Anybody think Amazon Prime is still a good deal at $99.00?

[Overmind One]

I had Amazon Prime for two years before I canceled it. At the time, it was $79.00 and it included free 2-day shipping and allowed access to Prime Instant Video. The shipping alone was worth the price because I was spending lots of money on there at the time. When they jumped it to $99.00, I canceled. I was headed in that direction because I was not ordering nearly as much and I discovered I could put together orders without Prime and still get free shipping (not necessarily 2-day, but still free).

Fast forward two more years to now, and I just started a new Prime trial for 30-days. Not because I have reconsidered, but because Amazon was begging me so hard during the completion of my recent order (tonight), displaying no less than FIVE nag offers. For the next 30 days, I can access Prime Instant and get free 2-day shipping including the order I made tonight.

For the past 10 minutes, I have been browsing through Amazon's movie and TV library and I see that most everything they have is not free to watch. The stuff that costs nothing to watch is lame stuff IMO. To top it off, the "filter" in the left hand column you use to narrow the search will still display the paid stuff even if you filter only for "Free". Not wowing me there, Amazon.

Then there is the shipping...why has Amazon engaged the services of OnTime Delivery Services? The past three times they have been the ones to deliver my orders, and the orders arrived late in the evening even though the morning of the second day it showed as "Delivered". Twice, I had to call Amazon to tell them that I thought my order had been stolen, only to have the delivery guy show up at my door at TEN O'CLOCK AT NIGHT. These people use personal vehicles, and they dress in street clothes. The particular guy who delivered my stuff was wearing a t-shirt with sleeves cut off and arms covered in tats and was wearing a headband. I thought he was a cholo coming to rob me!

So, I will use Prime to get my order delivered in 2 days, and I will watch some of the lame free stuff, and then I will definitely be canceling my Prime membership. I can still get free shipping for ordering more than $50.00 or something like that, and pick my orders filtered by "Free Shipping by Amazon". That $99.00 could be better spent elsewhere in my opinion.

Thoughts about Prime from the rest of you who have it?

 

[ecgordon]

I've been with Prime for four or five years, but might not renew in September, haven't made my final decision yet. I haven't been ordering as much from them, plus I haven't watched anything on Prime Video in a long time. Some of the shows in my watch list are also on Netflix, and I'm on Netflix all the time. I am looking forward to The Man in the High Castle, but what if it gets dropped just like they did with The After? Plus, we all know how to find that kind of content from other sources if it interests us.

 

[Overmind One]

I've been with Prime for four or five years, but might not renew in September, haven't made my final decision yet. I haven't been ordering as much from them, plus I haven't watched anything on Prime Video in a long time. Some of the shows in my watch list are also on Netflix, and I'm on Netflix all the time. I am looking forward to The Man in the High Castle, but what if it gets dropped just like they did with The After? Plus, we all know how to find that kind of content from other sources if it interests us.

I love Amazon. But I am just not interested in their streaming services because I can see what they have in there and I do not want to buy any of it. Netflix has spoiled me. So, the only other benefit is the free shipping, and I can have that by just putting together my orders to take advantage of it. I have my searches on Instant Video open in another tab right now. Where did they find some of this crap?

 

[shavedape]

I've been with Prime for four or five years, but might not renew in September, haven't made my final decision yet. I haven't been ordering as much from them, plus I haven't watched anything on Prime Video in a long time. Some of the shows in my watch list are also on Netflix, and I'm on Netflix all the time. I am looking forward to The Man in the High Castle, but what if it gets dropped just like they did with The After? Plus, we all know how to find that kind of content from other sources if it interests us.

Wasn't the pilot for The After really bad? Perhaps Amazon actually listened to the criticism and pulled the plug for that reason?

 

[ecgordon]

Wasn't the pilot for The After really bad? Perhaps Amazon actually listened to the criticism and pulled the plug for that reason?

It took them a long time to announce their final decision, so I'm assuming they saw another episode or two to find out it wasn't going to get any better.

