Amazon Super Saver Shipping threshold is now $35.00

[upgrading]

No clue where to put this, but I figured it impacts us deal seekers, so I put it here.

Props to SD for the alert.

One now needs at least $35.00 worth of stuff to get free shipping.
Prime is unaffected as of now I guess.

This blows.

Even worse in my state Amazon will start collecting for "The Man" starting in November.

 

[Quijote]

I hear ya. I need to get all my purchases in.

 

[elronin]

Upgrading, ***** to hear that. My state will start collecting taxes sometime in 2014 2015, when they build a warehouse up in northern Florida.

TheToolReviewGuy

 

[allinon72]

Prime is worth it to me. Saves me a lot of money per year.

 

[archirelic]

When Amazon started collecting taxes on purchases online in Texas...that severely limited how much I shop/spend there...that coupled with the fact that there really aren't that many "killer deals" to be had anymore.

Now that this will be happening, Amazon might be seeing the last of my occasional business.

None of this is said with bitterness or malice, it just is what it is...so many other online retailers w/better pricing + shipping options now.

 

[Bull]

Amazon has to collect taxes to feed da gubament; I can't hold a grudge against them for that.

I'm an Amazon addict, and Prime is money well spent. Two days after ordering from the comfort of my home, for either a very good or competitive price, the item appears at my door. And if I'm in a hurry and need one day shipping it's around an extra $7 or something.

Worth every nickel.

 

[srmofo]

Prime is worth it to me. Saves me a lot of money per year.

That's funny , free shipping costs me a lot of money

 

[whyNick?]

That stinks about Super Saver shipping but I agree that Amazon Prime is awesome. My family probably makes one or two purchases a week through Amazon. We've even found a number of toiletry items (diapers, baby wipes, and deodorant) and grocery staples (coffee, condiments, etc) that are cheaper through Amazon's Subscribe and Save program than they are at Costco or the grocery store. And there's enough decent movies and TV shows for free through Prime Instant Video that we cancelled our Netflix subscription. At under $7/month it's money well spent in my mind.

 

[Dennis93]

Idk. They started charging sales tax in my state, va. This couples with the fact that most things on amazon are exactly the same price as the local hd or lowes, I'd rather use my 5% off with my store credit card and support my store a little at the same time. Amazon used to have good deals, but lately I've been better off finding them on craigslist or in clearances at stores. The only thing I still buy are textbooks. Note to everyone, if you buy from a seller on amazon and they aren't in your state, they can't charge you sales tax. Amazon has to in certain states, but their private party sellers don't need to unless you are in the same state.

 

[rslaback]

I can't say that this is true in all states but in Wisconsin you owed fair use tax for any purchases that you made that didn't have sales tax charged (online, cross state, phone etc.) anyway so the move to collect tax really doesn't matter anyway. Unless of course you were evading taxes originally.

 

[03protege]

If I order 10 items from Amazon I can expect at least 5-6 boxes to show up.

It kills me every time I ship something to think I am paying 10x the amount Amazon would pay.

 

[MJB24]

I can't say that this is true in all states but in Wisconsin you owed fair use tax for any purchases that you made that didn't have sales tax charged (online, cross state, phone etc.) anyway so the move to collect tax really doesn't matter anyway. Unless of course you were evading taxes originally.

 

[BJ42LX]

In addition to the $35 change, Amazon have added another shipping category: Add-On Items.

Apparently you CAN'T order an Add-On item UNLESS your total bill is $25 or more. More info here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200876660&pop-up=1

Example product here:

http://www.amazon.com/Franklin-International-2403-Titebond-Molding/dp/B0002YXDWQ/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1382491358&sr=8-12&keywords=titebond

 

[c615586]

We are have Amazon Prime and get several household and kids items (diapers and wipes) delivered monthly through Subscribe and Save. We use the Prime video streaming service quite a bit, though my wife won't let me cancel our cable yet. Also, our local library uses the Kindle service to let you check out eBooks to your iPad or eReader, though I don't think you have to be a Prime member for this service.

We also use Giant Eagle (Western PA and Eastern Ohio grocery store) gift cards for all Amazon purchases so we accumulate Fuel Perks quickly as well--which decreases our monthly fuel costs.

You can share your prime account with a few family members and friends (I think 2 or 3) so you could defray the costs a little that way, too.

 

[Jawn]

Meh. I've got Prime, but even without, I didn't often spend less than $35 per order. As to the taxes... they already collect here. It's money owed to the state anyway, so meh.

