the thing is, I thought so too. Then I started looking around, and in most cases I could buy the same product from another reseller for *less* than Amazon was demanding. Turns out Amazon isn't that cheap and isn't really good value for money. Paying them actual money in order to try to even out that fact, is IMHO, a really bad deal (but a really good deal for Amazon)

If you want movies and music, that can be had for less than 100 bucks a year anyway. Amazon Prime is the scammiest way to add value I've seen. Look at third party vendors, they'll more often than not sell for less than on Amazon. This Amazon fetish is very strange to me, they don't offer quality, certainly not the best prices and pathetic customer service.
 
MacBergin said:
I think I'll send Amazon a big FU this is the exact reason why I cancelled Directv...charge me the full rate then when you are trying to acquire new customers at a discount. You may have forgotten about me, but trust me I still know what I pay.
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daftpunker909 said:
Isn't this the model pretty much any service uses? Discount in the first month/year and then full price - what's different about amazon?
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EdT said:
Sort of this. I have the same problem with satellite cable, the provider I have, be it Dish or DirecTV, will have a intro package with lower prices and added premium channels, but it's not available to current customers. I imagine regular cable companies are the same, although I don't know since they aren't an option for me. Cell phone providers used to be the same, but with more competition they seem to actually try to keep current customers.

I am always astounded when I leave a service that treats customers this way and then they call you after you've cancelled asking why did you leave and what it would take to keep you as a customer. I usually say " if you had treated me with 1/2 the offers you are giving a new subscriber I probably would have grumbled a bit but stayed".....
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Short story. I'm a construction engineer with an elderly, but still kicking mom. I work with utilities so I get to hear plenty of talk about deals. I'm also spending time with my mom and ferrying her to/from her appointments to get her cataracts taken care of (yeah, I volunteered). My point is I've heard about the deals to be had for existing customers, and my mom is a 4-year DirecTV customer who griped about switching to DISH but kept hearing about the blackouts.

Soooo, take a gander at this web post: https://reelrundown.com/tv/Secrets-of-Directv and take it in. One of the field crew told me about it.

Last week, I was added to her authorized persons list and then I called in to DirecTV after settling into mom's guest room. The results were a new DVR, 24 months of no HD or DVR fees, a no-charge upgrade from Choice to Ultimate for 24 months, and a $25 per month discount for 12 months. The new DVR showed up less than 48 hours after the call. She could have added the 3 months of premium channels but she passed on that. The new channels were showing up on the new DVR upon bootup. She's been watching the DYI channel pretty much non-stop for a few hours each day.

I didn't have to beg or bring up the web post - I simply asked for the loyalty department and asked nicely. I was off the phone in under 15 minutes. The new channels showed up on her "old" DVR within an hour. Her bill went down some $45 - the now-offset HD/DVR fees and the $25 credit.

