I've been an Amazon Prime member four several years now, but sometimes I've noticed that the prices on eBay are better. For example, I was just going to add an epilator to my shopping cart for $199 and I noticed a seller on eBay was selling the same one for $150! This isn't the first time I've noticed this, either. Normally, I wouldn't price shop at all, but I've been trying to get debt free and so have been paying better attention to online prices. Anyone else have this same experience?
It depends I suppose on what you are buying and the deals you'll be getting elsewhere. If there's a possibility that you can consistently get better deals elsewhere [and won't be scammed (this is what makes Amazon great)] then it's always better to buy whatever you want from the store where you'll save money. For some people Amazon Prime is still wroth it because they buy almost everything from the site. For those who buy from lots of different online retail stores, a prime subscription isn't worth it.
I don't have Amazon Prime, and never had. I'm on a tight budget, and am always shopping around. I do buy things from Amazon now and then, and occasionally I also rent a streaming movie from the site, but right now, I'm not purchasing enough items to make it worth the price. If I had money, I might consider subscribing, though, because I'd really like to see Bosch, which is an Amazon original series. Back when I purchased a lot from Amazon, when my budget was healthier, Prime didn't exist, so wasn't an option. If there was some sort of lower level Prime, that included Kindle Unlimited (or even semi-unlimited), some of the programming (including Bosch, of course, otherwise what would be the point for me), and even a limited amount of shipping, say up to 5 items per month, I might consider that.
Yeah, that makes sense. It's hard for me, because I buy almost weekly from Amazon, but then I see eBay with all these great deals and wonder if I'm wasting my money. I guess I'll have to factor in shipping time, too. Getting the product I want, when I want is also vitally important to me. I do buy a lot from Amazon, but I don't use their other services, such as streaming movies and music, since there are better services elsewhere. So basically, I'm just using it for the shipping. Decisions, decisions...
I feel like Prime was worth it at a point in time, but anymore it's not. If you do A LOT of online shopping, then it might cover the cost of shipping and make it worth while, but I don't think most people find themselves ordering things often enough to even break even at the end of the year.
It is really common for me to see a product on Amazon.com, and then when I go to Ebay and search for the exact same product, it is much cheaper or just cheaper in general. I have always felt that Amazon Prime was not really a beneficial membership to have, because half the products are not eligible for the features of Amazon prime in any event.
For years I went without Amazon Prime because of the expense. I just made sure I waited until I had the $35 of items in my cart to get the free shipping. Since spending $35 at Amazon is so easy to do it was no big deal. I also didn't mind waiting for my items. But then Christmas came this year I was wrapping a present for my kids and it broke. it was only a few days before Christmas I was able to return the item right away and they gave me the amount as a credit. But this time I couldn't afford to wait for the longer shipping. my friend pointed out to me that you can get a family membership if someone in your family already has a Prime Membership. You just have to link the accounts. My aunt that we live with has had prime for years but I didn't like having to go on her account in order to order. This way I still have my account separate but we both have the prime benefits of fast, free shipping. I didn't spend any money on it and now I have prime, love it! And now my aunt feels like her prime membership is more worth it because we get the benefits too.
Some things are actually more expensive on Amazon than they would be elsewhere! Especially niche products. I can get Apica CD notebooks for far cheaper from Nanami Paper or JetPens than I can from Amazon, especially since JetPens has free shipping with a $25 order (though it is REALLY easy to rack up a >$49 bill on Amazon). Same with cheap products—notebooks and composition books are far cheaper at Target or Walmart than they are online.
I believe Amazon Prime is still Worth what you Pay. Amazon has been putting a lot of efforts to provide the best user experience and also has been great at adding new features, new Shows every day to improve the user experience. Amazon Prime is still Growing and You should give it some time before Deciding that It is not worth the price you Pay. Good Luck.
It depends entirely what you are buying and the deals you'll be getting in several stores. I think that the overall prices you see for a certain good is not necessarily cheaper on ebay, It really depends of the buyer. Amazon is more popular then is not a surprise that some goods's prices are higher compared to lesser popular alternatives. If I'm going to be a consistent amazon buyer then prime worth a dime otherwise is just sinking money.
I shop on Amazon at least weekly for little things, so it's worth it to me. I keep trying to enjoy the other perks of Prime, like their video selection, but the selection never has anything I want to watch on it. Thankfully, they are starting to create their own content, so that's something. Even without the perks, I'd have Prime just for the fast shipping and no minimum. I like my impulse buys!
My entire family uses our Amazon Prime account, so I'd say that gets the best bang for buck. All of the free two day shipping really does add up in our case where we rarely go a week without someone ordering something. A big part of really getting your money's worth is by being part of the Amazon "ecosystem". Watching Amazon Prime Instant, using Amazon's cloud storage, or music apps, are all ways of deepening your involvement in this ecosystem and really getting the most for your money out of a prime account.
I have Prime Student so it is easily worth half price, but everyone in the family uses it for something so I could easily justify paying full price. But I have noticed some of the competition slowly closing the gap, especially if you're using Amazon Prime just for the shipping it isn't hard for me to see how it would stop being worth it. At the end of the day I am more comfortable with Amazon so just a more competitive market space isn't enough to justify a switch, but another price bump combined with Netflix unveiling a new deal with Disney might be a perfect storm to make me jump ship in the future.