I've never experienced anything like OM1 was describing as far as their shipping methods. Maybe that's only in certain large city markets? Mine would either come via UPS, or in some cases USPS, since in some recent transactions I selected "Free No Rush Shipping" in order to get a credit toward a digital music or Kindle file. Almost everything I've bought on Amazon lately has been Kindle books, and I usually wait until they drop the price, and of course shipping isn't an issue with that. There are times I can find a book in print through BookFinder.com even cheaper than the Kindle file.

 

[Overmind One]

It took them a long time to announce their final decision, so I'm assuming they saw another episode or two to find out it wasn't going to get any better.

I've never experienced anything like OM1 was describing as far as their shipping methods. Maybe that's only in certain large city markets? Mine would either come via UPS, or in some cases USPS, since in some recent transactions I selected "Free No Rush Shipping" in order to get a credit toward a digital music or Kindle file. Almost everything I've bought on Amazon lately has been Kindle books, and I usually wait until they drop the price, and of course shipping isn't an issue with that. There are times I can find a book in print through BookFinder.com even cheaper than the Kindle file.

I think that OnTime Delivery Services only operates in the large metropolitan areas. They are sort of like Uber for shipping delivery. I hate them, and I miss the UPS and USPS deliveries I was getting.

 

[shavedape]

I think that OnTime Delivery Services only operates in the large metropolitan areas. They are sort of like Uber for shipping delivery. I hate them, and I miss the UPS and USPS deliveries I was getting.

We don't have them here yet. I suspect we will eventually though. Almost everything I order from Amazon now comes thru the USPS. I think companies like FedEx or DHL (horrible) deliver to the post office and then the USPS takes over from there. It's usually not a problem but right now I'm waiting on a couple deliveries that should have gotten here last week. Tracking becomes pointless by the time it reaches my city because God knows where the package actually is before it reaches my door.

But at least I don't have people delivering stuff at 10:00 p.m. A knock at my door at that time of night is never a good sign.

 

[Overmind One]

Wasn't the pilot for The After really bad? Perhaps Amazon actually listened to the criticism and pulled the plug for that reason?

It was absolutely AWFUL. Several of the negative reviews in the Instant Video section on it were talking about the shilling comments, and they looked into it. Actually, it has been a problem since around 2011:

https://www.amazon.com/forum/top reviewers?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2Z5LRXMSUDQH2&cdThread=Tx12O52G05OQ3XJ

All you have to do to spot them is to click the name of the reviewer. If the ONLY review is for whatever you are looking for, it is probably a shill. If the reviewer does not have "Verified Purchase" next to the review, it is likely a shill. In the case of The After, many of the 5 star reviews were over the top to the point of being ludicrous. Here is an example.

LMAO! When you click "JDubs123" profile, you can see he is a shill because there are only two reviews and they are both for horrible videos:

Amazon got hip to it before wasting time and money.

 

[Overmind One]

We don't have them here yet. I suspect we will eventually though. Almost everything I order from Amazon now comes thru the USPS. I think companies like FedEx or DHL (horrible) deliver to the post office and then the USPS takes over from there. It's usually not a problem but right now I'm waiting on a couple deliveries that should have gotten here last week. Tracking becomes pointless by the time it reaches my city because God knows where the package actually is before it reaches my door.

But at least I don't have people delivering stuff at 10:00 p.m. A knock at my door at that time of night is never a good sign.

I saw the guy walking up the stairs from my window, and I was tempted to grab the Glock. He looked like a gang member at first glance, and he was driving an older model Honda (personal vehicle), no name tag or clipboard, just my boxes. The item showed "Delivered" at around 11am that morning. I actually received it at 10:00pm!

 

[shavedape]

It was absolutely AWFUL. Several of the negative reviews in the Instant Video section on it were talking about the shilling comments, and they looked into it. Actually, it has been a problem since around 2011:

https://www.amazon.com/forum/top reviewers?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2Z5LRXMSUDQH2&cdThread=Tx12O52G05OQ3XJ

All you have to do to spot them is to click the name of the reviewer. If the ONLY review is for whatever you are looking for, it is probably a shill. If the reviewer does not have "Verified Purchase" next to the review, it is likely a shill. In the case of The After, many of the 5 star reviews were over the top to the point of being ludicrous. Here is an example.

