Amazon Hikes Prime Monthly Membership Fee To $12.99
The monthly price for Amazon Prime is climbing from $10.99 to $12.99, which represents nearly a 20 percent uplift. Amazon has offered its monthly subscription pricing for the past two years, and it was primarily aimed at lower-income Americans that couldn't swing paying $99 all at once. The monthly installment pricing is also beneficial for those that might not shop on Amazon frequently, but rely heavily on Prime shipping during the holiday shopping season.
“Prime provides an unparalleled combination of shipping, shopping and entertainment benefits, and we continue to invest in making Prime even more valuable for our members,” said the company in a statement to Recode. “The number of items eligible for unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping increased in recent years from 20 million to more than 100 million items. We have expanded Prime Free Same-Day and Prime Free One-Day delivery to more than 8,000 cities and towns."
In other words, expanding Prime services costs money, so someone is going to have to pay for it. This price increase also means that those who unwisely choose to pay for a full year at the monthly rate will spend $156 instead of the previous $132. That's over a 50 percent increase compared to the $99 annual rate for Amazon Prime.
Amazon has made no indication as to whether it will raise the price of the annual Prime subscription. The company last raised the price from $79/year to the current $99/year nearly four years ago, which drew considerable backlash.
