Amazon Raises Its Free Shipping Minimum To $49

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It looks as though Amazon has raised its free shipping minimum to $49. You can still get free shipping on orders that include $25 worth of qualifying books though. Now might be a good time to get a Prime subscription so you can get free 2-day shipping, music and video streaming and discounts on video game pre-orders.


Orders including $25 or more of eligible books qualify for FREE Shipping. All orders of $49 or more of eligible items across any product category also qualify for FREE Shipping. With free shipping, your order will be delivered 5-8 business days after all of your items are available to ship, including pre-order items.
 
Never like the term "Free Shipping". Someone always pays the shipping. USPS, UPS, FeEx etc. don't deliver anything for free.

Even when they deliver despair and sorrow, someone pay the freight.
 
Never like the term "Free Shipping". Someone always pays the shipping. USPS, UPS, FeEx etc. don't deliver anything for free.

It means free for the customer. Regardless of who is paying for it the customer pays exactly $0.00 for shipping.
 
Well technically the customer is paying for a subscription that offers a "free" shipping option. I abuse the hell out of next day shipping with large objects, 3.99 to ship 50 pound objects next day is so rewarding.
 
Well technically the customer is paying for a subscription that offers a "free" shipping option. I abuse the hell out of next day shipping with large objects, 3.99 to ship 50 pound objects next day is so rewarding.

But that's only for Prime. This is talking about non-Prime accounts. I abuse next day shipping as well.
 
Prime keeps getting worse and worse up here. Slower, more expensive, less features.

The reasons to skip Amazon are piling up. Traditional retail stores are hitting the online space harder and harder, doing things cheaper, selling things cheaper and their free shipping is free. No memberships.

Amazon's only advantage now is that there is a massive variety of things on a single site. The internet is such that I can hit multiple sites pretty quickly.
 
The reasons to skip Amazon are piling up. Traditional retail stores are hitting the online space harder and harder, doing things cheaper, selling things cheaper and their free shipping is free. No memberships.

The slowdowns for free shipping was bad enough, Now that it takes $49, I'll be ordering less from Amazon.
 
Prime keeps getting worse and worse up here. Slower, more expensive, less features.

The reasons to skip Amazon are piling up. Traditional retail stores are hitting the online space harder and harder, doing things cheaper, selling things cheaper and their free shipping is free. No memberships.

Amazon's only advantage now is that there is a massive variety of things on a single site. The internet is such that I can hit multiple sites pretty quickly.

I started ordering from them a lot less when they started charging tax in Minnesota. If I can get something for the same price or even a few dollars more from Gamestop, WalMart, Target, etc locally there is no point in ordering online. Especially when it comes to more expensive items. Same with computer parts, I'd rather order from Newegg than Amazon since after factoring in taxes it's cheaper to order from Egg now days.
 
The slowdowns for free shipping was bad enough, Now that it takes $49, I'll be ordering less from Amazon.
Yeah, I'm wondering if things will still be slow. If they go back to the way things were then great, but yeah somehow I think "free shipping" will be the lowest priority in warehouses. First next day/2 day paid shipping, then prime members, then non-prime paid shipping, lastly non-prime free shipping
 
I started ordering from them a lot less when they started charging tax in Minnesota. If I can get something for the same price or even a few dollars more from Gamestop, WalMart, Target, etc locally there is no point in ordering online. Especially when it comes to more expensive items. Same with computer parts, I'd rather order from Newegg than Amazon since after factoring in taxes it's cheaper to order from Egg now days.
Normally I shake my head at those dodging sales tax, but seeing as though this is Minnesota, I couldn't care less :p
 
thats ok though.. they can rasie it to 100 minimum ill just shop locally as they will price match amazon so no real lose of value. so go ahead amazon raise your minimum and prime forall i care. local is better as i get it that day.
 
wow they only recently (less then 3 years) raised the price of Free shipping from $25 to $35...now another jump to $49??...Amazon might be getting overconfident
 
Yeah, I'm wondering if things will still be slow. If they go back to the way things were then great, but yeah somehow I think "free shipping" will be the lowest priority in warehouses. First next day/2 day paid shipping, then prime members, then non-prime paid shipping, lastly non-prime free shipping

Seriously you guys are complaining about free shipping being too slow. If you don't like it then pay for prime or faster shipping. I don't know any company that puts free shipping priority ahead of any paid service and that is the way it should be. I don't pay every year for prime to be stuck below someone who hasn't paid a cent. Amazon sells around 300 items a second so obviously they are going to have to prioritize who they ship first.
 
wow they only recently (less then 3 years) raised the price of Free shipping from $25 to $35...now another jump to $49??...Amazon might be getting overconfident

Possibly, but UPS and FedEx probably raised their rates too. They seem to do that every year. At some point the current price cut-off no longer becomes a viable option from a money standpoint and costs have to go up.
 
