Article from telegraph discusses Amazon Prime:
Former Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are reuniting to present a new car show on Amazon's streaming video service.
The catch? It's only available to Amazon customers who pay for its "Prime Instant Video" membership, which costs £5.99 a month, or the online giant's £79-a-year "Prime" service. Both offer a month’s free trial.
But for online shoppers who get stung by delivery charges, particularly on low-value purchases, paying extra for Amazon Prime could save in the long run – or so the e-commerce giant claims.
Prime members tend to spend twice as much as the rest of Amazon’s customers, according to research by the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, the market researchers.
It gives customers free one-day delivery on millions of items on its website, as well as access to 500,000 Kindle titles to “borrow” free of charge.
It may be great for Amazon – but do Prime members get a good deal?
Delivery
Depending on what you buy, Amazon typically charges £5.99 for one-day delivery, £2.75 for first-class post (which takes up to two business days), £8.99 for express delivery (you will receive the item by midday the following day) or £14.99 for delivery on the evening you purchase the item.
So, using the one-day delivery charge of £5.99, you would have to buy 13 items a year to make the £79 annual membership worthwhile.
However, if you spend at least £10 each time you buy something, you qualify for free “Super Saver” delivery. This takes three to five days.
It depends on how quickly you want the item, but if you don’t mind waiting between three and five days, Super Saver offers a good deal. As most items on Amazon cost more than £10, it won’t be difficult to meet this threshold. And if you are buying now for Christmas the delivery time isn’t vital.
But if next-day delivery matters, Amazon Prime would be worthwhile if you buy more than 13 items each year.
Kindle titles
Prime members get access to 500,000 Kindle books to “borrow” from the “Kindle owners’ lending library”. You can borrow only one book each month. But there are unlimited e-reader subscription services like Scribd (£5.50 a month) and 24symbols (£7). Amazon also has “Kindle Unlimited” at £7.99 a month for as many novels as you wish.
If you are happy borrowing only one book a month with Amazon Prime, you would save up to £84 a year, by not subscribing to a rival e-reader subscription service.
On its own this service costs £5.99 a month, but as a Prime member you get it free. It gives you access to 15,000 film and television titles, among them shows such as The Walking Dead and Lost.
You could, as an alternative, buy the “seasons” of these shows separately to stream online or download. Season one of The Walking Dead costs £1.89 and season three costs £19.99. If you regularly watch shows and films online, Prime Membership, which includes Prime Instant Video, is more cost-effective than buying the titles separately.
Amazon’s competitor for streaming services, Netflix, also costs £5.99 a month.
As an Amazon Prime member streaming with Prime Instant Video rather than Netflix, you would save £5.99 a month, or £72 a year.
Former Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are reuniting to present a new car show on Amazon's streaming video service.
The catch? It's only available to Amazon customers who pay for its "Prime Instant Video" membership, which costs £5.99 a month, or the online giant's £79-a-year "Prime" service. Both offer a month’s free trial.
But for online shoppers who get stung by delivery charges, particularly on low-value purchases, paying extra for Amazon Prime could save in the long run – or so the e-commerce giant claims.
Prime members tend to spend twice as much as the rest of Amazon’s customers, according to research by the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, the market researchers.
It gives customers free one-day delivery on millions of items on its website, as well as access to 500,000 Kindle titles to “borrow” free of charge.
It may be great for Amazon – but do Prime members get a good deal?
Delivery
Depending on what you buy, Amazon typically charges £5.99 for one-day delivery, £2.75 for first-class post (which takes up to two business days), £8.99 for express delivery (you will receive the item by midday the following day) or £14.99 for delivery on the evening you purchase the item.
So, using the one-day delivery charge of £5.99, you would have to buy 13 items a year to make the £79 annual membership worthwhile.
However, if you spend at least £10 each time you buy something, you qualify for free “Super Saver” delivery. This takes three to five days.
It depends on how quickly you want the item, but if you don’t mind waiting between three and five days, Super Saver offers a good deal. As most items on Amazon cost more than £10, it won’t be difficult to meet this threshold. And if you are buying now for Christmas the delivery time isn’t vital.
But if next-day delivery matters, Amazon Prime would be worthwhile if you buy more than 13 items each year.
Kindle titles
Prime members get access to 500,000 Kindle books to “borrow” from the “Kindle owners’ lending library”. You can borrow only one book each month. But there are unlimited e-reader subscription services like Scribd (£5.50 a month) and 24symbols (£7). Amazon also has “Kindle Unlimited” at £7.99 a month for as many novels as you wish.
If you are happy borrowing only one book a month with Amazon Prime, you would save up to £84 a year, by not subscribing to a rival e-reader subscription service.
On its own this service costs £5.99 a month, but as a Prime member you get it free. It gives you access to 15,000 film and television titles, among them shows such as The Walking Dead and Lost.
You could, as an alternative, buy the “seasons” of these shows separately to stream online or download. Season one of The Walking Dead costs £1.89 and season three costs £19.99. If you regularly watch shows and films online, Prime Membership, which includes Prime Instant Video, is more cost-effective than buying the titles separately.
Amazon’s competitor for streaming services, Netflix, also costs £5.99 a month.
As an Amazon Prime member streaming with Prime Instant Video rather than Netflix, you would save £5.99 a month, or £72 a year.