 

[WDEagle]

upgrading, ***** to hear that. My state will start collecting taxes sometime in 2014 2015, when they build a warehouse up in northern florida.

thetoolreviewguy

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[jhall0712]

Prime member here. Even now that they are collecting taxes here in Texas I still think it's worth it. We spend hundreds a month on Amazon. Time and money saver for us.

 

[zkling]

Can someone clairfy please? If you are a prime member you get free shipping no matter what? If you are not a prime member, you have to meet a $25, now $35 order minimum order for free shipping? *On select items

If I order 10 items from Amazon I can expect at least 5-6 boxes to show up.

It kills me every time I ship something to think I am paying 10x the amount Amazon would pay.

I've always wondered about the metrics of shipping for online companies.

 

[Skin]

Can someone clairfy please? If you are a prime member you get free shipping no matter what? If you are not a prime member, you have to meet a $25, now $35 order minimum order for free shipping? *On select items

The free saver shipping works pretty much on anything Amazon carries provided the order sum hits the minimum. Prime has two benefits, the first is you get to stream an assortment of movies and TV shows which is a really nice perk, assuming you'll use it. The second is the shipping. 2-day air is free and you can be upgraded to next day for an additional sum which varies but will always be far far less than a standard next day air fee off any other site. The tricky part is the limit. Technically with prime there is none and for most items its true however they've started to label low cost items as "Add-On" meaning they cannot be shipped alone but need to be added to a minimum order amount. Last time I had prime it was pretty random as to what items they opted to label Add-On and what weren't but generally it was things under $6-$8 so saying there is no minimum on anything with prime isn't really correct, it just depends.

I expect fee hikes and more restrictions with prime as the years go on. The system is just too easy to abuse from a profit standpoint, even still.

We are have Amazon Prime and get several household and kids items (diapers and wipes) delivered monthly through Subscribe and Save.

Just a note, whether you know it or not, you don't need prime to get any of the subscribe and save benefits. Those items circumvent the FSSS minimum rules.

 

[Danglerb]

I still look at the total price shipped, give some thought to when I need it, and usually buy from the cheapest vendor.

I don't know how this add on and $35 min are going to effect me, but guessing it will leave more stuff in the cart waiting to hit the free shipping min, AND I will be less likely to order anything above the min leaving it in the save for later to meet the next min.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

Considering they don't have to offer free shipping at all, I consider it still a deal. And rarely do I spend less than $35 on an order anyways. I'll just browse for a week, toss things into the cart and check out once a week. That exceeds the minimum and makes it easier to get in one batch.

I had Prime, enjoyed it, but oddly enough many things I wanted didn't qualify for free shipping with Prime. I didn't renew, though I really should since I pay more than $79 in shipping overall a year with Amazon now.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

That stinks about Super Saver shipping but I agree that Amazon Prime is awesome. My family probably makes one or two purchases a week through Amazon. We've even found a number of toiletry items (diapers, baby wipes, and deodorant) and grocery staples (coffee, condiments, etc) that are cheaper through Amazon's Subscribe and Save program than they are at Costco or the grocery store. And there's enough decent movies and TV shows for free through Prime Instant Video that we cancelled our Netflix subscription. At under $7/month it's money well spent in my mind.

Same here ^

I've always wondered about the metrics of shipping for online companies.

Me too. They've shipped me UPS, FedEx, DHL, First Point?, and another one or two. I know they have some of the world's greatest logistics and warehouses, so I would assume when they get an item, some algorithm figures out how to ship to be most cost effective.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/6KRjuuEVEZs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And I also got add-on items last week and they went on my Friday order. Some of those Stanley razor scrapers for $0.67 or whatever it was. Pretty cool, but add-ons will cost me money, like someone else said.

 

[ATC]

This is just the beginning. Mark my words...but Amazon is going downhill IMO. It always starts with small fees here and there, upping the minimum's, and adding more items to the "can't ship - Add-on only" category.

I'm just the little guy though. Most of my purchases are for one item under $25. I struggle to find things to add to bring the total up. With the addition of state tax, and a $35 limit...well...they've pretty much lost me as a customer.

 

[bowlofturtle]

What are u guys actually buying? I have prime but only need it for school books, cheaper and 2 day pays for itself over my school that marks them $100+ over.

Aside from that its just small random bits. I don't see many tools or autoparts that are deals. Just no tax is what makes it work.

 

[eljefino]

Prime member here.

I've gotten...

brake rotors for $16 with free shipping
Innova 3160 scan tool
IR impact gun
cases of Peak 10w40 on sale... worked out to $1.30/qt.

