While this is true (and is nearly always redundant if you have Netflix anyway), it is a relatively recent addition.
Prime was basically just for the shipping perks for many years, and many of us still treat it that way.
This isn’t true any more. Netflix just dropped a metric ton of children’s programming my kids watch. They also magically showed up the next day on Amazon Prime Instant. In fact, the majority of shows we watch now of all descriptions are on Amazon Instant.
My experience fortunately hasn’t included the delays others have experience, for the most part. I have one late delivery in 10 years of Prime that Amazon Customer Service bent over backwards to find out what happened (carrier issue/mixup; I was offered a gift-card but this was like 6 years ago). We get tons and tons of stuff through Amazon due to the free shipping and along with the other benefits has served us very well.
In this latest case of mine it looks like the problem was that Amazon’s systems thought they had the thing in stock and it turns out they didn’t, at least where they thought it was, so it took them a full day to get the shipping info to FedEx, and then maybe nearly another whole day to actually get the item to FedEx so they could ship it.
I’ve been happy with my Prime shipping - in fact I just got a 100 pound treadmill delivered for free so, go Amazon!
The other thing with Prime shipping is that you need to review the shipping/stocking info for the item. I just bought something last night that stated on the product page that it would arrive by Thursday if bought right now. In Papageno’s case, it sounds like the system had an error. But that’s not necessarily the case with every item that arrives more than two business days after you order it.
Again, I’ve had Prime for over five years and can’t remember the last item that didn’t arrive when expected or even earlier. Do they make mistakes? I’m sure they do-- they must ship hundreds of thousands of Prime items every week.
I understand everyone’s frustration who had some items take more than two days (I get it). I am just saying with all the shipping I do (I travel a lot so I order almost everything from them and never have to worry what the shipping price will be - like on deodorant etc). Their prime deal is hard to beat even with a few mishaps.
As far as the movies etc they often have stuff that is not on Netflix (I watch a lot of BBC stuff). The good thing is that I can cancel Netflix for a few months until they get some new stuff and still have something to watch (we watch everything online - no regular television).
I can often find items cheaper on other sites than Amazon but then when I add in shipping costs Amazon almost always ends up being cheaper with the prime option (at least for me). Add in the cost with gas prices having to go to the store to buy things - I love Prime ( and not having to stand in line at Walmart) ;)
The one thing I do not like are the add on items and waiting to get those when you buy something at a certain level.
That add-on system is indeed annoying. If I buy something with Prime shipping I should be able to include add-on items. Instead I have to pay $25 total like some common super saver shipping peon.
What are you guys talking about re: these add-on items? I seem to be missing something in this discussion. Are you talking about “customers who bought X also bought Y” or something? And they’re not Prime eligible?
They are small ticket items that are supposedly cost prohibitive to ship alone, so the only way to buy them is part of a larger order.
An example: Amazon.com
Yeah, those addon items really piss me off. The whole point of prime is getting free shipping on everything. Amazon is breaking that pact.
OK, so you can’t get the add-on items shipped by themselves, but if you buy something that does qualify for Prime, it can go along in the same package without incurring further shipping cost, right?
But you can still get some fairly inexpensive items shipped for “free” with Prime. Case in point: I just ordered a keycap puller from Amazon because the Corsair K95 I bought at Fry’s didn’t come with one in the package (kinda BS when you get a $150 keyboard, but I digress). It was 6 bucks. Maybe the set of O rings I ordered along with the K70 (that were actually shipped with a set of wineglasses I ordered the same day) wouldn’t have come–no, it looks like they would have. Is is a “nothing below this price” kind of thing? I’m trying to figure out the rationale here.
Ah, I didn’t know they’d changed this. Probably to combat things like when I bought my son a memory foam mattress for his bed a year or two ago and paid $3.99 for next-day delivery. Unless they had a killer deal with the shipping company, they likely lost on that transaction.
If say you buy a $10 item that is Prime eligible and you also want to buy a $2 add-on item at the same time, you can’t do it since the total cost is below $25.
Really? That’s weird/annoying. Couldn’t they just put it in the same box? I guess I haven’t run into that.
One thing I was worried about is that I purchased a liquid product (witch hazel) and it is an add on product. But then I purchased Sentinels of the Multiverse and was worried they would try to ship the liquid with my game (which they did not do - to my relief).
I meant the $3.99 next day shipping option.
I was considering Prime for Canada but it’s even less of a deal. 2-day shipping and nothing else–no streaming video.
Another problem with add-on items is you can’t just outright pay for shipping on the item if you want. You have to hit the magical $25 barrier. They’re really annoying.
Wait, Prime doesn’t give you 2-day on everything? You still have to hit the $25 threshold? Bah.
I gather from what people are writing here that you only have to hit the $25 threshold if your order contains items specially designated as add-ons (even if one of the items you got in the same order is Prime eligible). But you can totally order something cheap and still get two-day “free” shipping with Prime as long as it’s not specially designated as an add-on–I just did over the weekend with a $6 item, and it’s getting here Wednesday.