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What is with this "Exclusively for Prime Members" BS Amazon has been pulling lately?

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My purchases from Amazon have been dropping steadily for 2.5 or so years now. Stopped subbing to prime when the prices started to jump and it's been all downhill since. I still use them for some things, but they used to be our 100% goto spot. Not anymore.

Agreed. It's certainly not personal, and I still shop occasionally on Amazon. However, I plan on orders needing to exceed $35 to get free shipping, and it'll take two weeks to get to me instead of two business days. $100 is a pricey membership, and after they did their bigger-than-black-friday sales I quietly de-selected the auto-renewal.
 
Prime saved me $5 on my preorder of Fallout 4.

Anyways, my sister and parents use my prime membership to not have to pay for shipping on most items. When it is shared amongst close people everyone can save a lot. Prime is well worth $99 when many things are bought over the course of a year.
 
I'm going to assume anyone who thinks this is bullshit also thinks that Costco sucks. Which is totally fine.

Eh? It sort of is bullshit, but I also have no problem with the Costco model either. The difference is the Costco model is clearly laid out; you get a membership and you get access to buying anything inside. Amazon's is just completely random. Some things are behind Prime, while other things are not. There's no rhyme or reason to what is behind the subscription. So that is why it's bullshit. If Amazon wants to do this, go all out and put everything behind the subscription.
 
Eh? It sort of is bullshit, but I also have no problem with the Costco model either. The difference is the Costco model is clearly laid out; you get a membership and you get access to buying anything inside. Amazon's is just completely random. Some things are behind Prime, while other things are not. There's no rhyme or reason to what is behind the subscription. So that is why it's bullshit. If Amazon wants to do this, go all out and put everything behind the subscription.

Hmm but you yall would bitch if everything inside Amazon was linked to prime so you and I definitely know that's not a solution. As a subscriber I'm happy for some difference. If I'm paying money, I need to get the benefits especially exclusives because that's how subscriptions work. It wasn't meant for everyone to get the same stuff because then what am I paying for? So in this case, as bias as this is, I love this and I really don't feel bad if they are doing this. For a long time I felt like my money was only being used for 2 day shipping when I would like better discounts on items etc etc.... So the better solution would be don't shop on amazon and find a new online website to purchase items such as jet who does seem like a worthy competitor.
 
I used to buy things all the time on Amazon instead of brick and mortar stores, but in the last year or so, I've needed to pay Maryland's 6% sales tax. They just opened a distribution warehouse in Baltimore, so I assume that's why. Either way, now Amazon is a more expensive option for me in most cases as I rarely order things that meet their $35 order minimum for free shipping (it used to be $25). Now, I figure why pay more to wait, when I can pay less and get my item that same day by going simply to a physical store. And considering most (if not all) of the stores price match Amazon, I'm using Amazon less and less.
 
To invoke a Southern phrase, Amazon is a company that got too big for its britches. I used to be a loyal customer back when they were a good company with frequent good deals, but haven't spent a penny there in a couple of years now.
 
To invoke a Southern phrase, Amazon is a company that got too big for its britches. I used to be a loyal customer back when they were a good company with frequent good deals, but haven't spent a penny there in a couple of years now.

Maybe. Especially with how they aren't just a retailer now, but a manufacturer. And as such, they will stop selling competing items (i.e. selling Amazon Fire, but removing Roku and Chromecast).
 
Hmm but you yall would bitch if everything inside Amazon was linked to prime so you and I definitely know that's not a solution. As a subscriber I'm happy for some difference. If I'm paying money, I need to get the benefits especially exclusives because that's how subscriptions work. It wasn't meant for everyone to get the same stuff because then what am I paying for? So in this case, as bias as this is, I love this and I really don't feel bad if they are doing this. For a long time I felt like my money was only being used for 2 day shipping when I would like better discounts on items etc etc.... So the better solution would be don't shop on amazon and find a new online website to purchase items such as jet who does seem like a worthy competitor.

That HDD I linked was not Prime only days ago, plus it was even cheaper then. Add a 5% surcharge on top of the Prime price if you must, but completely blocking the sale of the item is pretty ridiculous. They're simply pushing people towards other sellers or towards amazon's third party sellers.
 