My thing about abandoning one item in a cart is Amazon cleverly jerks the price around a few percent... if I'm ready to buy I hope I'm pulling the trigger at a low price point. Also if an item floats in my cart "they know I want it" and will nag me until I get it. Their logistics and psychology are pretty intense.

I'm on several different computers and will view stuff on one then order on another. The cookies are persistent! Sometimes I'll look something up for someone else and Amazon will then really nag me to buy that thing via email and ads all over.

But, I have looked at stuff that's then varied in price when I'm ready to buy. Would hate to lose out.

Also, watch for Prime to go up to $99 a year, but they'll let you "pre-buy" at $79 if an existing member.

 

[Davefr]

No, Prime isn't worth it IMHO.

Amazon is now categorizing most <$25 (maybe <$35) items as add on items and not available for stand alone Prime shipping.

$80/year can pay for a lot of shipping costs on items not eligible for free shipping. (And most 3rd party merchants on Amazon don't do Prime)

 

[Hootbro]

What was funny about what rslaback said? He is correct, most states have a fair use tax that is suppose to be paid by the buyer bringing in goods from out of state. The issue is that 99.99% of people never voluntarily pay their respective state this tax or declare it. People are still liable for it and that is why various states are pushing to make retailer collect this tax on their end since compliance by the buyer to voluntarily pay the tax is nil.

 

[warmpancakes]

amazon has to do something, They lost money last year and are on track to do it again this year. But their stock keeps climbing?

 

[jim2664258]

Amazon is now categorizing most <$25 (maybe <$35) items as add on items and not available for stand alone Prime shipping.

Where did you see this? I've been thinking about getting a Prime membership. Does this apply if you buy multiple items < 25 but the sum total is greater than some threshold?

If you have a link I'd appreciate it, thanks.

 

[TJx]

When it comes to any company collecting taxes for online purchases, it has to with most state laws that if a company has a presence in the state they are shipping to, then they collect sales tax. Think Walmart, Apple, etc.
If Amazon, in this case for example, has a FC (Fulfillment Center) in your state, you will be charged sales tax.
Texas is an exception. The way I understood the story, they were suing Amazon for a few hundred million because they weren't collecting sales tax for out of state purchases.
It had to do with the Texas FC was part of the Kentucky FC corporate charter and they didn't think they technically had a presence in Texas, or something like that.
Amazon at the time had a growing "presence" in Texas but after this they reduced it to a bare minimum until they could get out completely.
Amazon will not enter and build FC's in new (for them) states that have this law.
Online retailers hate collecting sales tax, trust me, it gives them a competitive advantage over the BM's.

 

[donthelegend]

If you don't shop on amazon often, this ***** for you and Prime isn't worth it. I generally order something once a week, and more often around birthdays/holidays/etc. It's nice because with prime, I don't need to worry about "loading my cart up" with everything I need. Just, hey, I need this, it has prime shipping, order it. No problems, no worries, and it's on my doorstep in 48 hours. If I get lucky and it's coming out of one of the warehouses that's even closer, 24 hours. I also take advantage of the streaming movies on a semi-regular basis, and between that and netflix, can avoid a cable bill. So that pays for itself in short order.

As for what I buy on amazon?

-Car parts
-Camping supplies
-First aid supplies
-Tools
-Offroad recovery gear
-Office supplies
-New books (There's a local used book store that's pretty awesome, but their new stuff is limited)

95 percent of my orders qualify for prime shipping. The other 5 percent aren't Prime shipping, but still free. If the seller doesn't offer free shipping at all, I can generally find the item cheaper or for the same price at another online store or in a B&M store.

 

[jim2664258]

I guess I don't understand why you'd have Prime and Netflix?

 

[dowmace]

I guess I don't understand why you'd have Prime and Netflix?

I have both, netflix is better when I'm on the road.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk now Free

 

[jhall0712]

The streaming movies is just an added benefit of Prime. On that note however, we have Prime, Netflix, and Hulu and still pay way less than we could for cable or satellite.

We buy everything we can from Amazon. If it's something we don't need right away, and it's prime eligible, why go to the store and waste gas if we can get delivered to our door in 48 hours? If Amazon's grocery service was available here I guarantee you we would use it. As it is we use Sam's Club 'Click and Pull'. Order all your groceries online, walk in and they are waiting for you in a buggy. But I digress..

$80 isn't going to go very far at all for shipping if you order enough online. Maybe we order things online more than the average household though.

 

[Davefr]

Where did you see this? I've been thinking about getting a Prime membership. Does this apply if you buy multiple items < 25 but the sum total is greater than some threshold?

If you have a link I'd appreciate it, thanks.

