Hey team,
I like buying from Amazon for things like Xbox One games, Nintendo Switch games as I find them to be the cheapest 99.9% of the time, however these purchases are above $39.00 so I generally get free postage anyway. So is there any point getting Prime Membership?
Thank you
Ben
stupid little things
So not needed or worth it then?
If they have specials on random goods that you enjoy, then it is worth it.
But even just shopping there normally for things less than $39 and/or qualify for the free shipping would suck (nonmember)
@capslock janitor: yep, like buying toothpaste or bandages on 50% discount delivered is pretty good… adult life has changed me…
Like 1kg bags of skittles.
Shampoo or Toilet paper, same price of Coles ow Whoolies, but with free delivery less to carry.
I've been a Prime member since day one and find their pricing is just about always the best on everything when you don't need to factor in shipping, especially when you do a international order for stuff you can't get here/if it's cheaper. I'd do 75% of all my shopping on Amazon. Definitely worth it in my opinion, especially for the criminally underrated Prime Video. It has an extremely rich/high quality library. Their originals are fantastic.
the best part is free shipping on oversea amazon, ebay us delivery cost 70 aud what a bloody rip off
Amazon cannot deliberately make your delivery go slower.
They might use a different delivery service or process it in the warehouse at a lower priority, because prime things are processed faster.
deliberately
tell that to the workers
That's just what Bezos wants you to think!!!
WAKE UP SHEEPLE
Sure they can. They just ship it later.
But at the petrol station, the flow rare of E10 is deliberately slower that 98/Ultra. So that next time you're in a rush ( ans who isn't ) you tend to gran the "fast flowing" petrol.
@cameldownunder: No they aren't.
Petrol pumps need to comply with standards issued by the National Measurement Institute and are either a low flow or high flow pump.
Petrol is not pumped from high flow pumps, these are generally only used for truck diesel at seperate truck pumps. You normally don't see these in the CBD.
@cameldownunder: I work at a petrol station that sells E10, and this is absolutely hogwash…
We have to have our pumps regulated for flow rate and accuracy by the government every so often, and the E10 pump is exactly the same as ULP and 98.
The only time fuel pumps slower (and only marginally) is when the servo's underground tank is low on fuel and that can happen to any of the fuels.
Well, by making non-prime order a lower priority, doesn't it count as deliberately slowing your delivery? From customer point of view, delivery time includes processing, packing and handling of your package. The time starts after your payment goes through.
You can negative all you can but they have longer processing time for the none prime free deliveries.
You also get the prime music service (although its a bit cut down but still awesome)
I've probably saved over $100 or more on shipping so id say it's worth it. Compared to eBay plus trash.
I think it's well worth it. We have a few things on subscribe and save which are cheaper than any other stores and would cover the cost of subscription alone.
Initially I signed up for free for Prime Day, cancelled after the free trial, and then needed to renew within a month anyway for something else that came up where they were cheaper than anywhere else.
Echoing the Ebay Plus trash. Signed up and got the $50 for $49. Have used it up, but jsut for the sake of it on things we needed like screen protectors and some pantry products that I couldn't find anywhere else because of panic buyers.
Agree, I had ebay plus the first year and it was oooook, now its hot garbage.
Yes, eBay plus is a trash, but with all these 40+ transaction I have done, I don't think there are still be $100 of savings on top of membership fee.
Most of the stuff I bought can be bought through woolies, coles, costco at comparable pricing.
More of a convenience factor.
Downside, all the pollution caused by the individual packaging and deliveries. There are days two separate deliveries within same day, and I got some soft drinks delivered from Perth to ACT.
I find value in it. $10 a month for just the streaming service is pretty good, throw in the free shipping and it sweetens the deal.
It's only $6.99 a month?
Even better then! haha, thought it was $9.90 for some reason..
sad i rly want some shows but theyre Nflix originals :(
$5 a month if you pay annual. Such good value
Mine is probably less than $3 per month since they screwed up some of my orders last year and offered to extend my annual membership twice
Amex has had cash backs the last 2 years, came to $30 first year and $36 second year.
Love it for the free delivery. It also means I can reuse the cartons to ship out my customers orders at my business.. That alone saves me buying cartons quite a bit! Lol
Amex has had cash backs the last 2 years, came to $30 first year and $36 second year.
Do you remember around which month we should expect it (if it's going to be offered this yr too)?
@virhlpool: vaguely around now, july/august.
there is another offer right now but bonus points, rather than $ back..
Save offer to eligible Card and receive 20 Bonus Membership Rewards Points for each $1 spent online or in-app on Amazon Prime membership by 31/07/2020, up to a maximum of 3,000 Bonus Points. Limited to 300,000 Cards. Exclusions apply.
Second this. We initially subscribed to Prime for the videos as it showed movies from our region - the free delivery just came as a bonus. $5 per month when you subscribe annually and it turns out even sweeter than Netflix via Turkey/Argentina ($7 for the mid-tier Netflix plan).
Yearly subscription is cheaper.
If you are like me and order consumables for the house then I think it is definitely worth it.
