Amazon Prime fee rises in US, prompting fears of future UK price hikes
Amazon is jacking up the cost of an annual Prime membership in the US, raising it from $99 to $119.
The price change will come into effect from May 11 for new members, and from June 16 for existing ones. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Prime, it grants you access to special treatment and extra features, such as unlimited one-day delivery and Amazon Prime Video.
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Asked if the cost of Prime membership is going to change in the UK too, Amazon simply told Trusted Reviews: “This is a U.S. only announcement.”
That’s not especially reassuring. The company could make a similar, UK-only announcement at any point in the future.
In the UK, an annual Prime subscription currently costs £79. If Amazon was to inflate that by a similar amount, we could soon have to pay closer to £100 a year.
“The value of Prime to customers has never been greater,” said Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky this week. “And the cost is also high, as we pointed out especially with shipping options and digital benefits, we continue to see rises in costs.”
He added: “Prime provides a unique combination of benefits, and we continue to invest in making this Prime program even more valuable for our members.”
Amazon recently revealed that there are more than 100 million Prime members, and the company is clearly confident that both potential and existing customers would be happy to reach deeper into their pockets for the service.
Are you an existing Prime member? How do you feel about the price hike announcement? Share your thoughts @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.