Hmm but you yall would bitch if everything inside Amazon was linked to prime so you and I definitely know that's not a solution. As a subscriber I'm happy for some difference. If I'm paying money, I need to get the benefits especially exclusives because that's how subscriptions work. It wasn't meant for everyone to get the same stuff because then what am I paying for? So in this case, as bias as this is, I love this and I really don't feel bad if they are doing this. For a long time I felt like my money was only being used for 2 day shipping when I would like better discounts on items etc etc.... So the better solution would be don't shop on amazon and find a new online website to purchase items such as jet who does seem like a worthy competitor.

You have gained nothing though. These arent items made for prime members with prime sub profits. Its not exclucive in the wider market. Its just random shit that was intended for everyone but arbitrarily locked on their store. You would get it either way as a subscriber, you can get it anywhere else without a sub, so nothing was gained at all. There is no benefit.

This is entirely done not to reward prime members but to punish non members. Its taking something they could get anywhere else and saying "no, we dont want to sell it to you."
 
I read the title of the thread as "Exclusively For Prime Ministers" and was a bit confused.

On topic though it is kind of a shitty way to try to get people to buy Prime. I always wanted Prime but between the recent price increase and all this other stuff I want to get it less and less.
 
I intend to stop paying for Prime when my student membership runs out. Two day shipping is fantastic, but so is having an extra $100 every year.
 
Amazon Prime is becoming a f2p game in a way. It is just trying to annoy you in order to spend to get something you want.

The real salt will come during Black Friday lightning deals where plebs have to wait to claim deals.

The comparisons for Costco made me go "that isn't £80?" and low and behold I checked and in the UK costco membership is a lot cheaper (£20 for a business, this seems lower than American costco) plus it doesn't come bundled with a load of features you don't want for it to go "I'm good value".
 
Hmm but you yall would bitch if everything inside Amazon was linked to prime so you and I definitely know that's not a solution. As a subscriber I'm happy for some difference. If I'm paying money, I need to get the benefits especially exclusives because that's how subscriptions work. It wasn't meant for everyone to get the same stuff because then what am I paying for? So in this case, as bias as this is, I love this and I really don't feel bad if they are doing this. For a long time I felt like my money was only being used for 2 day shipping when I would like better discounts on items etc etc.... So the better solution would be don't shop on amazon and find a new online website to purchase items such as jet who does seem like a worthy competitor.

You think it's a benefit to you that a game like Until Dawn is only sold exclusively to Prime members and not to the general public? What benefit do you really gain?
 
I've been shopping less and less at Amazon. I really don't see the need anymore. I just use local retailers now that Amazon is taxing me.

I'm a Costco member. I see savings and value from Costco but I really have no use for Prime.
 
The item is available to anyone, it's just at a lower price for Prime members.

Nope. Take a look again. It explicitly says:

Want it Friday, Oct. 30? Order within 3 hrs 51 mins and choose Two-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com exclusively for Prime members.

When I sign out, the add to cart button disappears and is replaced by a Try Prime for 30 Days button.
 
Nope. Take a look again. It explicitly says:



When I sign out, the add to cart button disappears and is replaced by a Try Prime for 30 Days button.

Amazon does a horrible job advertising it, but that is just the price for one seller:

Vemqw0b.png

If you look at the bottom right there is the option to buy from other sellers. Below is the link to the game which also ships from Amazon.com, but at a higher price and no Prime required.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MV7KVP4/?tag=neogaf0e-20
 
It seems odd that a marketplace seller who is paying amazon to store his wares by the month and amazon will handle delivery for him would do something to limit their potential customer base, time is literally money here. Unless Amazon are waivering some of their fees in exchange for prime exclusivity...

edit: My bad didn't click link didn't see it was amazon who were the cheapest.
 
It seems odd that a marketplace seller who is paying amazon to store his wares by the month and amazon will handle delivery for him would do something to limit their potential customer base, time is literally money here. Unless Amazon are waivering some of their fees in exchange for prime exclusivity...

It's only the item that Amazon is directly selling themselves that is exclusive and discounted. The other marketplace sellers who are using Amazon to fulfill their warehouses are open to anyone. The biggest issue is when you click an item in Amazon they will generally show you the lowest price, so the Amazon product is going to pop up first and make you think you need Prime to buy it.
 