Well technically the customer is paying for a subscription that offers a "free" shipping option. I abuse the hell out of next day shipping with large objects, 3.99 to ship 50 pound objects next day is so rewarding.
They changed the 1 day rates, so not everything is $3.99. Larger items cost more. This change happened a year or so ago.
amazon-1day-ship.jpg
 
Possibly, but UPS and FedEx probably raised their rates too. They seem to do that every year. At some point the current price cut-off no longer becomes a viable option from a money standpoint and costs have to go up.

but I've noticed Amazon using their own in-house delivery service or USPS for most deliveries over the past few months with the free shipping option...Amazon has been pushing Prime hard over the past year with exclusive pricing, early access to lightning deals etc
 
The bullshit about it is that most of the Prime eligble items I order now, almost never get here in 2 days.
I ordered some stuff last night (Sunday), and it shows I'll get it Thursday...... The items haven't even shipped yet.
This used to happen on occasion, but now it seems like 8/10 Prime orders come 3-4 days later, instead of the 2 they say.

If it stays the same, I think I'll let my Prime account go on the next renewal.
 
The bullshit about it is that most of the Prime eligble items I order now, almost never get here in 2 days.
I ordered some stuff last night (Sunday), and it shows I'll get it Thursday...... The items haven't even shipped yet.
This used to happen on occasion, but now it seems like 8/10 Prime orders come 3-4 days later, instead of the 2 they say.

If it stays the same, I think I'll let my Prime account go on the next renewal.

I have noticed this as well. I'm going to complain via live chat from now on. They usually help you out. They price matched an item I bought 3 months ago one time.
 
The bullshit about it is that most of the Prime eligble items I order now, almost never get here in 2 days.
I ordered some stuff last night (Sunday), and it shows I'll get it Thursday...... The items haven't even shipped yet.
This used to happen on occasion, but now it seems like 8/10 Prime orders come 3-4 days later, instead of the 2 they say.

If it stays the same, I think I'll let my Prime account go on the next renewal.

Are these in stock items? If so have a little chat with Amazon support, most cases they will give you a month or so of free prime, I only had an issue once, item took a long time to ship and then never showed, support said they were going to flag it as lost in transit and reshipped another one to me over night without charge and then gave me 3 months free prime added to my account. From speaking with others, for late shipments or things that do not make it in time, they will almost always offer extra free months of prime right from the start. And if you are getting THAT many late items, you might never have to pay for Prime again ;)
 
non-prime here, i've been using amazon less and less as they raise the minimum cost for free shipping. their loss.
 
I recently made a large order from Amazon. It took them a WEEK just to start the shipment process. F u amazon. I ain't paying for your prime crap. All the more reason to order even less than the three times I year I do.
 
Seriously you guys are complaining about free shipping being too slow. If you don't like it then pay for prime or faster shipping. I don't know any company that puts free shipping priority ahead of any paid service and that is the way it should be. I don't pay every year for prime to be stuck below someone who hasn't paid a cent. Amazon sells around 300 items a second so obviously they are going to have to prioritize who they ship first.

Actually I'm complaining about the all new 3-6 day shipping with prime and the higher price of a prime here in Canada that excludes everything but photo storage. I haven't seen two day prime shipping in a long time, there's this new "Free shipping for Prime Members" but that shipping is 3-6 days. All of this happened to active subscriptions, the aggressive devaluing of Prime membership after I've paid pisses me off.
 
