Amazon Prime is Getting More Expensive
Amazon Prime is about to get more expensive. The company announced the price hike for its membership program during a call with investors Thursday. The price for Amazon Prime will increase by $20, from $99 to $119. The change will go into effect May 11, and it will apply to Prime renewals beginning June 16.
The reason for the price hike is “rises in cost” for providing Prime services, which include shipping perks and video streaming. Last time Amazon increased the cost of an annual Prime subscription was in 2014. It was a $20 price hike back then as well. from $79 to $99.
How to Lock In $99 Price Now
If your Amazon Prime membership just renewed, or will renew before May 11th, then you’re lucky. If you’re not sure when your renewal date it, you can check here. However it is possible to lock in the $99 price for the future as well.
Amazon has a page where you can “Give the gift of Prime“ (affiliate link). You can gift someone a Prime Membership, or just gift it to yourself. By gifting to yourself you can also lock in today’s price for a future renewal. You can set the gift date to a later time, just before your membership expires. Amazon will send you an email on the day you choose along with redemption instructions.
This way you can pay just $99 now and renew later.
Conclusion
$20 is a considerable increase. If you shop often on Amazon and take full advantage of the perks that Amazon Prime give you, then it should still be worth it.
Will you continue to pay for Amazon Prime? Are the perks worth $119?
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OMG, did I missed it? I thought the deadline is 5/13 I was wrong….Should I still do it?
I think it may be too late – I think the price has changed.
Just renewed for Nov 10th a few days before my membership is up.
Excellent!
Any idea how long these are valid for? I just renewed so I bought a “gift” to deliver next March. I see the latest delivery date is Dec 2019. If i send another one in December could I use it for 2020,2021,etc.? I know it might be overkill to buy 2-3 years but I don’t see myself not using Prime anytime soon.
People have been loading up for years in the past. Some are still using the old $79.99 price. No guarantee that it works in the future. I think if you just save the email when it is sent to you you can use it at any point in the future.
So even if it’s saying today that my membership will be renewed for $99 on June 24, that’s just wrong?
Yup that price will be updated sometime tomorrow
Thanks, Mark, our renewal is up in June so I renewed early. With the “gift” trick, can I lock in $99 now for next year, too?
Yup you can gift it to yourself in June then. Just make sure to turn off auto renew on your current membership
The drop-down allowed me to gift for 2019 (& 2018 only), so I did as you said for at least another year. I can’t figure out how to turn off the auto-renew, however! Any idea?
Looks like they removed the feature now you can just have them email you 3 days prior. Then you’ll have to manually cancel it and then use the gifted prime. Shady move by Amazon
(wasn’t sure how far into the future Amazon allows!)
People have been doing this for years…locked in the old $79 rate. So I believe you could do it for 2-3 years out if you wanted. Not sure it is worth it though. Although you can always just turn it into a gift card anyways so there is that.
a 18.66% discount (incl tax) is totally worth it to me to lock in for 2 years. and as you said, Amazon increased the price $20 in the wee hours. thx again
My pleasure