<p>LOOOOVE Amazon prime, have used it since it was available, and Amazon 11 years ( I can track my purchases back that long online!. I DO pay taxes on my purchases, so I happen to know I spend several thousand dollars via Amazon a year.</p>
<p>Oh, that is fun - you can look back at your old orders! I thought I had been using Amazon a long time. I can see my first order, children’s books that I bought on October 1, 1997: picture books for my son (now almost 18) and Mother Daughter Book Club books for my daughter (now almost 22).</p>
<p>Oooooooh. I don’t think I want to know.</p>
<p>My D’s Amazon Prime will expire in a few days. Does she need to cancel to prevent charge of another year? </p>
<p>(At this point we mostly send stuff to DS at his college, so he could open an account instead.)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>YES! My boyfriend had his automatically renew a few months ago without him knowing. (Nice shock when he logged on to his bank account). They reversed the charge since he hadn’t ordered anything, but it is automatic. </p>
<p>As a student, I kind of thought Amazon Prime was a waste of money. There is never a time when I need something with 48 hours (I plan better than that and rarely, if ever, have things sprung on me). I shop around very heavily for my books and Amazon is rarely the cheapest. I don’t tend to order anything else online.</p>
<p>check the differences between the student account and a regular prime account. If you use video on demand the student account seems to be limited - I am not completely sure though</p>
<p>I like it a lot. D has learned to wait on most of her upper division classes, because the book list published ahead of time is often inaccurate – various books won’t really get used, or turn out to be recommended just for a quick read rather than in-depth work,or you need a textbook version WITH some access code inside. With my Prime membership, she just waits and then makes the decision when class starts of buying at one of the bookstores near campus or Amazon. With classes – like core science or math – where there is clearly “A Textbook” she does buy the book ahead, usually used, and usually on Amazon, but she’s gotten pretty good at checking prices – many times there is a used copy that is not Prime that is still cheaper than then the least expensive Prime copy.</p>
<p>I get: tea (buck a box cheaper than anywhere locally, and I drink a lot), wide Swiffer dust mop cloths that are impossible to find around here, 3M window tape, hh stuff D needed at college (humidifier, space heater, kitchen stuff,…) and order a whole lot of presents for nieces, nephews and MIL that live elsewhere. My shipping costs to send the same packages would be a lot higher. Looking at the order page, we have had 44 orders in 2011, and might have another one or two if D orders any books before she heads back to school. More than half did not come to our home address, and if I’d gotten whatever locally, I’d have had to pay to ship it – and at a minimum of $7 to ship much of anything, that would quickly overwhelm the cost of Prime. D’s watched some streaming shows, and H’s kindle is now linked to the account and gets the free book each month. For us, it is a good value. YMMV.</p>
<p>I was able to get a free month trial of Amazon Prime this month. What a great month to get free shipping. It’s true so many retail stores were also doing free shipping, but having it through Amazon didn’t limit to a particular store. Not sure if I’m going to continue though. How much is a “regular” membership?</p>
<p>I believe there is no cost for a regular membership, but you pay for shipping.</p>
<p>A regular prime account is $79/year. I don’t understand why anyone would pay for that (unless you always need your items in 2 days), since if you buy $25 worth of stuff, you get free shipping if you choose ‘Super Saver’. Supposedly that involves slower shipping, but in my experience I often get things in two days anyway. (In the old days, books would sometimes arrive the day after I ordered them!)</p>
<p>We’re looooonnng time Amazon customers but not Prime.
We are well satisfied with the free shipping over $25 so I can’t really justify paying it for the better shipping.</p>
<p>BUT we are Neflix customers unhappy with that price increase and wonder if the streaming on Amazon that is included in prime membership free might save us bucks there. We use the streaming on Neflix constantly…is the Amazon streaming any good??</p>
<p>The Amazon streaming is mostly fine. We have had an occasional problem with bad downloads of pay-for-view movies, and every single time it’s difficult to get a new download–Amazon does not make it easy to report download problems-- but that’s happening less and less. We’ve used streaming for about two years now.</p>
<p>Reviving this thread. </p>
<p>I gave in and bought Amazon Prime today (my mom tends to order stuff online so we split the purchase). My phone’s battery has gone to crap and I wanted a replacement by this weekend (I’m turning 21 tomorrow so I needed something that would last- and quickly!). I ordered today early in the morning and used 2 day shipping. It’s not supposed to get here until next Wednesday! Has anyone else had a similar experience?</p>
<p>Many times. We did most of our Christmas shopping with Amazon Prime and less than half of our purchases made it, even when it said if we ordered in the next _____hours it would arrive in two days. H asked about it when he had to call about a different issue and was told that it’s not their fault but to keep track and let them know. We figured that was pretty much saying they do their best and don’t care if it isn’t always perfect.</p>
<p>We found that USPS and FedEx were much better than UPS but you don’t get to pick what you want.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Was the item clearly marked as a Prime eligible item? </p>
<p>Based on having a prime account since it launched and hundreds of shipments, that is VERY unusual. The only time I recall a delay was with back-ordered items or UPS “forgetting” to pick up the items at a Amazon warehouse. </p>
<p>This said, it’s a fact that UPS is simply awful as they seem to work on a three-day week with Monday and Friday off.</p>
<p>Yes- it was clearly marked Prime eligible. When I had the free Prime a few years ago, I always got stuff within a few days. Don’t know why this one is like that.</p>
<p>I like the fact that as a Prime member I can buy a cheap doohickey and have it show up in two days. Today, for example, I got my son an HDMI cable for 3 dollars and change, which will arrive on Friday in time for him to return to college this weekend. I don’t see how they can turn a profit on shipping cheap items, although they tend to use the post office for small items.</p>
<p>We originally went Prime when he was offered it as a college student, and then re-upped when they offered it at half price, although I was thinking about it anyway. </p>
<p>With the student Prime you don’t get the movies, which is a pretty weak lineup anyway, and with paid Prime you don’t get the Kindle book lending program, unless you have a Kindle.</p>
<p>There’s also a free Prime program, Amazon Mom, for parents of toddlers, although membership is not open for that now.</p>
<p>That’s so weird. I went to go look again and it’s no longer listed as Prime eligible. I know it was before because that was part of the reason I bought it. Well, guess I’m just going to cancel that and try again. So weird.</p>
<p>Well. It shipped. It’ll be here by Friday. The product is no longer listed on the site. This will be interesting haha.</p>
<p>Was it sold by Amazon or by an “Amazon merchant.”</p>
<p>I’ve learned that when “merchants” claim things are Prime eligible, it’s usually a lie. I don’t think I’ve had even one of them show up on time. However, I always submit a feedback form and Amazon refunds the money.</p>