Example: I have a young baby so whenever I need more nappies or wipes I click to order more and they usually come the next day, are generally cheaper than the supermarket and saves me a trip out to get them.
Agree 100% If you order consumables for the house/baby supplies, it is more than worthwhile.
I will note though Amazon's packaging is excessive so I do try and buy in bulk where possible.
Agree on this one
Agreed. Order a few items and it came in their coffin sized box packaging.
Haha their packaging is too much!
I use the cartons when shipping out my customers orders :D
Saves me actually buying packing boxes a lot of the time
If you have a young baby its a good idea just to load up on stuff when its on super sale. Saves a lot more than just buying when needed from amazon.
Looking at my last nappy purhcase 12 months ago its heaps cheaper and has never returned to those prices again ( other retailers have not discounted to such levels again)
If you're unless of how much you need, your maternal health book has a graph of weight gain, you can make a pretty good guess of what you need from that.
yes
I've been on amazon prime for the last year or so and ive been pretty happy. The occasional amazing deals that come along with free shipping make it great. Ebay plus on the other hand………
ebay plus is just crap and annoying - prime cuz of covid has assummed greater import.
$84 a year. That's postage for a fair few sub-$39 orders before you break even, so I think not unless you are genuinely wanting Prime Video or to make lots of small orders.
And most of the Amazon deals posted here don't seem to last very long.
But I believe pointing this out will make the Amazon groupies a bit uncomfortable. Might be an inconvenient truth for them that it's not really a deal or saving to buy a small item on Amazon that could be bought for the same price in their weekly grocery shop. They all keep voting up deals for common grocery items that are the same price or cheaper at local shops. For example:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/550474
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/548356
$59 if you pay yearly.
same price in their weekly grocery shop
And only because Amazon have dynamic pricing and match competitors' special offers. Overtly predatory tactics. I don't know why people support this behaviour.
You don't think Woolies and Coles destroyed your local corner stores using the same pricing tactics? They send out prices spies every day of the week to marginally undercut the competition.
Yes they're aholes too. Capitalism expects and rewards being an ahole. But their reach is a lot more limited (groceries vs everything, Australian vs global), and arguably give more back to the local economy / society, not necessarily because they're nice but because of the needs of their operation.
I don't have any special sympathy for any retailer, often not even for indy shops which are often owned by a few very wealthy people rather than many small shareholders and who otherwise have no participation in the business other than collecting dividends, but it's about spreading the load so competition remains in place. Amazon is a juggernaut like none other yet; IMO it will bite people hard if they don't consider this.
Amazon is a juggernaut like none other yet; IMO it will bite people hard if they don't consider this.
Look at the markets where Amazon has much deeper penetration or larger base (e.g. US, India). I don't think it has caused any more damage to the independent stores than the concept of e-commerce itself. I believe that market adapts and evolves when such permanent changes take place. A lot of businesses change their business model (e.g. offering delivery to door in their catchment, starting a shopfront on Amazon itself, sell something which Amazon can't, etc) to adjust in this new norm and still remain competitive. Amazon has many 3rd party sellers who are 'online-only' businesses (and some are hybrid), who knows, many of them could be ex-owners of brick and mortar stores.
Giving up against a disruptive business model is not a solution; evolving with it is. Change is inevitable but businesses which adapt fast still win.
I don't think [Amazon] has caused any more damage to the independent stores than the concept of e-commerce itself.
Part of the problem is that a loss leading white label clone from Amazon come's with Amazon's customer service. Amazon claims they have 2 hour delivery in 2000+ locations. If you can't compete on originality, price, service or delivery, what is left? Brand?
Don't get me wrong, I don't see them as a disruptive business model in Australia until they learn to localise.
Amazon matches Chemist Warehouse prices on some colognes. Prices go down in line with the Chemist Warehosue catalog.
You don't think Woolies and Coles destroyed your local corner stores using the same pricing tactics?
yes they do, and now my local corner shop has been closed since i was 10. But for some reason i still get tim tams at half price, and smiths at half price every second week.
So even though woolies and coles has decimated the small players, they still do loads of promotions. I'm sure i pay less for a bag of chips every day since i was 10.
Now look at Amazon, do they ever provide price leadership for my timmys? They always seem to just price match, so if amazon kills off woolies and coles, can i still expect to pay $1.80 for my timmys every second week, or without competition will amazon's algo just leave it at RRP all the time?
@cloudy: You're deluded if you think Woolworths or Coles takes the hit for promotions. The companies supplying them takes the hit with the supermarkets maintaining their profit margin. The companies supplying are also not always willingly providing the promotions. They are forced onto them by the supermarkets.
Similarly suppliers are squeezed on a number of fronts, not the least being end of aisle space, but also "voluntary" contributions to marketing, rebates, extra marketing fees to pay for Custis Stone / other celebrity chefs, range reviews to see if enough sales are justifying their space, bidding against other suppliers for shelf space, paying the supermarkets for efficiency improvement systems they were implementing and so on.
Suppliers are price-takers and any resistance is swiftly punished. When Arnott's insisted on an increased price for its biscuits, Coles cut the range of Arnott's it carries. Yes, they do loads of promotions, but not at their own expense.
https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2014/august/1406815200/m…
@Daabido: I never said coles and woolies takes a hit. Where did I say that?