BTW, I'm with Comcast, in the Portland and Seattle markets. My Business Class account was about done, and I had a residential TV account at my two locations (you don't want to know what Comcast Business charges for commercial class TV :eek:). Cutting to it, I went into a service center for a new Double Play package - TV/Internet - and told them that CenturyLink's Fiber and Prism service was nearby and wanted a fair deal, even as a renewing TV customer. I got a price for their 175/25 internet and EVERY single channel they offer (including Premium channels) at both locations for $110 per month for 24 months, a bit more for my WA location due to state taxes. Both locations have had pretty much rock solid service. All I had to do was bluff a bit and ask nicely.
[doublepost=1479437195][/doublepost]There's a bit of griping here about Prime regarding "value", at least here in the US. I think it's a pretty decent deal, especially if you work the system a bit. My deals, in the past two years include:
  • I bought two being-closed-out 32GB Fire Phones, at $49 each. Each Fire Phone included a year of Prime. I got a stacked extra 2 years of Prime. I sold the phones at $50 each on CL, after opening them up and removing the personalized settings.
  • I buy my AppleCare from Amazon when I can. 8 of 11 of the purchases included a year of stackable UL Amazon Drive File Storage (the $70 offering, not the $12 Photo Storage). The added-on benefit wasn't part of the purchase, but was emailed to me afterward.
  • Like this 1-day-only discounted deal - a $20 discount (big whoop...), there are other 1-day deals to be had. Like the 1-day-only $5 offering for a year of stackable UL Amazon Drive File Storage. Yep, I snagged one of these too. Look for this in about 10-15 days or so, it's very quietly announced (http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/26/9805438/amazon-one-year-unlimited-storage-five-dollars), but one can add only one of these deals...
  • I also use the Amazon Prime Store Card. 5% cash back on Prime purchases. I do spend more than $2k on Prime. Stuff delivered to my doors, including food in Seattle via Restaurant Delivery and Prime Pantry when I forget to buy food and have to work - I likely saved at least $100 in gas this year just from not buying gas (and therapy, as you'd know if you'd ever driven in Seattle traffic - and I'm from Manhattan...). This year I bought an electric lawn mower I can't buy in a store and sealed headlamps for my mom's car and the cash back easily covered my price for Prime this year. No, wait, I'm on a free year of Prime from one of the Fire Phones I bought last year... :evil grin: FWIW, the restaurants in Portland are so frickin' overhyped by posers, it's amazing to me that any of them can keep their doors open for 3-6 months (none of them would stay open for too long in NYC or LA or Austin), they all pretty much suck car tailpipes...
Regarding Amazon Prime Video, the Bosch series and Catastrophe series are both excellent IMHO...
 
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Anyone know how to actually get the $79 dollar pricing?

Went to the Prime page only option was start a 30 day trial. When I look in my accounting settings the only options after the trial are auto-renewal for $10.99/month or $99/year.
 
The Try Prime -> Get Started page has a message box at the top talking about this offer. Refreshing the page just now updated the message box to include: "To sign up, click here."
 
Well, it seems the deal is only for NEW subscribers. If you already subscribe to Amazon Prime, you CANNOT purchase it for $79 (my subscription is up in 3 weeks). I attempted to do so and it said it was unavailable for current subscribers and told me to delete it to continue my order. What a nice way for Amazon to thank its loyal subscribers! Now I'll think twice about renewing.
 
jdag said:
I did say "a bit offended"...it is not the end of the world, but I also think that Amazon could have gained a lot of goodwill by allowing existing customers to renew at this sale price. It is only a 1-day sale, and it would be for a renewal, so their exposure would have been pretty limited (relatively speaking).

And, it would have accelerated revenue and locked people into another year now, versus waiting for the current subscription period to end. And no, they don't know I am not going to leave. By allowing expiration there is always a chance for a customer to reconsider. You never want a subscription to expire. How do I know? Well...

I, in fact, do own a business. And more applicably, the business I own sells subscription services, and I've been doing this for ~15 years. We are constantly very aware of any pricing or promotional changes impacting existing clients, and we always have allowances for those existing clients. I would never structure a promotion that does not allow a client to give me more money now versus letting their contract "hit the streets" for a competitor to grab.
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It's Amazon. They know what they're doing. They know what can be gained by offering subscriptions at discount to existing customers vs new ones only. They've also explored the "loyalty" side and understand the benefits vs costs there. Maybe that's why they're a multi billion dollar business.
 
