Amazon Cuts Free Shipping Minimum to $25

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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I am not sure about you, but Amazon knocking its Free Shipping Level down to $25 will save me quite a few dollars throughout the year, mainly because I am too lazy to drive down to the local WalMart to pick up those little items that you need right now. As always, we ask that you bookmark this link if you want to support HardOCP and HardForum as it gives us a little kickback.

Amazon already offers free two-day shipping under its $99 Prime membership program but the new offer is aimed at encouraging more customers to shop on its platform. Amazon also hopes to convert these shoppers to Prime members down the line.
 
That's amazing! And here I am just having ordered something extra to get to the $35 min in Canada. On that point; man, it would be great to have a link to go to Amazon.ca as well....
 
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Amazon lockers are pretty sweet. I've got one in the local grocery store i can pick up at. No need to even think about walmart unless I needed it yesterday.
 
I don't shop enough at Amazon for Prime to make sense, and the last few times I did order some stuff there the free shipping took almost two weeks between ordering and getting to me. Free shipping is nice but it's really quite slow, so that also keeps me from using Amazon much. $25 is a better price point to pick up some smaller stuff though, pretty sure I've skipped some deals because I couldn't make the minimum for free shipping recently.
 
arnemetis said:
I don't shop enough at Amazon for Prime to make sense, and the last few times I did order some stuff there the free shipping took almost two weeks between ordering and getting to me. Free shipping is nice but it's really quite slow, so that also keeps me from using Amazon much. $25 is a better price point to pick up some smaller stuff though, pretty sure I've skipped some deals because I couldn't make the minimum for free shipping recently.
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Huh, been using Amazon Prime for 3 years now.. Every single time I've ordered something and used the free shipping, it takes 2 days to get to me. Out of the hundreds of items that I've ordered, I can think of 1 or 2 items that didn't get to me and that was the carriers fault.

Edit: Just realized that you are talking about non prime free shipping. Yeah, they probably do that to entice people to get on their prime subscription.
 
We do a lot of business with Amazon and it's good to see them lower the minimum here.

My only complaint I've had with Amazon over the last two years or so is how much their "today's deals" section just flat out sucks and is always filled with... junk? I remember when they used to have something interesting on there almost every day, but now it's - essential oils, some homeopathic supplements, $32 jewelry, a random piece of computer software, and maybe a magazine subscription?

What's up with that?
 
I rarely order from Amazon, all but one item in the last year was cheaper from Newegg and there was no pesky min order horsecrap for free shipping. Prime is not worth it to me. Nice to see them drop the min order amount for the free shipping.
 
Good.. it wasn't bad at 35, but 49 was annoying. $25 will do.
 
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Ordered some stuff on the 5th. Noticed the change to $25 free shipping then. Already had $35 worth of stuff on the list.
 
I always use Amazonsmile. Amazonsmile will donate to the charity of your choice, and it cost you nothing. I donate to Wounded Warriors.

I changed my shortcut to AmazonSmile to include HardOCP.
 
I am a AMAZON PRIME junkie.... I even stopped using NEWEGG much due to amazon prime... and I usually get everything either same day or the next day for free ... amzon is who I worship
 
ir0nw0lf said:
I rarely order from Amazon, all but one item in the last year was cheaper from Newegg and there was no pesky min order horsecrap for free shipping. Prime is not worth it to me. Nice to see them drop the min order amount for the free shipping.
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Prime is worth it if you volume order a lot of different things....if I am buying computer parts usually its newegg... but lately amazon has been beating them on price plus my free next day prime shipping
 
I have anywhere from 2-8 shipments a week from Amazon.
 
I do run into 1 or 2 orders a month that don't hit the 2 day shipping quote, even when I verify that everything in my cart is prime. It's annoying, because why pay an extra hundred a year if I'm not going to get anything better then the free service everyone gets over 25? I ordered 3 things, all prime and all in stock on Wednesday night, one came Saturday and the other two came Monday. I'm not going to cancel my sub to prime but I'd say at least 1/3 of the time in-stock prime items arrive late. Really annoying. And I don't even really use their media platform, nothing on there I care about.
 
Vaulter98c said:
I do run into 1 or 2 orders a month that don't hit the 2 day shipping quote, even when I verify that everything in my cart is prime. It's annoying, because why pay an extra hundred a year if I'm not going to get anything better then the free service everyone gets over 25? I ordered 3 things, all prime and all in stock on Wednesday night, one came Saturday and the other two came Monday. I'm not going to cancel my sub to prime but I'd say at least 1/3 of the time in-stock prime items arrive late. Really annoying. And I don't even really use their media platform, nothing on there I care about.
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I have been noticing for me at least lots of delays and errors when they use Lasership to ship items. Also I really don't like that that company uses non-uniformed people with unmarked cars.
 
As a Prime member, I initially didn't notice the change to 35 until I put a few add-on items in my cart. Then I had problems and frequently just picked up whatever I needed at a local store. I probably canceled 100 amazon orders in the last year before completion because it said it would not ship some item with the order because it was an "addon."

I have a strong suspicion that they noticed this trend and brought it back down to 25 for a volume of sales decline due to it being 35.
 
Couldn't imagine not having Prime. 300-400 orders a year now since around 2007. With wife and kids and my own stuff it's beyond worth it to me. With two major delivery centers within day delivery of me , we get items one-two day 99% without issue.
 
Randall Stephens said:
Newegg is sometimes cheaper, but amazon excels at customer service.
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I use the Amazon Chase card, the new 5% back really kills me need to venture anywhere else for purchases these days. If I could find a tool/site that shows all flash deals from bandh,egg,mono, etc then my traffic to those sites would cease.
 
