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I think I agree that Prime by itself is not worth it. But if you get the credit card, the extra cash back on $4,500 worth of purchases on Amazon makes it pay fo

I think I agree that Prime by itself is not worth it. But if you get the credit card, the extra cash back on $4,500 worth of purchases on Amazon makes it pay for itself. This is being extremely generous by pretending you can get 2% with another card. Personally, even comparing with local stores and buying the cheaper option, it pays for itself. Then there is cyber Monday where I basically get all the Christmas gifts which add up real quick. Plus, I really like not having to minimum spend to get free delivery.

Retric 5y ago
I doubt many people can buy 400$/month of stuff from Amazon without regularly getting screwed over by fake or expired products.
- torstenvl 5y ago
  I easily buy that much on Amazon on average. I spend $100/mo on Amazon just on sugar free Red Bull. Yes, I may have a problem.
  - throwanem 5y ago
    "May?"
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - blibble 5y ago
    that's not Red Bull that you're drinking..!
- gs17 5y ago
  If Whole Foods counts (no idea what the specifics of the card are), it's not too hard at all. It's very easy to spend over a hundred a week there if you're feeding more than one person.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - Retric 5y ago
    Worth checking out, but it’s possible to get much higher rewards on a single category like groceries. “6% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%). ” Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express which Whole Foods accepts.
    - gavinsyancey 5y ago
      That card has a $100 annual fee -- Prime is not much more per year.
    - brnaftr361 5y ago
      "(superstores, convenience stores, warehouse clubs, and meal-kit delivery services are not considered supermarkets)" Which is to say most Walmart stores, or a more liberal interpretation "plebs need not apply". Though I found out it does work with the pick-up option, but I absolutely loathe not being able to look at what I'm buying.
    - vgeek 5y ago
      The credit card comparison space is incredibly lucrative-- that is why Bankrate/Red Ventures bought ThePointsGuy. But it isn't really that objective anymore when it comes to comparisons, since if you're an affiliate for a bank, they heavily dictate how you can include their products on your site. There needs to be a simple tool for users to plug in their spending and easily see the best options based on sign up bonuses, rewards, annual fees and rates. The problem is that by being overly objective, you end up alienating the banks who are paying the referral fees.
jdmichal 5y ago
> This is being extremely generous by pretending you can get 2% with another card. At Amazon? No. But with two cards I get: Grocery: 3% Gas: 2% Restaurants: 3-4.5% [0] Travel: 3-4.5% And I'm not even trying all that hard... There's entire groups dedicated to min-maxing this stuff that can probably blow the above right out of the water. [0] Depends on how I redeem the points.
- hervature 5y ago
  Yea, I would put myself in that group. Most of this obviously comes down to personal spending habits. The only category that is really applicable to Amazon is the grocery category. For the purposes of the Amazon website, I would counter that the subscribe and save is often much cheaper than the store. I'm a little surprised that my original comment got downvoted that Prime + credit card makes sense if you spend $4.5k on Amazon. I don't eat meat and so my protein purchases alone through Amazon equal $500/year. People on HN I guess think that spending $4,500 per year on food and other essentials is unreasonable.
  - jdmichal 5y ago
    Ah, I see. I misinterpreted your comment. You meant the 2% base vs the 5% with Prime. And were making a conservative calculation based on the 3% difference, even though it's not likely you could get 2% back with a different card. $139 / .03 = $4,633 I mean, this is exactly the type of math you should do to evaluate options like this. No controversy here. If you're spending more than that anyway, it makes sense to get the Prime card. Anything you spend beyond that amount is earning you more than the non-Prime card, and that's even just flat out valuing Prime at $0 and treating it as a fee.

Retric 5y ago

I doubt many people can buy 400$/month of stuff from Amazon without regularly getting screwed over by fake or expired products.

torstenvl 5y ago
I easily buy that much on Amazon on average. I spend $100/mo on Amazon just on sugar free Red Bull. Yes, I may have a problem.
- throwanem 5y ago
  "May?"
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- blibble 5y ago
  that's not Red Bull that you're drinking..!
gs17 5y ago
If Whole Foods counts (no idea what the specifics of the card are), it's not too hard at all. It's very easy to spend over a hundred a week there if you're feeding more than one person.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Retric 5y ago
  Worth checking out, but it’s possible to get much higher rewards on a single category like groceries. “6% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%). ” Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express which Whole Foods accepts.
  - gavinsyancey 5y ago
    That card has a $100 annual fee -- Prime is not much more per year.
  - brnaftr361 5y ago
    "(superstores, convenience stores, warehouse clubs, and meal-kit delivery services are not considered supermarkets)" Which is to say most Walmart stores, or a more liberal interpretation "plebs need not apply". Though I found out it does work with the pick-up option, but I absolutely loathe not being able to look at what I'm buying.
  - vgeek 5y ago
    The credit card comparison space is incredibly lucrative-- that is why Bankrate/Red Ventures bought ThePointsGuy. But it isn't really that objective anymore when it comes to comparisons, since if you're an affiliate for a bank, they heavily dictate how you can include their products on your site. There needs to be a simple tool for users to plug in their spending and easily see the best options based on sign up bonuses, rewards, annual fees and rates. The problem is that by being overly objective, you end up alienating the banks who are paying the referral fees.

jdmichal 5y ago

> This is being extremely generous by pretending you can get 2% with another card. At Amazon? No. But with two cards I get: Grocery: 3% Gas: 2% Restaurants: 3-4.5% [0] Travel: 3-4.5% And I'm not even trying all that hard... There's entire groups dedicated to min-maxing this stuff that can probably blow the above right out of the water. [0] Depends on how I redeem the points.

hervature 5y ago
Yea, I would put myself in that group. Most of this obviously comes down to personal spending habits. The only category that is really applicable to Amazon is the grocery category. For the purposes of the Amazon website, I would counter that the subscribe and save is often much cheaper than the store. I'm a little surprised that my original comment got downvoted that Prime + credit card makes sense if you spend $4.5k on Amazon. I don't eat meat and so my protein purchases alone through Amazon equal $500/year. People on HN I guess think that spending $4,500 per year on food and other essentials is unreasonable.
- jdmichal 5y ago
  Ah, I see. I misinterpreted your comment. You meant the 2% base vs the 5% with Prime. And were making a conservative calculation based on the 3% difference, even though it's not likely you could get 2% back with a different card. $139 / .03 = $4,633 I mean, this is exactly the type of math you should do to evaluate options like this. No controversy here. If you're spending more than that anyway, it makes sense to get the Prime card. Anything you spend beyond that amount is earning you more than the non-Prime card, and that's even just flat out valuing Prime at $0 and treating it as a fee.