Amazon increased the price of its Amazon Prime membership program today from $79 to $99 annually. That Prime price hike has been anticipated since Amazon’s last quarterly earnings call, when CFO Tom Szkutak said that it was likely that the company would raise its annual cost by $20 to $40.
Amazon Prime allows members free two-day shipping as well as access to Amazon’s Prime Instant Video television and movie streaming service and free access to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. (These offerings only provide free access to a subset of Amazon’s streaming video and e-book library.) Amazon introduced Prime in 2005 and has held its price steady ever since.
The price of Prime for students will remain at $49. Amazon Fresh, the company’s same-day grocery and product delivery service, will remain $299.
The Prime price increase will go into effect for existing users on their renewal dates. If your Amazon Prime memberships has already been renewed in 2014, the price increase won’t go into effect until it renews again in 2015.