I’m just saying amazon doesn’t appear to provide price leadership and woolies and coles does. If am wrong on this feel free to point to one ozbargakn post where amazon has half price grocery product, where it isn’t price matching wooles coles etc
Haha no that's called business, but don't let that stop you from your rant!
The Catholic church, the Mafia, and drug cartels are also businesses. Not quite sure what your point is - do you support their behaviours?
@fantombloo: They aren't businesses. They may be structured like a business and run on similar lines but they aren't actually businesses. And notably all have significant exceptions in their operating models to how businesses are run (and the requirements to follow the law)
And of course in some cases all your examples have significant advantages (to themselves) in their operating models that businesses don't have..
Or get conned by Jerry and pay stupid prices everywhere.
I think this "predatory tactics" is better for consumers than shareholders…
+1 for prime…save heaps on postage i.e 20kg dog food.
good for bulky or heavy stuff.
find some decent discounted prices on home stuff ie electric toothbrush or computer stuff
still have ebayplus…but its gone downhill..promotions arent as good these days
Check your local independent per store. They will probably deliver food for free
Very much this - our local pet food store (which is independent) now offers local delivery which is really neat - and it means they're employing an additional person to do the deliveries as well (they don't outsource it..)
Surprised no one has mentioned free twitch prime.
I love getting free pc games every month.
:-)
free limited music as well
also cheap shape biscuits Aus posted is good
With the free twitch prime too, you can subscribe to your favourite streamer for free each month. Usually $10, skips the ads and puts a little bit of cash in their pockets.
Hmm we should all sub to me, I'll release a video of me during on rust every day for a month then keep collecting my $$$
Yeah, funny how it's cheaper to get Amazon Prime and all it's benefits and use that to subscribe to your favourite streamer rather than buying a subscription itself. lol
$200k GTA money a week ;)
I join it when I want something with free shipping (because the cost of shipping is usually more than the monthly fee), especially if it comes from Amazon US, then I buy a bunch of things during that month, and cancel at the end of the month. When something else comes along that's worth it, I do it again. I probably have it 2-3 times a year all up. Maybe this is too stingy even for OzBargain!
No, I do this as well! It's also perfect for Prime Video since it doesn't have a huge amount of new releases each month so I can watch everything I want to in one go, and wait for the next time I resubscribe to watch the next batch.
At least you know where your 2 negs cam from.
I follow the same strategy too :-)
I do enjoy the Prime Video content + the Limited Amazon Music too.
Do u keep making new email accounts everytime too?
Free shipping for all items is handy, plus Prime Video has all seasons of "The Office"
The Office is the only reason I got Prime!
parks and rec too?
they also have It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Yes
I use it for prime video. Amazon prime shipping is just an added bonus.
same here. The tv app is pretty bad, but some decent shows on there
I find it worthwhile and has pretty good value with Prime Video and free shipping as others have mentioned. The Music offering is a nice bonus as well.
Poll
One of the best deals around IMO. $7 a month for unlimited free shipping + video and music streaming services is great value. I find amazing deals on Amazon all the time, not to mention consumables and grocery items at lower prices than the supermarkets. I have packages arriving multiple times a week.
Yes, it's worth it.
I use it for the free shipping. Prime Video is a good bonus and I picked up some bargains at the Prime Days.
Yes. eBay Plus on the other hand… :|
Agreed. Amazon Prime is so much better than EBay plus. Music, a decent video service and free postage and returns. Customer service is also excellent. Packages usually arrive the next day here in Melbourne. Mind you my latest package has gone from Dandenong to Sunshine to Phillip Island (Where it appear to be just sitting), and it’s supposed to be delivered to the inner East in Melbourne today…
If it is late you call them and they will offer you either $5 credit or extend your membership by a day. Excellent service from them
Got a $15 credit. Package hasn't moved though, still in Philip island. Bloody Australia post.
These "membership fee" sellers are fine for people that buy a lot and can get the value out of it.
For the others it can be a waste of money. The choice is yours.
But you can join up just for the month, as the need arises. Instead of paying $59 per year and not using it, you can pay $6.99 to cover you for your random purchase and any others for the next 30 days, PLUS the added benefits of music/video/gaming on demand services. $7 is probably about the cheapest you can send ONE small package via AusPost, even if it is a $2 item. You can make multiple Amazon orders every day for the month and it will still only cost you that single $6.99 monthly membership.
Ebay plus was always my go to option, but I think next year I'll be doing Amazon Prime and ditching Ebay
Congratulations on ditching the worst and dodgiest service from the US.
Agreed. My partner is American and was confused why eBay was so popular over her prior to Amazon starting. He told me he doesn't even own an eBay account
I've now jumped ship from Ebay to AliExpress.
Might as well cut out the weird middleman :P
Enjoy the 10 week wait lol
@DryScissors: That's the same with Ebay :P
I'm just chalking this up as early birthday/Christmas presents :P
You get prime video. You can also buy stupid little things and get free shipping.