Amazon is increasing the price of its Prime membership by 20% in the U.S. from $99 to $119 annually, as announced yesterday by the company, during their quarterly earnings call.
The increase will start on June 16 and is the first price increase in the U.S. in four years; the last price increase jumped from $79 to $99 USD in 2014.
What about Amazon Prime membership in Canada—will we see a similar price increase here? Well rest assured because Canadians won’t see a price hike.
An Amazon Canada spokesperson confirmed to iPhone in Canada via email “This price change is only taking place in the U.S.; the price remains $79 in Canada.”
The company recently admitted for the first time it had over 100 million paying Prime members worldwide and earlier this week launched sales of its new Echo Spot in Canada, which includes a new display with the smart speaker.
Currently, Amazon Prime membership in Canada includes Prime Music, Prime Photos, Prime Video, Twitch Prime, free two-day shipping, Amazon Family, early access to deals and member exclusive discounts on pre-orders and more for $79 per year. Students get Prime for 50% off.
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Good. I dropped Prime because they used Intelecom Courier too often. They had a 12 hour delivery window so if I sent it to work, often it would come after I left or if I sent it home they’d come during the day. I had no way of reliably being where I needed to be to get my package quickly. Also, they repeatedly missed their target delivery dates. I had the option of shipping to a Canada Post location, but in most cases that negated one day delivery in Montreal, so Prime was pretty useless.
And now many items can’t be sent to a Canada Post location…this seems arbitrary.
I won’t be renewing my prime membership in Canada when it expires next month. I prefer to order from the USA site because they have more products that ship faster and cheaper.
Sales in USD$ and subjected to Import duties no less…Not sure its cheaper in the end.
Agreed, you can get some deals on .com vs .ca, but they’re not particularly common by the time you convert to CAD and add on all the additional charges and fees. You always pay shipping to ship to Canada (even if you have a US Prime account) and it is definitely not faster.
I’ve been mentality preparing myself for a price hike. When Amazon Prime started introducing Canada with Twitch Prime, Prime Video, and now Prime Music, a price hike will definitely happen. I’m actually okay with it with the amount of purchasing I make on Amazon alone plus the occasional use of Prime Video and Music. It’ll be worth it for me.
That’s good news… I do love Prime! Always between 1 or 2 days. Amazon TV though, not impressed. Was also thinking of abandonning it at 119$US because even without Prime the shipping delays were already good. But at 79$ I’ll renew it.
Many people are having quality issues with Amazon resellers and they’re unsatisfied how the matter is being dealt with by Amazon. As such, I wouldn’t be surprised if in general Prime members start to decline. If that’s the case then USA customers should start seeing promotions on Prime memberships.
If you’re not a prime member, shipment delay is really random. I personally subscribe because of this. I receive many of my pre-order stuff 1 or 2 weeks after the initial release date, stock to the “not yet shipped” thing. Even items currently in stock had random delays – sometimes it arrives in 2 days, sometime it took over a week. So thats why I finally jump to the boat. I think they do it especially to encourage people to subscribe.
Not….yet.
Not increasing in Canada?? Yeah ok. I buy that. Sure. Yep.
Has anyone tried Prime Video and Prime Music ? How does it compare to Netflix and Apple Music ? As a student, if I can get Apple Music+Netflix+Prime for 40 bucks a year, that would be a great deal.
Prime Video content is limited mostly to Amazon originals and a bunch of old TV shows. No real competition for Netflix but Netflix won’t deliver me anything.
Music… not too much current stuff but lots of legacy tracks. Again, probably not as good as Spotify or Apple Music (I don’t subscribe to either), but for the price better than a sharp stick in your eye.
I am not surprised that we (Canadians) did not get a price increase. We do not get anywhere near the same benefits of Amazon Prime that our US neighbours get, nor do we get the same amount of content of movies, TV Shows, music and books.
I personally love my prime subscription. One day shipping is amazing and if its not available, the 2 day shipping is always there in time as well. Also they have a great costumer support, $79 a year is not that much if you order a lot online.
BTW I use my prime sub strictly for shipping. I dont use amazon prime video or music at all.
Me I keep it, but 2-day shipping where I live = 3-4 days to get my stuff. 1 day shipping, no such option for me. I still think it’s a great option; Love watching some of their TV Shows on Primevideo.