View attachment 31389

LMAO! When you click "JDubs123" profile, you can see he is a shill because there are only two reviews and they are both for horrible videos:

View attachment 31388
Amazon got hip to it before wasting time and money.

"Holy fudge!"

 

[shavedape]

I saw the guy walking up the stairs from my window, and I was tempted to grab the Glock. He looked like a gang member at first glance, and he was driving an older model Honda (personal vehicle), no name tag or clipboard, just my boxes. The item showed "Delivered" at around 11am that morning. I actually received it at 10:00pm!

OMG, 10:00 p.m. + cholo + Honda =

 

[Overmind One]

OMG, 10:00 p.m. + cholo + Honda =

The car was double parked AND running. The guy had a tshirt with the sleeves cut off, a mass of colorful tats and a headband and long hair and a moustache and was Latino (nothing racist, just that type of Latino does not live in my area). If it hadn’t been me recognizing my Amazon boxes, it would have been a no-go.

 

[Overmind One]

Well I canceled my trial membership early:

I have decided it is NOT worth the $99.00. Two more after 7:00pm deliveries from OnTime, a dismal Prime Video library with a whole lot of nothing I want to watch. Everything worth watching costs money. The other Prime perks like free 2-day shipping made no difference. OnTime did them and not UPS. And both after 7:00pm. I can put together an order for $50.00 and get free shipping without Prime.

Funny, but at $79.00 I gladly paid it. At that time, there was no OnTime. Just UPS. The video library seemed more extensive, and there was a lot more free stuff that was good in there. Now, I am satisfied with Netflix and getting my TV shows by "other means".

 

[ecgordon]

I also canceled, although I still have it through Sept. 28. I think they don't have many good free shows and movies on Prime because they are spending the money on original content instead, but with the exception of The Man in the High Castle they haven't been producing anything that interests me much.

 

[Overmind One]

I also canceled, although I still have it through Sept. 28. I think they don't have many good free shows and movies on Prime because they are spending the money on original content instead, but with the exception of The Man in the High Castle they haven't been producing anything that interests me much.

I was coming close to the 30-day expire on the trial, and I wanted to make absolutely sure I was not going to be charged for Prime after that. I was not seeing any exceptional value in the program. I totally agree with you about the lack of free movies and shows. I never watched Man in the High Castle, but Im sure I could find it from "alternate" sources if need be. I just do not see where Amazon is going with trying to expand into entertainment, They are a retailer, not a media provider. As far as Kindle, YES, nobody comes close to Amazon for books. Not B&N or anyone. Prices for Kindle books are creeping up too.

 

[Joelist]

The value is going to depend on your personal use patterns.

If you tend to use Amazon to buy things and also like to watch shows on streaming, then the value proposition is better. Also if you are already in their ecosystem (Fire tablets, kindle et al). Of course, if they don't have in their "Prime" section of streaming the shows/films you like to watch then the value goes back down some. And if you do not tend to buy Amazon or are not in their ecosystem then the value proposition is probably not there.

 

[Overmind One]

The value is going to depend on your personal use patterns.

If you tend to use Amazon to buy things and also like to watch shows on streaming, then the value proposition is better. Also if you are already in their ecosystem (Fire tablets, kindle et al). Of course, if they don't have in their "Prime" section of streaming the shows/films you like to watch then the value goes back down some. And if you do not tend to buy Amazon or are not in their ecosystem then the value proposition is probably not there.

I agree mostly. I pretty much buy EVERYTHING on Amazon now. Seasonings, clothes, shoes, shirts, electronics, parts, even some of my furniture. I read my Kindle books using the Kindle app on my tablet and phone, so no need for any Fire or Kindle reader. The streaming library does not offer me a value because even with Prime you still have to pay for most of the streaming content that is worth watching. Since I already have Netflix with lots more stuff and everything free to watch unlimited times, Prime Instant does not turn my head at all. It was worth it to me at $79.00, but not at $99.00, and with the way the library looks now, I would not pay the $79.00 for it.