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Is Amazon Prime worth it?


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I love prime. I love that I get things in two days. (sometimes overnight depending upon where it's coming from.) I love that if I forget something in an order, I don't have to wait until I have $25 for order, or else have to pay extra for shipping. (or if my order is $23 I don't have to pay shipping or find something to put it over.)

 

 

If you are a paid prime member, you can share it with four family members. paid members also have video streaming.

are you a downtown abby fan? they just got the exclusive rights to all video streaming.

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It depends. How much do you order from them? I like it because I order tons of stuff from there and no longer have to try to get a 25.00 order up every time I want one thing. I really think I was spending more than I otherwise would have. Also, if the 2 day shipping is important to you, that is another benefit, though it doesn't apply to every single thing. Even some Prime items will have a little note saying that they are not available to ship for a week or whatever. You also get a certain amount of streaming movies for free. We rarely use that though.

 

To me, it is well worth it for the (usually) fast shipping and the ability to buy one item at a time if that is all I need. ( I buy books, vitamins, movies, electronics, groceries, personal care items, household items, tools, etc. from there.)

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I buy most items with free shipping. I don't need to get things in one or two days. Sometimes stuff does come that quickly without prime. The only advantage we saw with prime was streaming, so we did the trial. We didn't find enough we liked on the streaming to make I worth it to us.

 

They usually have a free trial deal. Why don't you just try it to see how it fits with your household.

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I held out for a long time, but now that I have Prime, I buy so much more from my now-BFF Amazon. I feel guilty sometimes for not running around to my local stores more, but time is my most limited resource. If I can order my printer toner cartridge (for $12!) and have it in 2 days, as opposed to visiting a minimum of 2 office supply stores in Atlanta traffic to find the one that has it in stock (for $50), that alone is worth the price of Prime.

 

Terri

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Yes, I held off for the longest time.

 

Then I began thinking about my errands. Because I work and homeschool teens, my errands mostly come on the weekends. And most of the shopping other than food is 30 minutes away or more (i.e. Target, Costco, Michael's, computer supplies, etc.). And I was away for hours doing these errands on most Saturdays. And of course gas is expensive, and the traffic is horrid. Usually the things I buy then are things we need that week.

 

Now I do my local errands, and only need to go further every 4-6 weeks. Yes, Amazon Prime is lovely. And DH has found streaming videos there that Netflix doesn't have.

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I adore Prime. I order sooooo much from Amazon and while I don't get my stuff in 2 days, because of it having to go through the military postal system, it still arrives quickly. I totally take advantage of Prime. I also like that I can borrow some books for my Kindle (only 1 a month though!) and once we move back to the States, we'll be able to stream tons of movies and TV shows for free. Yay Prime!

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To offer a different perspective, I haven't felt like it would be worth it to me yet. I really have no trouble waiting till I have $25 for free shipping. Free Super-Saver shipping for me usually takes just a few days - paying $84/year to get a few packages a day or two faster doesn't seem worth it to me. It doesn't cover Marketplace items, which I often find myself buying when looking for a particular item. And I've already got Netflix - the only thing I've felt compelled to pay for from Amazon streaming is Dr. Who, and that doesn't come close to $84/year at $1.99 per episode.

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It really depends on what your habits are. If you think you'd buy a lot from them, it's probably worth it. Then you can enjoy the other benefits as a bonus.

 

We use the 2 day shipping a lot. I'm so used to it now, having had Prime for several years, I can't imagine life without it. I order books, food, weird stuff for the co-op where I teach science (most recently iron filings for a magnet demo -- I could've run around town looking for something along these lines, but I just ordered them and *poof* they were at my door in a couple of days).

 

We also use the streaming. We don't have Netflix, and I doubt we'd ever get it. But since it's free with Prime we use it. We use it on our main television, on a laptop, or on the Fire, depending on who wants to watch what. But I probably wouldn't get Prime just for that -- the search system is really awful, and they don't have everything we'd like, but, hey, it's essentially free because I'd pay for Prime anyway.

 

We rarely check out books. We used the free book check out for a volume of Hunger Games when the hold queue at the library was about 80 people long. Also for Wool, which I then became totally obsessed with and ended up buying almost all of Hugh Howey's books. Again, the search function is awful, but since it's an add-on we use it.

