Amazon’s Prime Membership Increases to $99 a Year

Amazon announced this morning that it was raising the cost of its Prime membership to $99 a year. How many of you Prime users find that new dollar amount too high to consider it worth it? From CNET:

For the first time, the online retailing giant will raise the membership fee for Prime, hiking it by $20 to $99 a year. Amazon Student Prime will rise $10 to $49 a year. Prime members will pay the higher fee when their accounts come up for renewal.

The critical cut-off date is April 17. If your renewal comes up before then, you’ll still pay the original $79 fee. If it comes up on April 17 or after, you’re stuck with the higher fee…

The hike comes as Amazon continues to post losses despite its immense reach and brand recognition. It isn’t a complete surprise, as Amazon’s chief financial officer hinted at a price increase of up to $40 in January.

I have been a Prime canceler mainly because I realized I wasn’t taking advantage of any of its streaming services (I barely take advantage of my Netflix streaming service), and wasn’t ordering enough over the course of the year to have it cover the shipping charges. Plus I’ve been turned off a little by some of the company’s business tactics.

But the company will likely be gaining more than they’ll be losing: During the third week of December, Amazon signed up more than one million new Prime users.

Photo: Aaron Muzalski

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