Dahkoht said:
Couldn't imagine not having Prime. 300-400 orders a year now since around 2007. With wife and kids and my own stuff it's beyond worth it to me. With two major delivery centers within day delivery of me , we get items one-two day 99% without issue.
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I live right near a main amazon hub too... next day shipping free all the time or for like 2 or 3 bucks more at most
 
Dahkoht said:
Couldn't imagine not having Prime. 300-400 orders a year now since around 2007. With wife and kids and my own stuff it's beyond worth it to me. With two major delivery centers within day delivery of me , we get items one-two day 99% without issue.
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Yep, and if you order before 12pm where I'm at, its delivered same day. Can't beat Prime.

That_Sound_Guy said:
I use the Amazon Chase card, the new 5% back really kills me need to venture anywhere else for purchases these days. If I could find a tool/site that shows all flash deals from bandh,egg,mono, etc then my traffic to those sites would cease.
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This x 1000. I dont ever buy stuff anywhere else anymore. I have the same card and 5% cash back makes it 1000x worth having amazon prime.
 
Yea, it takes two weeks for free shipping.
Don't give a fuck if weekends dont count, weekends are days and that is time.

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Delivered May 3, 2017
 
Steven Bradley said:
That's amazing! And here I am just having ordered something extra to get to the $35 min in Canada. On that point; man, it would be great to have a link to go to Amazon.ca as well....
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Before Prime, I used to be forced to order a single bolt or something like that to just get to the minimum. Sucks when your cart is at $34.62 or something.

Worth noting that you'll likely see delays with Free Ship choices. Amazon seems to delay for several reasons now:

- Moving Items from another warehouse via their intra-mail trucking/air services.
- Waiting to see if you'll order anything else in the next couple days.
 
I placed an order yesterday at lunch and it is using the free shipping and it won't even ship till Monday. I hate that they just sit on it for a week before shipping. I think that they are deliberately making free shipping horrible so that either you pay for faster shipping or get prime.
 
We have an Amazon Prime/Business account that I manage at work. It allows us to share our business credit cards/accounts with others and allows employees the ability to purchase items under a specified dollar amount. Unfortunately, Amazon decided that Prime shipping benefits would not carry over unless the users spend $49 or more. As such, our users can make $50 purchase on their own, but I still need to micromanage small purchases using the administrator login. It's very frustrating...
 
DF-1 said:
they went 25->35->50->35->25

i guess it wasnt working out for them.
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That and increased competition from Walmart. I used to order a bit from Amazon, but in the last 3 years I've went back to newegg. Amazon is more expensive the majority of the time. With $25 minimums again, I may be placing some extra orders over the next few months.
 
katanaD said:
as someone pointed out above, the "free" shipping, while nice, is SLOW

but i am a prime member. just had 10, 16lb bags of cat food delivered yesterday actually.

im pretty sure the UPS/USPS drivers hate me

LOL
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Is that you, crazy cat lady neighbor?

160lbs of cat food? That's either a lot of cats, or a tiger.

(I have 135lbs of dog - 3 dogs, and I order about 35lbs a month)
 
arnemetis said:
I don't shop enough at Amazon for Prime to make sense, and the last few times I did order some stuff there the free shipping took almost two weeks between ordering and getting to me. Free shipping is nice but it's really quite slow, so that also keeps me from using Amazon much. $25 is a better price point to pick up some smaller stuff though, pretty sure I've skipped some deals because I couldn't make the minimum for free shipping recently.
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try shipping it to work? or trusted friend/relative house that's closer to their hub? I ship to work so I don't have to deal with hassel having to catch them, plus its mainly a business route so stuff seems to get there quicker and by 11am
 
buying stuff + shipping was more than paying for prime per month so i jumped on prime and never looked back. i basically get something in the mail every week and it doesn't take me 5-7 days to get items. can't beat the 2 day shipping w/ prime.

when i search for items, i literally filter by prime first before even looking at prices.
 
TorryHolt81 said:
Huh, been using Amazon Prime for 3 years now.. Every single time I've ordered something and used the free shipping, it takes 2 days to get to me. Out of the hundreds of items that I've ordered, I can think of 1 or 2 items that didn't get to me and that was the carriers fault.

Edit: Just realized that you are talking about non prime free shipping. Yeah, they probably do that to entice people to get on their prime subscription.
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Yep, I noticed the same thing, at first I was thinking shoot, I don't pay anything for shipping even with same day delivery at times - via prime, of course. But pretty cool that they can lower the price for the non-primers which most likely constitutes the vast majority of Amazon business.
 
Yea the "free" shipping over $25 will be slow, not two days, but hey, its free.

It actually used to be $25 a handful of years ago and they raised it to $35. Good to seem them lower it back down even though I am a Prime member.
 
I dont order much off amazon. maybe a few items here and there. But the streaming service for kids is better then netflix honestly. My wife also uses it for TV/music. I order maybe 10-15 things a year.
 
My wife uses amazon fire tv thing to rock out when cooking large meals, we have prime and order lots of crap from Amazon LLC because it's the most consistently pain-free example of large etailer returns. One time I ordered a HTIB for a xmas gift, my friend did not get home from deployment on time and returned months later only to find one of the speakers in the box was defective, manufacturer wanted me to send the entire 230lb package on my dime to frickin' Michigan for repair (not just the one of 8 defective speakers, all of them). Amazon just overnighted a new 230lb package when I sent the emails I had from the manufacturer.
 
I wish one could easily tell whether a proposed order would create a profit or cause a loss for Amazon. Sometimes I think they have to be losing money when I place an order. While I know it is not my problem, it would still be nice to know.
 
Kyle is not a Prime member? I find that hard to believe.

And I find it interesting that neither these links point to the front page news post. All other threads in this forum do.

I'd prefer this way over going through another layer of pages to get the the story.
 
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