If you're a regular Amazon shopper and you haven't yet signed up for an Amazon Prime membership, then you're missing out. The Prime membership grants you access to some outstanding benefits including exclusive deals and cashback offers, free expedited shipping, and even unfettered access to an excellent streaming platform. An annual subscription costs $139, which isn't exactly cheap, but you do get what you pay for and more. With Amazon's October Prime Day fast approaching, there's even more incentive to sign up. October Prime Day - which runs from October 8 to October 9 - is easily one of the best times of year to score the lowest prices on just about everything. The best deals are exclusively available to Amazon Prime members. If you don't want to commit to the $139 annual fee just yet, there are less expensive (and potentially free) options for you to test the waters and participate in Prime Day.
Amazon Prime Plans and Prices
Sign up for a 30-Day Free Trial to Amazon Prime
If you're a first-time subscriber or you haven't signed up for Amazon Prime in the last 12 months, then you're eligible for a 30-day free trial to Amazon Prime. To see if you're eligible, all you have to do is jump over to the Prime membership page and see if there's a banner up top promoting the free trial. This is a generous trial that gives you access to all of Prime's perks, including access to exclusive Prime Day deals. If you sign up now, the trial period will expire in August, meaning it will cover Prime Day 2024 and you can cancel your Prime membership at no additional cost.
Sign up for 1 Month of Amazon Prime for $14.99
For those of you who are ineligible for the trial, you can still take advantage of the Amazon Prime Day sale without paying for a full year. Instead, you can pay $15 for one month of membership. This is the ideal choice for someone who might not shop at Amazon regularly, isn't interested in Prime Video, but wants to participate in the Prime Day sale.
Sign up for 1 Year of Amazon Prime for $139
If you are a frequent Amazon shopper who appreciates expedited delivery and wants access to Prime Video, then getting the annual membership will save you in the long run. Paying month by month will cost you $180, so you'll save about 23% off by pre-paying for the annual membership up front.
Students Can Get 50% Off Amazon Prime
Also anyone ages 18 to 24
Amazon understands that in general, students are bit more strapped for cash than adults. So they're offering two great Prime membership perks: a prolonged 6 month trial membership, and 50% off an annual membership. These are outstanding deals, so long as you are eligible. A little known fact is that you don't need to be a student if you are between age 18 and 24. If you're within that age range, all you need to do is supply a passport, ID, or license that proves you're that age. Everyone else, however, needs to provide proof of student status at a higher education institute (colleges or vocational schools).
Amazon Prime Membership Perks
There are some pretty significant benefits to signing up for Prime Membership. A couple of these perks will save you money, whether it be through cash back or exclusive deals, which means that frequent Amazon shoppers can easily make back the initial cost of the membership.
Access to Amazon Prime Day Deals and Prime Exclusive Deals
If you've navigated the Amazon storefront enough times, you should have seen many products that advertise a lower price exclusively for Prime members. You'll be sure to see a lot of these during Prime Day 2024, but they're pretty common throughout the entire year. You'll need a Prime membership to get these deals at the lowest price and is one of the main reasons for signing up. Some of these savings could be upwards of hundreds of dollars so you could potentially make back what you spent on a single transaction.
Free 2 Day Shipping and Same-Day Shipping
This is the perk that started off the craze. Amazon typically offers free standard shipping on orders over $25. The Prime membership removes the $25 minimum threshold and expedites the shipping speed. In fact, there are some items that can arrive the same day for free, although this super fast shipping still has a $25 minimum. The number of eligible items is well into the millions, but not everything qualifies for the free 2 day shipping, especially items from marketplace vendors that drop ship their items as well as certain oversized items like TVs or furniture. But for mostitems shipped from an Amazon warehouse, you should expect to receive it in a very short timeframe. Some other shipping related perks include free release date delivery for new product launches and free Amazon credit when you opt for slower no-rush delivery options.
5% Cashback with the Amazon Prime Visa Card
Amazon Prime members can sign up for the Prime Visa Card and get 5% cash back on all of their Amazon purchases. That's essentially getting an additional 5% discount on every deal you score on Amazon. This is a Chase issued Visa credit card that can also be used elsewhere. It comes with some other cardmember benefits like no foreign transaction fees, 2% cashback at gas stations, 3% cashback on Chase Travel, and more. Even better, this card has no annual fee, so you don't have to pay any more money other than the cost of your Prime membership.
Unlimited Access to Prime Video
Prime Video has established itself as one of the most popular and worthwhile streaming platforms around. Amazon has put a lot of money into acquiring and building out famous IPs. Some of their exclusive blockbuster releases include The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power TV series, The Boys, Fallout, and Reacher. Prime Video also hosts a lot of new movies like Oppenheimer, The Rise of Gru, and Five Nights at Freddy's. We know how quickly the monthly cost of streaming services can add up, so it's nice to get a very robust platform that's already included with a membership you're already subscribed to.
Are There any Amazon Prime Alternatives?
If you're looking to take your business elsewhere, theare are actually quite a few Amazon Prime alternatives worth considering. The most direct equivalent would be a Walmart+ membership, which comes with a whole host of different benefits akin to Prime. You can also sign up for a Target Circle membership to get access to exclusive deals and offers you wouldn't get otherwise.
