On Friday, Amazon caught subscribers off-guard by increasing some their Amazon Prime members.
Members that pay for Amazon Prime on a monthly basis saw an increase to $12.99, up from $10.99. This represents an 18% increase. Even college students will experience a price hike, rising from $5.49 to $6.49 per month.
Yearly members don’t need to worry since the yearly member prices were left unchanged at $99 for regular members, and $49 for students.
Broken down, the yearly membership may offer a greater deal – but, a member would need to order often to offset the annual membership for the duration of the year. If paid monthly the cost would be $156 versus $99, a $57 difference.
Certainly, some may suggest that Amazon’s move to the price increase is to nudge monthly members into annual subscribers. By doing so, Amazon would be locking in members for a longer period, and leaving members with the sense of having to use Amazon with their Prime subscription more when considering future purchases.