Amazon does a horrible job advertising it, but that is just the price for one seller:



If you look at the bottom right there is the option to buy from other sellers. Below is the link to the game which also ships from Amazon.com, but at a higher price and no Prime required.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MV7KVP4/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Those aren't from Amazon; those are from third party sellers. You cannot buy it directly from Amazon unless you have Prime.
 
They are far from the best place to go for low prices in any case so I think they'll find they can't pull this shit. Or you know, they'll just have to let you pay for Prime monthly like every place ever does.
 
I stopped buying games on Amazon (switched to Best Buy for GCU), and still ended up having 80 different orders so far this year for various items.

I couldn't even imagine using Amazon without prime, and it's kinda ruined online shopping in general for me. I balk if I ever have to pay for shipping online.
Same here.

I hate Best Buy though. Anything I pre order they fuck up. If Amazon was up front about their discounts on games and if it matched GCU I'd go back to them in a heart beat.
 
Sorry to bump but I was looking at some anime I wanted to buy, and they did this with No Game No Life. No option to buy it outright at a higher price.

I'm not paying $90 a year so I can exclusively buy a blu ray lmao
 
It's really random. Once I wanted an hdd that was prime exclusive then a few days later it was available at the same price to all. Super fast normal shipping too
 
This seems to have made its way to the UK now- I went to buy Wasteland 2 (PS4) for £19.99 and found that it was only available for Prime members. GAME are offering it for the same price, so I'll shop there instead.

Between this and taking up to a week to post something if I choose Super Saver delivery, I get the distinct impression that non-Prime members are second class citizens in Amazon's new world.
 
Between this and taking up to a week to post something if I choose Super Saver delivery, I get the distinct impression that non-Prime members are second class citizens in Amazon's new world.
They are. Amazon are banking on this increasing the sign-ups to Prime membership, but personally I hope it backfires and blows up in their face. And I say that as a Prime member.
 
This seems to have made its way to the UK now- I went to buy Wasteland 2 (PS4) for £19.99 and found that it was only available for Prime members. GAME are offering it for the same price, so I'll shop there instead.

Between this and taking up to a week to post something if I choose Super Saver delivery, I get the distinct impression that non-Prime members are second class citizens in Amazon's new world.

Same goes for Samurai Warriors 4 II.

They're normally my go to site when I start looking into buy something, and I eventually end up buying from them in the end. But this exclusivity BS is putting me off them big time.
 
If anything, it's just making me more determined to never sign up for the service. People shouldn't be coerced into subscribing to a retailer if they just want to buy something.
 
I mean it's not nice but why not have Prime? I've already bought so many stuff on sale exclusive to Prime users that I've already justified it's purchase.
 
This seems to have made its way to the UK now- I went to buy Wasteland 2 (PS4) for £19.99 and found that it was only available for Prime members. GAME are offering it for the same price, so I'll shop there instead.

Between this and taking up to a week to post something if I choose Super Saver delivery, I get the distinct impression that non-Prime members are second class citizens in Amazon's new world.

A week? My brother gets it the same as me and I am a Prime member and he isn't.
 
A week? My brother gets it the same as me and I am a Prime member and he isn't.

Previous two items (sold and shipped by Amazon) I ordered with free p&p from Amazon UK:

previous2itemsfromamag8o7c.png


Before they introduced the new minimum spend for free delivery, I would receive items within 3 days of placing the order.
 
If anything, it's just making me more determined to never sign up for the service. People shouldn't be coerced into subscribing to a retailer if they just want to buy something.

So are you against Costco completely? That just seems like such a weird position to take membership clubs have been around forever.
 
I have no problem with it, but at least on amazon.co.uk they are locking manufactuer promotions behind it as well.

Most recent example, physical copies of forza 6, gears, rare replay have dropped. Its clearly a microsoft promotion as they all have dropped to similar prices at argos, shopto and the like.

Amazon locks the true discount behind prime and bumps the price about 10% for non prime members. That shit is not on.
 
Previous two items (sold and shipped by Amazon) I ordered with free p&p from Amazon UK:

Before they introduced the new minimum spend for free delivery, I would receive items within 3 days of placing the order.

Crazy. My brother still gets his very fast. He even gets some games before me as they are delivered by Royal Mail. If it wasn't for the price being cheaper and Prime tv I would have cancelled my membership due to how slow it is sometimes.
 
