Amazon Increases Annual Fee of Prime to $99 and Prime Fresh to $299

It’s a whopping increase of $20 in the yearly rate of Amazon’s Prime service. The facility offers two day shipping time along with several perquisites. It went from $79 to $99. Starting from March 20th this new fee gets instituted. 

Amazon officially states, “For the first time since it was introduced nine years ago, the price of Prime is going up. Existing Prime members will pay $99 per year on their annual renewal date and Amazon Student members will pay $49.”

Besides the usual amenities, Prime allows its members video clips and lends Kindle users an e-book every month. A streaming music service is in the pipeline too. 

Amazon already had plans to increase the price of Prime. In fact, it planned on a price hike of $20 to $40. It’s a blessing of sorts that the former rate was chosen instead of the latter. 

The fuel charges and transportation costs were becoming astronomical in their upward spiral. That is why the timely decision was taken. Prices of Prime have undergone changes in Germany and the United Kingdom as well. 

Amazon also clears that “At the end of the Amazon Prime free trial or annual membership period, your card will be charged automatically for the next membership period. If your membership renews before April 17, 2014, you’ll be charged at a membership rate of $79. If your membership renews on or after April 17, 2014, you’ll be charged at a membership rate of $99.”

Amazon is looking forward to expanding its Prime service. It will make the selective process even more fine-tuned for its valuable customers. The rising expectations and inflationism has created this situation. 

After all the costs are deducted, the amount the fees ought to have increased is $100. So $99 is pretty close. Meanwhile, the Prime Fresh service is available for $299 per year. Student members of Prime will only have to pay $49 per year though. 

“The Prime Fresh membership fee will remain unchanged at $299. If you’re a current Prime or Student member, we’ve sent an e-mail to the address on your account with the renewal date specific to your membership. Current members will still receive all the benefits of Amazon Prime, including unlimited FREE Two-Day Shipping for eligible purchases, unlimited streaming with Prime Instant Video, and the ability to borrow books from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library,” also states Amazon.

So if you come to think of it in the end the odds come out even. The increase in charges per year will inevitably lead to betterment in quality and service. Amazon, in the capacity of Jeff Bezos’s huge firm, has its eyes set on the future. 

It wants to outdo itself and honor its founder by becoming an even more creative enterprise than it is reputed to be. Amazon members will be paying up for its cool services since they get their money’s worth from the shipping company that sells virtually everything.    

Amazon Prime members will pay $99 per year on their annual renewal date and Amazon Student members will pay $49. $AMZN

— CNBC (@CNBC) March 13, 2014

Amazon makes the Prime price increase to $$99/year official: goes into effect in April 2015. pic.twitter.com/esoxfYucQo

— Sarah Weinman (@sarahw) March 13, 2014

Source: Gigaom