OldSchoolMacGuy said:
It's Amazon. They know what they're doing. They know what can be gained by offering subscriptions at discount to existing customers vs new ones only. They've also explored the "loyalty" side and understand the benefits vs costs there. Maybe that's why they're a multi billion dollar business.
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This seems to be the answer to everything in this world for some people. "They make money so they MUST know what they're doing" (and the variations of "they must know better than you since they're rich and I assume you're not). It's the same mentality that won a megalomaniac this election. He's SO rich so he must be smart. Sadly, NONE of that is true. And companies can and do lose money and make bonehead decisions. And there's such a thing as not making as much money as you could have as well. I've already informed Amazon I won't be renewing in 3 weeks since they did not offer the sale price to me. But you say that's a good decision on Amazon's part. I say you don't know what you're talking about. :p
 
OldSchoolMacGuy said:
It's Amazon. They know what they're doing. They know what can be gained by offering subscriptions at discount to existing customers vs new ones only. They've also explored the "loyalty" side and understand the benefits vs costs there. Maybe that's why they're a multi billion dollar business.
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Of course. I am in no way, shape, or form saying that I know what is best for Amazon. I said that it would have been a modest allowance that would have helped their goodwill with existing customers, and I doubt any existing customer would refute that (from a customer's point of view, not necessarily an accountant's point of view).

I'd be shocked if they did not discuss this point as they determined the promotion's details and determined that only offering to new clients was best for their business. For my business, which is reliant on few clients with large contracts, offering a "new customer only" promo would be suicidal.
 
No need for the anger against Amazon, all I did was tell the rep on chat I want to take advantage of the offer as a current member. Here is his reply:
"Thanks for the wait time, in this case what I can do is process a partial refund for $20.00 on the payment method used for the Prime subscription and you can continue to use the membership until it expires"
 
chiefsilverback said:
I believe they had a non-compete that prevented them going to a rival UK broadcaster to make a car based show. Also I don't think Sky's pockets are quite as deep as Amazon's...
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They didn't renew his contract he was free to go anywhere. As for deep pockets, I think Sky's are a little deeper than you think. Anyway I hope those that miss old Top Gear are happy with the new show.
 
Jsameds said:
Pay for this bottle of wine from the shop or steal it for free. Hummm I think I'll do the later.


Hmmm...
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Exactly.
[doublepost=1479562446][/doublepost]Prime is fantastic. Brilliant service, great content via Amazon Video and why not have an incentive to buy from Amazon? 95% of the time they are cheaper/ equal to other markets.
 
Amazon advertises it as free two day delivery with a Prime membership. I never bothered with Prime because I always liked paying for next day delivery. The few things I do order each year was usually less then the $99 fee and I'm not interested in anything else Amazon tries throwing in.
 
JackieInCo said:
Amazon advertises it as free two day delivery with a Prime membership. I never bothered with Prime because I always liked paying for next day delivery.
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Prime also gives a discount on things like one-day shipping. It's usually around $5 or so.

I can't count the number of times that I've suddenly realized some relative's birthday was tomorrow, and used Amazon to get them something, wrapped and with a note, by the next day.

Ditto for everything from electronics to paint to clothing to furniture to ink supplies to power tools to car parts. And of course, books.

But then, I live over 30 minutes from any shopping centers, so it's just so much cheaper and easier for me to not have to drive and try to find something (which might not be in stock!), when I can easily pull up Amazon on an iPad or phone and have the instant gratification of ordering something with a few clicks, that'll come by the next day or so.
 
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BeefCake 15 said:
No need for the anger against Amazon, all I did was tell the rep on chat I want to take advantage of the offer as a current member. Here is his reply:
"Thanks for the wait time, in this case what I can do is process a partial refund for $20.00 on the payment method used for the Prime subscription and you can continue to use the membership until it expires"
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Didn't work here. They just said they were sorry but it was only for new members. Perhaps I should hope they don't raise the price in the next 3 weeks before my subscription lapses. They are going to soon from what I read because they are losing money at $99 given they had to spend $4 BILLION on content for that "free" Amazon Video programming. So if you just want "free" 2-day shipping, you're going to have to pay for other people to watch Downton Abbey, etc. because they like to pretend all that stuff is "free".
 
Rob_2811 said:
You're in the UK, you would be better off quitting the Apple TV. A truly pointless device. :D
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Actually, I use it for 1) Netflix 2) airplay videos from phone 3) use a wall mounted display in office as a wireless projector from mac/phone/iPad. Works great :)
 
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