A week? My brother gets it the same as me and I am a Prime member and he isn't.

So are you against Costco completely? That just seems like such a weird position to take membership clubs have been around forever.

Part of the problem for me, and something I don't want to reward Amazon for doing, is that they've made Prime more appealing whilst at the same time making their standard service (which was excellent for a very long time) much worse.
 
I mean it's not nice but why not have Prime? I've already bought so many stuff on sale exclusive to Prime users that I've already justified it's purchase.

If that works for you, fine. I don't want or need Prime. I'm patient enough to not want things delivered same-day or next-day and I have no interest in their video content. So why would I pay for it, given the choice?

So are you against Costco completely? That just seems like such a weird position to take membership clubs have been around forever.

I've never used Costco, I didn't even know they had a presence in the UK. I have, however, used Amazon for years. I liked the service they used to offer. Now I'm in the position where I'm shopping elsewhere precisely because they're locking things I'd like to buy behind a push to pay an annual fee for a service I neither want or need. Being irritated about a company that you've used regularly changing their service for the worse and trying to get me to sign up for a membership to improve it isn't even slightly weird.
 
If that works for you, fine. I don't want or need Prime. I'm patient enough to not want things delivered same-day or next-day and I have no interest in their video content. So why would I pay for it, given the choice?

It's not about delivery time, it's about products on sale. That's what I mean when I say Prime has already paid for itself.
 
This seems to have made its way to the UK now- I went to buy Wasteland 2 (PS4) for £19.99 and found that it was only available for Prime members. GAME are offering it for the same price, so I'll shop there instead.

Between this and taking up to a week to post something if I choose Super Saver delivery, I get the distinct impression that non-Prime members are second class citizens in Amazon's new world.

it always took them like a week to send me crap via super saver shipping but yeah, them having regular items for sale only to prime members is really weird and i hope they realize that. and i say that as a prime member for the past ~6 months.
 
It's not about delivery time, it's about products on sale. That's what I mean when I say Prime has already paid for itself.
That's fine if you shop there often enough and what you already intend to buy has a discount. Outside of a daily deal or some sort of Black Friday nonsense, I've never seen anything I'd actually wanted subject to a Prime-exclusive discount. Ergo, Prime does not offer similar value for me- if at all. The value then lies in faster delivery, which I really don't think is worth the price.

It's also fine to offer member-exclusive discounts if you have the option to not use Prime and buy for another price. In this case, Prime is mandatory for buying the item. I object to that, especially when it's completely arbitrary. (And it is in this case- the same game was the same price without this restriction, about a month ago.) Let's not pretend that it's anything other than Amazon aggressively trying to turn as many customers as is possible into someone they can rely on £79 a year from. It's a conversion tactic, and a fairly shabby one at that.
 
That's fine if you shop there often enough and what you already intend to buy has a discount. Outside of a daily deal or some sort of Black Friday nonsense, I've never seen anything I'd actually wanted subject to a Prime-exclusive discount. Ergo, Prime does not offer similar value for me- if at all. The value then lies in faster delivery, which I really don't think it's worth the price.

It's also fine to offer member-exclusive discounts if you have the option to not use Prime and buy for another price. In this case, Prime is mandatory for buying the item. I object to that, especially when it's completely arbitrary. (And it is in this case- the same game was the same price without this restriction, about a month ago.) Let's not pretend that it's anything other than Amazon aggressively trying to turn as many customers as is possible into someone they can rely on £79 a year from. It's a conversion tactic, and a fairly shabby one at that.

Yeah I definitely understand and certainly don't agree with what they're doing. But for me I already bought an A3 printer which was 130 pounds (300 originally), 170 pound headphones (300 originally), countless of other items like perfumes, PC components and not to mention Prime Now which I can buy groceries and have them delivered for less than 2 hours while still being cheaper than my local super market. All this thanks to 80 pounds a year. What I hate about Prime though is that they increased the yearly price because whoever has it, now also has access to Prime Video, Music and Photos which I don't need or intend to ever use. It used to be cheaper.
 
Now that there's sales tax I find myself going brick and mortar more often. Between Target, Best Buy, and Costco I find the prices to be nearly as reasonable, with the added benefit of getting what I want immediately.
 
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