Stop Complaining About The Amazon Prime Price Increase — We Crunched The Numbers And It's Totally Worth It (AMZN)
Amazon increased the price of its Prime subscription service today. It now costs $99 per year instead of $79.
That's a big price jump. But if you break it all down, Prime is still a killer deal, especially if you rely heavily on Amazon.
Here's what you get:
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Unlimited free two-day shipping on many items.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Unlimited free streaming of TV shows and movies on Amazon Instant Video.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">And soon, if the reports are true, a free music streaming product that will be similar to Spotify. That service will reportedly launch this spring.</span></li>
</ul>
So let's break down the cost. $99 per year comes to $8.25 per month.
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Netflix costs $7.99 per month.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Spotify costs $9.99 per month.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">If you buy a lot of physical goods on Amazon, then you know shipping costs can add up quickly.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The numbers speak for themselves. But t</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">here are, of course, a bunch of caveats.</span>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Amazon's streaming video selection isn't as good as Netflix's. It has a lot of the same shows, but Netflix still has better original programming like "House of Cards". </span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Early reports suggest Amazon may limit how many hours of music you're allowed to stream. However, we'll have to wait for Amazon's official announcement before we can determine if the music service is truly comparable to Spotify.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">If you don't do a lot of shopping already on Amazon, the free two-day shipping is useless. Prime is only a good deal if you take advantage of it.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Bottom line: Amazon Prime is a good deal if you're ready to dive into Amazon's world of shopping and streaming media. You'll save money.</span>
<b>See Also:</b>
<ul><li>Amazon Is Raising The Price Of Its Prime Subscription Service To $99</li><li>These Are The Big Retailers That Are Winning On Mobile</li><li>Amazon's Impressive Success With The Kindle Fire In One Chart</li></ul></group><group id="029F21B0-B147-4C79-9FF9-3A41B7814C14" type="seoLabels"><seoLabels></seoLabels></