Actually I'm complaining about the all new 3-6 day shipping with prime and the higher price of a prime here in Canada that excludes everything but photo storage. I haven't seen two day prime shipping in a long time, there's this new "Free shipping for Prime Members" but that shipping is 3-6 days. All of this happened to active subscriptions, the aggressive devaluing of Prime membership after I've paid pisses me off.
My reply wasn't to you. The others were complaining about free shipping being too slow. I have prime and received everything in either 1 or 2 days. The longest thing was a 700 pound table saw which still only took 5 days since it came through a 3rd party freight.
 
In the last month or two Amazon has delayed and then straight up cancelled my order TWICE.

Really not too happy with Prime these days...it's still worth it for most things but their service is getting less and less reliable, and more and more expensive.


My question is...does this affect the Add-On items as well? If I have to order $50 worth of stuff to get add-on items now, Amazon can fuck off.
 
Never like the term "Free Shipping". Someone always pays the shipping. USPS, UPS, FeEx etc. don't deliver anything for free.

Even when they deliver despair and sorrow, someone pay the freight.

The thing to keep in mind is that what we pay at a UPS Store or the Post Office or online for postage is substantially higher than what companies with shipping agreements pay to send packages out to us. So for Amazon to get all money grubby about shipping is laughable. Their cost isn't nearly as much as ours.
 
The thing to keep in mind is that what we pay at a UPS Store or the Post Office or online for postage is substantially higher than what companies with shipping agreements pay to send packages out to us. So for Amazon to get all money grubby about shipping is laughable. Their cost isn't nearly as much as ours.

Shipping costs for an online store is actually a big deal, yes, they do get cheaper rates, but many of the items these places sell are pretty small margins and profits are made through sheer volume, but you start attaching shipping costs to every item that is never recovered and you now have a mass of items that cost you money to sell. They are a business, not a charity.
 
Really is too bad. I will be doing less purchasing on Amazon now. Free shipping is what largely made them competitive. $49 will cover my bigger purchases but not my smaller ones. I remember when it was $25 and went up to $35. That wasn't too bad. $49? Well, I'll certainly be buying less small things from them.
 
Their non-prime "free shipping" has just gotten worse and worse as prime has been pushed. They don't even try to fulfill free shipping orders till last minute, last couple orders they waited 5 days just hand the package off to ups then takes another 3-5 days for it to arrive. I'm buying more from other places that actually fulfill orders in 2-3 days. Not getting prime
 
FWIW I have prime, amazon usually delivers in 2 days unless I bundle a lot of items. Taxes are "irritating" but, you pay taxes at the local store. My state expects you to pay taxes on out of state purchases, always has. (Taxman, song by..) And your travel costs are your "home service shipping charge." Employers pay $.56 a mile for car use. How far is your shopping? Plus stores are set up to encourage impulse buying. Add a coffee on the way. Snack.
There are items where a display item or sample is important. There are items where finding them, let alone in stock is major luck.
Sure high weight/low price is usually inflated to cover shipping. But..
I found 5 packs of metric Viton O-rings on prime. CNC machined adjustable motorcycle levers from China. Even parts for an 81 motorcycle. Some bulk over the counter drugs and medicine is cheapest on amazon. Gifts are easy.

Yes shopping counts as entertainment for a lot of people.

The real hassle is there someone/somewhere to designate delivery to.
 
The downfall of Amazon continues..
Glad I cancelled 3 orders last week with them.. F U Amazon
 
And once again, Amazon increases the cost of buying items without prime in order to entice you to get prime. I think they're more likely to entice people to shop local. Best Buy price matches Amazon and for PC h/w there's always Newegg.
 
But that's only for Prime. This is talking about non-Prime accounts. I abuse next day shipping as well.

You are still paying for it, each and every product has the cost of providing that service builtin in to the price listed on Amazon. There is no free.
 
You are still paying for it, each and every product has the cost of providing that service builtin in to the price listed on Amazon. There is no free.

That's getting a tad pedantic, isn't it? Cost of shipping is factored in, hence why the free shipping minimum goes up sometimes (well, one reason at least) and why they push people to get Prime memberships (again, one reason at least). Regardless, the non-Prime customer doesn't pay an additional shipping cost on top of the items they are purchasing as long they reach that minimum number.
 
That's getting a tad pedantic, isn't it?

No. What it is is unfortunate that I have to point out how the process works; though it is a testament to how good a job Amazon has done of advertising. People believe there is a free lunch and because of that they get taken advantage of quite often.

