On the cusp of this year’s Prime Day, it’s all the more tempting to sign up for a free 30-day trial for Amazon’s Prime services. But when that expires, what do you get with Amazon Prime for the monthly or annual fees?
Here, we lay out all of the options you’ve got as an Amazon Prime customer.
What do you get with Amazon Prime: Faster delivery
When you order any of the million of products Amazon has, you’ll get several free options for delivery as a Prime member, such as one-day delivery, priority delivery, standard delivery, expedited delivery and same-day delivery.
Products have to be specifically marked as eligible for one-day, priority, express and same-day delivery for you to receive those products within that timeframe, and non-Prime members must pay a fee starting at £3.95 for any of these delivery options, which you can use an unlimited amount of times.
Type of delivery
One-day delivery: Item will be delivered one day after it is dispatched. This is the default option for Prime members and is only available in eligible postcodes.
Same-daydelivery: Item will be delivered the same day you place an order if it's before the deadline listed next to the product. This option is only available in eligible postcodes.
Priority delivery: Item will be delivered two days after it is dispatched.
Expedited delivery: Item will be delivered one to three days after ordered. This option is only available in eligible postcodes.
Standard delivery: Item will be delivered within two to five business days.
What do you get with Amazon Prime: Streaming services
So, what are you supposed to do while you wait a whole 24 hours for your latest Amazon Prime order to come in? You could pick up and spend some time out of the house, or you could just sit around and enjoy how easy Amazon makes it to hang inside all day with its video- and music-streaming services, which both come with a Prime membership.
Prime Video has more than 30,000 videos that any Prime member can stream unlimited and for free, including hit TV shows and movies. You can stream them on multiple devices such as the Fire TV Stick, tablets, smart TVs, game consoles, mobile phones and laptops. While connected to Wi-Fi, you can also download any titles for the on-the-go watching.
Prime Music gives you access to two million songs with ad-free listening, unlimited skips and downloading abilities for offline listening. You also get a Prime member discount on Amazon Music Unlimited – it’s about £120 per year for a non-Prime member to subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited and only £79 for Prime members, in addition to the standard cost of their Prime membership. This upgrade gives you access to 40 million songs with all of the same features as Prime Music.
Prime members also get exclusive access to Twitch, including ad-free viewing, an exclusive chat badge and a monthly subscription to the video-game streaming service at no extra cost. While shopping on the site, Prime members get exclusive discounts ordering collectors’ editions only or pre-ordering video games.
What do you get with Amazon Prime: Unlimited access to books and magazines
Prime Reading launched in May and gives Prime members unlimited reading access to more than 1,000 ebooks, magazines and comics. No eReader is necessary because members can access the materials on any device with Amazon’s free Kindle apps.
Available content includes bestsellers such as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and magazines such as Ideal Home and Woman’s Weekly.
What do you get with Amazon Prime: Everyday convenience
Prime members get exclusive access to Prime Now, Amazon’s delivery service that operates seven days a week from early morning to late evening. Customers have access to more than 20,000 products that can all be delivered within two hours. It’s operating in nine cities in the UK, including London.
What do you get with Amazon Prime: Early access to sales
Prime members can always expect to be the first in line with guaranteed access to Amazon’s Lightning Deals 30 minutes before they open to the public. Lightning Deals are also exclusive to all Prime members on the upcoming Prime Day.
What do you get with Amazon Prime: Cost
It’s a shame to burst your bubble, but all of this does come at a price. Of course, most importantly is the free 30-day trial for Prime services that anyone is eligible for. After that, if you get a standard Prime plan, it’s £7.99/mth or a flat annual price of £79, which equates to about £6.58/mth.
One week only: Save 25% off your Amazon Prime subscription ahead of Prime Day – now just £59.
Amazon Family runs at the same annual rate of £79, but this plan allows two adults and four children to register with one account to access all Prime benefits. Customers on the family plan also get a 20% discount on nappies.
The best bang for your buck is Amazon’s student plan, which only costs £39 annually, equalling about £3.25/mth. The more apprehensive type can also enjoy a free six-month trial as opposed to the standard three-month trial.