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Comment by dvt | Hacker News Reader

What I find really interesting is that as far as product and pricing strategy goes, starting low and raising prices is regarded as a big no-no. The argument being that customers (especially consumers, e.g. non-business clients) respond very negatively to raising prices, especially after getting used to price X. And yet Amazon has continued to hike up the price of Prime and people don't seem to be leaving.

Why? Does Prime really have no competitors? Are people "locked in" the Amazon ecosystem (akin to Facebook/Instagram)? Even though I could never work for Amazon as a "worker bee" (engineering or otherwise), I think Jeff Bezos and the people he surrounds himself with are absolute business geniuses.

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Netflix costs roughly $130 per year.

Apple Music costs $120 per year.

Shipping costs $5-$7 per package.

They are offering less value, but also a lower annual cost.

And, Netflix's prices have gone up with little cost to their user base. So I'm not sure the parent is correct.

Most prime subscribers would have these subscriptions as well as Prime so it's not really a saving, just some bonus content.

Subscribe to Youtube TV 40 dollar per MONTH...

Apple Music is $99 if paid for by the year

This is just a hunch from me, but I think it has to do with the fact that people are in for a year usually. When the next year comes, you usually don't even remember how much you paid last time. It feels similar to how cable companies increase base prices after "deals" expire.

True, but cable companies/ISPs generally have a monopoly. I guess Amazon kind of fits that bill, too.

> you usually don't even remember how much you paid last time.

Amazon doesn't inform users when the year is up and your card is being charged again (unless the card has expired or some other issue).

They've become pretty good, however, at tracking/surveilling their users to "improve services" and spam your inbox with product offerings but they can't manage to let you know when charging you for Prime.

In contrast, I use a prepaid cell service that I set up to charge monthly. The day before a CC charge, I get a SMS message informing me that my card will be charged. The next day, I get a confirmation SMS about the results.

If you go into your account, you can hit a button that says "remind me before renewing" and it will email you.

Thanks! I just set up the reminder. It really should be opt-out but I'm sure Amazon knows what it's doing... Also curious if Amazon will send it's customers an email regarding the price increase (regardless of their settings).

Also strange... it also states on the left-hand panel (as of 27apr18, 1pm PDT):

> Next Payment: On September 25, 2018, you will be charged $99.00 for a year of Prime.

From all the articles I've read regarding this, the cut-off date for existing prime customers is June 16th. If I'm to be charged $119 on Sept2018, it should already be noted on the Prime Pages. Seems like a user-hostile action on Amazon's part.

If people complain about the price but still pay then your price is just about right.

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