Hacker News Reader

Comment by WheelsAtLarge | Hacker News Reader

I like the idea Prime but slowly and surely Amazon is pricing people out. At $119 I have to think that it might not be worth being part of it. Do I really order that much from Amazon that paying $119 ahead of any purchases is worth it? I don't think so.

View on HN

Maybe, maybe not.

I'm sure the economists at Amazon have done the analysis. Now that the market is cornered and inelastic, revenues will increase with rising prices.

Prime provides much more value than the order shipping benefit, which is part of their reason for the increase.

What value is that?

Prime Video for example, which is their streaming video service, including original content.

Maybe for some. I never watch anything on it.

Ok? Not every service has to be worth it for everyone does it? I don't spend much money on skateboards to be honest but I don't see the need to ask sarcastic questions about their business model just because it doesn't apply to me.

No it doesn't. I should have asked, "besides Prime video" but I assumed that was well known enough. I was wondering if there was some lesser known benefits that might be interesting, because otherwise, with this price increase, I'll probably cancel.

You're probably not paying for a non-skateboard-related service that comes with free skateboards.

If you don't like it, don't subscribe to it. I don't see why people need to be snarky.

There are a 100m prime subscribers globally. I've found that if I were unhappy, unsubscribing will continue to leave me irrelevant, but snarky comments can enrage fans of the service/neutral observers.

Ok, let's imagine for a second that I offer a service. I will deliver any item you want to your door in two days, and I will also supply you with as much manure as you want.

Most people would like the first benefit more than the second. If you're a farmer, maybe you want the manure, but to most people that "benefit" doesn't apply. Is my average customer sarcastic in claiming that all my service offers is two day shipping? No. That's just the only part of the service they would ever care about.

I would bet that most prime customers are interested specifically in the shipping, so to them the fringe benefits are irrelevant.

Ok so you could say 'I don't see the value in Prime Video myself', rather than asking 'what value', which makes people think you are genuinely asking a question.

I'm not the person who made the original comment, just someone who found your response silly.

I'm using the generic 'you' as an indefinite pronoun.

Fair enough. Then I would say that when "I" said, "Maybe for some. I never watch anything on it," "I" had already acknowledged that not everyone saw things the same way as "me."

Again - I bet you that most people care about the shipping and nothing else. That is an important fact when considering the value prime offers.

That service alone isn't worth 9.99

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

I have it pretty much for the no limit two day shipping feature. It'd be great to have a "shipping only" version at a lower price.

Then they should offer "prime light" without these "benefits".

Amazon is trying to leverage their dominant market position to enter video streaming, music streaming, ... etc.. And have customers pay higher rates on top of that. At some point that becomes abuse of monopoly.

its 100% still viable.

Our household saves more on delivery fees then annual subscription price and you get access to their movies and TV shows, plus other prime stuff (early access to items, etc.)

I think some will be turned off but it won't really be a lot of folks at the end of the day.

Our household saves more on delivery fees then annual subscription price

Are you sure? Amazon has free shipping for orders over $25, if you didn't have that "free" shipping, how many times would you pay for shipping versus consolidating multiple orders? Would you count on free 2-day shipping or order far enough ahead to get the free shipping.

I'm a long-time prime member when when my renewal comes up, I'm not sure I'm going to renew. Since I'm already a Netflix subscriber and the Amazon "free prime" catalog is worse than Netflix, prime video is not much of a draw for me

Valid points. However, I do save on shipping based on just the ease of use.

Most items on amazon I can get next day for free. Sometimes it saved my bacon (forgetting a gift or some household item) and sometimes I just get what I want faster. That aspect is very appealing to me.

If they remove the next day shipping or start charging I will reconsider because it won’t make sense to wait for stuff that I can easily go to a store and buy.

So yeah, they have free shipping but not on next day delivery.

You can also pay monthly. It's more expensive per month, but you may save over the course of the year if you bulk purchase on months you need amazon prime.

It’s also convenience. 2 days and not thinking about shipping. It’s more than just calculating the total of all you pay for shipping IMO

Many sellers offer free shipping without prime. Or offer the same item cheaper than prime with a slightly longer shipping delay.

aka several logins, several places I have to maintain credit cards for (depending on which one I get most points on), several services that can get hacked and leave my details in a public database, etc...

Not different logins. The same item, also on Amazon, sold without Prime shipping is very often cheaper than with Prime. Of course Amazon defaults to not showing you this.

Ah, I took several sellers to mean target, jet, etc. My mistake.

Another approach is you commit to the decision and make sure it is worth it. I believe that is a rational analysis.

Yeah I wouldn't even think about it for 2 seconds

Reply on news.ycombinator.com