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Amazon Prime was worth it at Christmas time alone! With 12 nieces and nephews all over the country, it's hard to beat the click and ship options. I ordered all the gifts for my kids from Amazon this year, and I could do so without worrying about being upcharged for holiday shipping. All told, I probably ordered about 16 different packages at Christmas time that went around the country. At just $80 a year for membership, Amazon is losing money with my membership. Sending birthday gifts is convenient, and I don't pay shipping. I have a sister who lives in Hawaii. Shipping anything there is really pricey. Not with Amazon Prime! Sending just a handful of items her way pays for the membership alone.

 

It just makes shopping there more convenient. Need a book for school next week? I can order just one and not feel like it's a waste of shipping fees. Plus it will be here in time!

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I puffy heart love Amazon prime.

 

When I first got it, a year and a half ago, I thought the extras would make it worth it - borrowing the one free Kindle book per month and streaming. As it turned out, the streaming was pretty lame and the book borrowing better but not great, but I liked the actual shipping way more than I thought I would, and kept it.

 

It's way better now, b/c I have found both the Kindle library and the streaming have gotten MUCH better in the past several months. I actually just cancelled my Netflix streaming b/c Amazon has enough - they have all the shows we were watching on Netflix, and they finally have a decent selection of documentaries and educational type stuff for school purposes.

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As others said, it depends on your already established habits with Amazon. The biggest benefit to me is the 2-day shipping that comes UPS. I'd rather receive mail UPS over USPS any day. I order enough that prime is very cost effective. And I like that I can order only one item rather than waiting to fill the $25 requirement for super saving or whatever it is called. I've had times I ordered an item under $5.00. Really, I pay for the convenience and ease. Amazon is always a better option than my local Walmart. I can get items from Amazon in a faster time than it takes for me to plan a trip to Walmart. I suppose that's pure laziness but it's a service I'm willing to pay for. And I'm very thankful they offer it. :)

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I agree with Night Elf. I love my Prime. New release DVDs etc. they deliver the day the item is released (so they ship it early). I let Prime ship my gifts to my family across the country. The UPS man is my buddy now - when he drives past he honks and waves even if he doesn't have a delivery for me ;-)

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We've had Prime now for years and it has changed our shopping habits. We are another family that lives 20-30 minutes from major shopping areas. It is just so much easier to order, even small dollar items, when we are thinking of it and without worry about calculating shipping costs in the most advantageous way. Though I have a bit more shopping time available now than when I was schooling 3 at home, gas costs for running 30 minutes away if I wasn't planning to go in that direction otherwise, is something that we need to factor in.

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I love it. I do a lot of shopping via Amazon because with a little one and one on the way, I can often get things faster with 2 day shipping than if I had to get to the store myself. It's not quite as awesome as when I lived only an hour away from an Amazon facility and got things the morning after I ordered them, but it's still pretty nice, and for me it's worth the price.

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Wow, thank you guys! :) This is very helpful. We live in Japan and order several times a month, more than I would even want to admit. I suppose it would be helpful, although, I am not sure we would get things in 2 days. ;) Also, does the regular Kindle support streaming? How do you get streaming of the videos on your T.V.?

 

Thanks again. I think I shall try it out.

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I LOVE my Prime. It was a gift from my Mom this year but when that is up, now that you can pay by the month I will be able to continue it. I order everything from there!

 

That was just a trial for a couple of weeks last year, and they no longer offer the monthly payment option if you didn't sign up then.

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Wow, thank you guys! :) This is very helpful. We live in Japan and order several times a month, more than I would even want to admit. I suppose it would be helpful, although, I am not sure we would get things in 2 days. ;) Also, does the regular Kindle support streaming? How do you get streaming of the videos on your T.V.?

 

Thanks again. I think I shall try it out.

 

Does Amazon even offer instant video in Japan? I thought iTunes was the only US based major service that does.

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Does Amazon even offer instant video in Japan? I thought iTunes was the only US based major service that does.

 

 

I have a US debit card attached to my account and from what it looks like I will be able to get it. I live on a military installation so my provider is an American internet company as well....I am not sure but maybe it would be different.

 

Thanks for letting me know, I will need to check into it further.

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It's worth it for us many times over. We order a lot though and we do use the streaming. I love that I can click and get something in 2, often 1, day for certain. This is especially helpful for food or supplements for us. But convenient for less time sensitive items too. We used a special program, AmazonMom, to get free prime for over a year. I guess it worked for them because when it expired we just couldn't adapt to without!

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Totally worth if for us. I get some groceries there, tons of books--plenty of used ones ship free with Prime as well. We don't have a tv or Netflix and the Prime streaming is good enough for the amount of free time we have for movies. We get a lot of household goods through Amazon because it's so much easier (and often cheaper) than carting four kids to the store.

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