Here's one example but there are many, many more.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00404YKZI/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Amazon is classifying lots of <$25 items as "add on only". So you can't buy them with Prime unless you meet the $25 order threshold with other items.

That takes away from one of the key benefits of Prime which was not having to worry about filler to qualify for free shipping.

 

[donthelegend]

Depending on what content you're interested in, Prime and Netflix actually differ quite a bit, especially with TV series availability. If I just wanted to watch "something quick without going to the store" either would suffice. If I want to watch Suits, or Archer, I need Netflix and Prime (and as noted, with prime there is the shipping benefit as well).

Besides, even if you ignore the other Prime benefits, 79 + 7.99*12 = 175 bucks a year for both. The introductory rate I would get for cable is 60/month, so after 3 months, both have paid for themselves.

 

[Bull]

I just ordered a t-shirt from Amazon last night. The shirt was $6, and it qualified for Prime and the free shipping. For $3.99 I was able to pay for one day shipping since I need the shirt for school on Friday.

$10 shipped for a shirt I need, in the color and size I need, when I need it. No running to different stores and hoping to find what I want. I saved my time and my gas and sipped a cup of coffee while I shopped.

I'd pay more than $80 for Prime membership. It rules. I buy from them almost every week, everything from auto parts to household products. They don't always have the best price, but they don't often have a worse price, especially if I factor in the free and quick shipping.

I don't blame them for raising prices every now and then. Inflation is a part of the market. Are they going to charge 2009 prices in 2013? 2024? Come on.

 

[mobiledynamics]

It's only the beginning though


Subscribe and Save
Add On
Next Day Air Prime Policy Shipping Rates

They are now testing the waters on how much a customer will *bear* to what their ongoing policy changes are...

 

[Skin]

I just ordered a t-shirt from Amazon last night. The shirt was $6, and it qualified for Prime and the free shipping. For $3.99 I was able to pay for one day shipping since I need the shirt for school on Friday.

$10 shipped for a shirt I need, in the color and size I need, when I need it. No running to different stores and hoping to find what I want. I saved my time and my gas and sipped a cup of coffee while I shopped.

I'd pay more than $80 for Prime membership. It rules. I buy from them almost every week, everything from auto parts to household products. They don't always have the best price, but they don't often have a worse price, especially if I factor in the free and quick shipping.

I don't blame them for raising prices every now and then. Inflation is a part of the market. Are they going to charge 2009 prices in 2013? 2024? Come on.

Examples like yours show why the current way Prime functions is a failure. They're sending you a package next day for $10 total. What profit is left in that for them? Makes no sense.

Ultimately I think they thought enough people would buy expensive items and subsidize the losses of someone making a purchase like yours, but as stated, that's not what is happening. Most people are making small purchases and the premium shipping options remove their profit or even cause a loss.

I think the next step we'll see is a fixed minimum price for prime before premium shipping options become available, say at $20-$25.

 

[FarmerPete]

I order a ton off the internet. Prime is NOT worth it for shipping costs alone. If I want something that's under $25 (now $35), I just save it in my wishlist for later. If I need it now, I pull something off my wishlist to reach the cap. Simple as that. Having said that, Prime may be worth it for the speed of shipping. While I wouldn't pay $10 to speed up my supersaver free shipping, I would like to get the items faster. If I can spend $80 a year, it isn't such a bad deal though. Throw in the streaming and the Kindle lenders library, and you have a much more compelling argument. I used my prime trial during December last year, and I realized how dangerous it was. Almost instant gratification on items I desired...

I've been trying to push home the message on Car + Driving = Money argument to my wife. I use cargly to record all my gas costs for both of our cars. My wife's car is costing ~$0.18 a mile for gas over the last 60 days. My wife is the kind of person who will make a twenty mile round trip to get to the store to save $2 on an item she wants. I had to sit her down and explain that driving 20 miles at $0.18 a mile means that she just lost $3.60 in gas, and had a net loss over if she had just gone to the place 2 miles down the street and paid a little more. I'm trying to teach her that if you run 4-5 errands on the same side of town at once, your cost for each stop goes way down. I could make a similar argument for Amazon and how it saves in my gas/car costs.

In general, Amazon isn't the cheapest online vendor for any particular item. There are plenty of great online vendors that specialize and will have better/competitive prices with Amazon. For instance, you might be able to get cheaper car parts from RockAuto than Amazon. I often buy my computer equipment from Newegg vs Amazon. However, as a rule of thumb, you can't go too wrong with Amazon's prices. They are typically close to other websites prices (if not better), and buying everything from one reputable place has it's perks.