Yesterday Amazon quietly bumped its free shipping minimum to $49, up from $35. However, for book purchases, the minimum remains $25. The move appears to funnel users to pay $99 USD for a Prime membership, which includes free two-day shipping and other benefits.
Currently, Amazon Canada customers can get free shipping with a $25 minimum purchase on eligible orders. Will Canada be affected by these minimum shipping increases in the U.S.?
According to Amazon public relations, reached by email, they confirmed the changes were only related to the U.S., and “beyond that,” could not “comment on our future road map.”
Just last week Amazon.ca added the Kindle Voyage to its line up, after debuting only in the U.S. in 2014. Canada typically gets Amazon products after the U.S., so one may ponder whether shipping increases would follow suit.
Online rival Walmart.ca bumped its minimum free shipping threshold to $50 last year (there was no minimum at one point), so Amazon could easily ‘match’ them if they wanted. Most likely the minimum will remain at $25 for a while as Amazon.ca continues to establish itself here. The company’s iOS makes it one of the easiest ways to shop online from an iPhone or iPad.
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Why not? With the weakened Canadian dollar we’ve seen plenty of other major companies use it as an excuse to raise rates, and given that Amazon increased it with their reporting of an increase in shipping costs, they’re at least providing a valid reason.
I am surprised they are increasing it again.
My guess, Amazon Canada will not move the free shipping minimum unless Best Buy and Indigo do the same.
I doubt Amazon Canada will increase their minimum. They stayed at $25 when the Amazon US minimum rose to $35 a while ago. And like @reformcanada:disqus said, the current $25 is in line with the other major Canadian players.
Also, the Canadian Prime subscription doesn’t give nearly as good a value as the American one (no music, no movies, etc.), so I feel like it is not in Amazon Canada’s best interest to push user to get a Prime subscription as long as there’s not more value in it.
if they do, my level of shopping with them will drop to basically nil. Paying for shipping will be enough to greatly reduce whether they are a better deal or not on many items.
Exactly this. Several times I’ve had non-essential “wants” just sitting in my cart, waiting for just one more item to push it above $25 before shipping.
Increasing the threshold from $25 to $50, and I guarantee the time between my purchases will more than double.