To be very clear, no one gets free shipping from Amazon. Prime members pay for shipping, non prime members pay for shipping. The cost is simply distributed across all purchases, those people who buy more subsidize the costs for those that buy less.
 
No. What it is is unfortunate that I have to point out how the process works; though it is a testament to how good a job Amazon has done of advertising. People believe there is a free lunch and because of that they get taken advantage of quite often.

To be very clear, no one gets free shipping from Amazon. Prime members pay for shipping, non prime members pay for shipping. The cost is simply distributed across all purchases, those people who buy more subsidize the costs for those that buy less.

I edited my post to address it being factored into the cost. If you want get technical about it, yes very little in life is free. There is always a catch somewhere when a company offers something free or ridiculously cheap. In the case of Amazon raising the minimum it means more profit that Bezos can spend on whatever random thing he wants to this year.
 
Be sure to check the "Ship each item as fast as possible" box, otherwise they will hold items until they receive the whole order at the closest warehouse. Any other delays come about usually come about because of weather. Planes don't fly too well in snow and high winds. Also, Amazon has kicked everything into high gear with doing things themselves this year. They are working on cutting UPS and FedEX out of the loop completely as they keep charging more and more, not to mention UPS is no longer handling items that get closer to 70lbs in weight, or bulky like some of the Amazon Pantry boxes can get, they consider it "freight" and charge a much higher rate for it. So late last year, and this year Amazon has been in the works organizing its own transport network ordering fleets of trucks or utilizing contractors. In the places were the USPS is delivering the last leg, Amazon has a local contractor drop of the parcels and they pay the Post office something like 2.50 per package regardless of size. In the future, Im sure amazon is going to try and become its own delivery service to the door. Shipping costs are no joke, as it can make or break many of these startup companies. UPS and FEDeX tend to be way to pricey unless you are doing bulk shipments in the hundreds.
 
People still shop at Amazon????? HAHAHAHA. They are great for using at stores for price matching though.
 
That's a fairly large jump over $35, I mean going to something like $40 I could see but, a nearly 50% increase is rather substantial, damn.
 
No. What it is is unfortunate that I have to point out how the process works; though it is a testament to how good a job Amazon has done of advertising. People believe there is a free lunch and because of that they get taken advantage of quite often.

To be very clear, no one gets free shipping from Amazon. Prime members pay for shipping, non prime members pay for shipping. The cost is simply distributed across all purchases, those people who buy more subsidize the costs for those that buy less.

If people are "taken advantage of" it is their own fault, free shipping or not, if the price total is lower than other options or local and you don't need it NOW, it is still a deal. If you are willingly buying from a location that is higher in price due to included overhead because they give you "free" shipping, you are just an idiot. I have prime because I shop allot at Amazon, some of the other features are nice, but main reason is shipping. The items I buy are often far cheaper than local, or can not be found local. One example, local store didn't have a paint I needed and said it would be up to a month to get and was going to be twice the price of the same stuff they stocked ($15 vs almost $30), I looked online and found some deals that did beat Amazon for price....But wanted $38 for hazard shipping, while with prime I got free shipping, the extra $1 and something price at Amazon was a no brainer. The point being, shop around, I still buy from other places for some items because Amazon does not carry it or someone else has a better prices, it id really not hard to price check these days, so if you get suckered in on something, it is your own fault.
 
I too have seen many items not show up in two days. What really pisses me off is that an item will say it is Prime Eligible, in stock, and say "Free Two Day Shipping", but the delivery date is three to four days later (in one instance 7 days). That is not two day shipping if I order something on Monday morning and then get it Thursday or Friday. I have complained twice on the chat line and have gotten 6 more months of Prime free. They obviously know what is going on because they jump right to offering me that in both sessions. I first noticed it around Christmas of 2015. I was understanding during that time because I know that is the the busiest time of the year for all carriers and that affects anyone shipping anything. However, it has not gotten any better since then. Their backlog should be over by now, it is no longer an excuse. In the future, I am only going to continue to be a Prime customer if: 1) They get their shipping practices back to what they promise or, 2) They keep giving me free membership for not delivering properly. If the latter happens, then there is value in free three to four day shipping plus Prime Video. I was content with paying the Prime fee, when they were supplying what they were promising, but I should not pay for a service that fails to "deliver", pun intended.
 
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