How To Lock In Amazon Prime’s Cheaper Price
Amazon will soon raise the price of its Prime membership in the US to $139 per year. That’s an increase of $20, up from the $119 annual fee that was instated four years ago. The price hike is meant to address higher costs Amazon is facing across the board, from shipping to labor to construction, although the company has done pretty well over the last couple of years.
The new price will go into effect for new members on February 18th. Current members will see the price increase on renewals after March 25th. The price for a monthly Prime membership is also going up to $14.99 per month from $12.99 per month. Prime’s price is not changing in other countries for now.
Amazon Prime first launched in the US in 2005 with a price of $79. Is was then increased to $99 in 2014 and then again in 2018 to $119.
Lock In $119 Price Now
If your Amazon Prime membership just renewed, or will renew before March 25th, 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 $119 price for the future as well.
Amazon has a page where you can “Give the gift of Prime“. 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. Or, you can send it now and just save it in an email folder etc.
Be sure to set a reminder on your calendar for the a day or two before your membership is set to renew so you can cancel it. You will not be able to use the “Gift of Prime” until after your account drops its Prime status. If you try to add a year to your account now it will ask you to convert it into a gift card. Your current subscription must end before you can activate the gift of Prime.
This way you can pay just $119 now and renew later.
Conclusion
A $20 price increase is considerable. That’s a price hike of almost 17%. If you shop often on Amazon and take full advantage of the perks that Amazon Prime give you, then it maybe still be worth it. But you will need to evaluate this for yourself.
Will you continue to pay for Amazon Prime? Are the perks worth $139?
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I’m also getting taxes charged if I try.. weird?
Prime offers unlimited photo storage, and I use it. I wonder when the Prime membership expires, would the pictures stored be immediately deleted?
Are folks purchasing multiple gifts for the next couple years or just one to cover you for a year?
Amazon is charging $11.31 tax for my Prime Membership purchase???
My membership just renewed at the beginning of January. Dodged a twenty-dollar bill this time. Do I want to gift myself now for later and then go thru the hassle of cancelling my membership just to use my own gift to become a member again? Meh… not likely. Besides, why let ’em borrow $119 of my money now so I can save $20 later when I can invest that money and earn more than I would save? Also keep in mind that you’ll only be saving $20 once and then the next membership cycle you’ll be paying $139 like everyone else, anyway. It depends on how liquid and stubborn one is to save $20 bucks. I’m just not that stubborn, but I’m thrify and can find other ways to save or make $20. So I guess I’ll just suck it up like everyone else when my membership renewal comes around. It’s gonna catch up to all of us eventually.
Between Prime video, the onsie-twosie items I order totaling under the shipping charge threshold, and especially the 5% cashback I earn using my Amazon Prime credit card (that I pay off every week!), I feel like I’m washing the $119 now, and will still close to washing the $139 future membership price. That doesn’t mean I’m OK with the hike. But I’m not going to feel like a victim because I’m not the only one this is happening to.
Good article and tips, though. Thanks!
Of you can can cancel Prime. Shipping is free above $25 and most items ship in 1 to 3 days at least in urban areas. Prime video selection is also light. $139 is getting ridiculous.
Send a prime gift to you significant other and one for yourself. that way you can lock in 2 years of saving. The gifts don’t expire so you can use it whenever.
If you want to cancel auto-renewal, just proceed with End Membership. It sounds scary, but it doesn’t actually end anything until the end of your current billing cycle (which is the end of your annual membership for most people). After I hit End Membership I was presented with a screen saying:
“You still have 337 days left to enjoy your Prime benefits until the next billing cycle”
This screen also tells you how many free prime deliveries and Prime Videos you have enjoyed in the past 12 months. You can view this info without proceeding with End Membership.
If you really, truly want to be done with Amazon Prime, there is an option to “End Benefits” immediately, but I’m not sure why anyone would do that. Just be sure to select “Keep My Benefits” before proceeding.
They removed the option to cancel auto renewal of prime from their website, you need to call or chat with a representative to turn it off. It was always an option previously. Guess they figure people won’t bother and forget, got to pay for the yacht somehow.
Good to know chat still works to get it done – thanks Phil!
Chat did not work for me. Chat with an Amazon rep is how I learned that it’s not possible to cancel auto-renew, only to cancel :rime membership itself.
Chat did not work for me. Chat with an Amazon rep is how I learned that it’s not possible to cancel auto-renew.
All very well and good to say ‘turn off auto-renew’. It’s not possible to turn off auto-renew. It’s only possible to cancel.
Updated to set a reminder to cancel a day or two before the auto renew kicks in.
My ancestor prime account shares the benefits to several friends (similar to prime household which only allows 2 adults), if the prime expires, all shares will be lost, right?
I am not sure on that
One problem: there is an option to cancel subscription and another to be reminded when it will renew, but no option to stop auto-renewal.
Updated to set a reminder to cancel a day or two before the auto renew kicks in.
I tried to purchase a gift & says I am not eligible as an existing Prime member?
Strange, just tried again with my account and was able to get it into checkout with no problem. Did you try it again?
If you let you prime membership expire I think you will lose all your purchase history? Am I wrong?
I don’t think that’s correct… I have purchase history in my Amazon account that dates back to 2001, and I don’t think I purchased Prime until 2010ish, and have probably let it lapse here and there since then
Of course, you don’t.
I don’t see why you would since plenty of people have Amazon without Prime
Navy Credit Union gave away a free year for all CC holders last year, until September I think. Based on what you wrote, if your EXP date had been in November instead, I couldn’t have used that freebee to simply extend it. Hope they do it again. Before that, I extended it for $60 on veteran’s day.
Thanks so much for the PSA! Just FYI, I tried making payment using my gift card balance (I was under the impression that Prime memberships could now be paid for this way) but received an error message stating that this was an ineligible payment method for gifting Prime.
Maybe it is only eligible for the auto renewal? Thanks for the DP Jim
For some reason it is letting me do it. I have heard reports on both sides of this though so not sure why some can and others can’t.
Weird…when I read this morning’s reminder post (thank you for that!), I tried it again and could complete the transaction. Don’t know what changed (or why) but all is good!
This works out well for me — my Prime membership renews March 29
Thanks!
Glad to help Andy