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I have a Prime account, but I'll soon be cancelling it I feel. The same products can had on eBay for less money with no shipping charges added. Prime video is

I have a Prime account, but I'll soon be cancelling it I feel. The same products can had on eBay for less money with no shipping charges added. Prime video is quite unique, but I'm very much past them putting pre-roll ads on the content I want to watch. It's universally an advert for their own craptastic, homegrown version of an existing well-defined format. If I was interested in watching Law & Order I can start from Season 1, not from their knockoff version of it. Amazon Music would be another great service I'd be willing to pay for, but all the available clients are so buggy it's an impediment to me using it.

BrotherBisquick 4y ago
Far be it from me to shill for Amazon, but I find that I can't go without 2-day shipping. Ebay is fine I guess, but I'd lose my mind if I had to wait a week for something. That makes the $140/yr worth it to me.
jrib 4y ago
yeah, I canceled Prime a few years ago. I reasoned that if I needed the product fast then it would be faster to physically go to target or walmart. And if I didn't need it fast, then the default shipping would be fine. Their add-on services all felt lackluster too. Most of the prime video content is not well-rated.
- radicalbyte 4y ago
  What do they charge in the US? It costs me 3 EUR / month here in NL which is worth it. Amazon regularly either undercut or price-match other stores and for 36 EUR a year I get enough entertainment from Prime alone. Netflix is 15 EUR / month and I honestly just keep it for the kids + my wife..
  - i_am_jl 4y ago
    In the US Prime Video is $9/month, full Prime is $15/month. I think it's half price for students.
    - brimwats 4y ago
      Student discount is now time limited iirc!
- ghaff 4y ago
  It doesn't matter as much to me now but when I was traveling a lot some determinism in the shipping time was worth a lot to me. And even now, there's a category of things that I don't need right now but I want soonish and probably won't get to the store for a day or two anyway. It's still a decent value to me overall--especially throwing in video.
- BirAdam 4y ago
  I just cancelled Prime for the same reason.
Liquix 4y ago
> The same products can had on eBay for less money with no shipping charges added. eBay sellers also tend to ship promptly, which used to be one of the main reasons to use Amazon/Prime. The latter's shipping speeds have increased by orders of magnitude in some parts of the country over the last couple years. It's not uncommon these days for a Prime order to sit in limbo for 3-4 days before being shipped, while the same order to the same city shipped instantly in 2018.
- thesuitonym 4y ago
  Interestingly, I haven't had Prime since maybe 2016, and my experience was that Amazon is only capable of two day shipping, but if you don't pay for it, the item just sits on the shelf for three days, then ships.
- cactusplant7374 4y ago
  Prime delivery was a once a week thing in a remote town in Utah several years ago. On the other hand, my parents live in a rural area in the midwest and frequently get packages next day or two day. I'm guessing the difference is down to distribution centers.
bambax 4y ago
If you can wait, most Amazon products are on Aliexpress for much less, sometimes 50% less, up to 90% for electronic components.
- cactusplant7374 4y ago
  I return a lot of products bought from Amazon. How is the return policy and cost with Aliexpress?
  - bambax 4y ago
    Never tried it; I don't think it works too well. Amazon is probably better in that case.
  - distances 4y ago
    When do you return Amazon stuff? I have returned online clothes purchases from other stores but I'm pretty sure I've never returned anything I bought from Amazon. Basically because I buy "things" from it, and I end up doing so much research before buying that I'm always happy with the purchase.
    - cactusplant7374 4y ago
      I buy and research multiple products in parallel. You can’t beat my system. Jeff Bezos hates me.
      - bambax 4y ago
        Jeff Bezos loves you, because he makes money each way. It's the third party sellers who are footing the bills. You make think that you're sticking it to the man, but you're actually screwing the little guys.
  - verall 4y ago
    It sucks. In my case I got a dysfunctional cell phone LCD assembly and seller said I could either ship it back (would cost like half the cost I bought it for) or they would refund me 40% of what I paid. The system to contact the seller has technical measures to prevent you from conversing in Chinese even though that is obviously what the seller is most comfortable with. I think it's fine if you're either buying nonelectronics or buying in bulk but I will not use it for purchasing electronics again.
patentatt 4y ago
I dropped Prime for the first time in many years just last month. 2-day shipping is pretty much standard now at Target and Walmart, there was nothing terribly compelling on Prime Video, and I never even used any other services. Why again have I been shoveling ~$12/month in perpetuity to Amazon?
- freedomben 4y ago
  Prime shipping for me is now a week or two! It's not uncommon to wait 12 days for an order that's Prime from the Amazon warehouse to arrive at my house, and I don't exactly live in a super rural area. It's ludicrous IMHO to pay for prime now when we barely use prime video and super saver shipping wouldn't take much longer than prime.
  - arvindhmani 4y ago
    Whoa, that's unbelievably long if you're a Prime subscriber. I pretty much assumed 2-day shipping was standard for every single Prime member in the US. Do you live elsewhere? And how urban is your area if I may ask (approx. population)?
    - freedomben 4y ago
      Yes, I live in Eastern Idaho, area population about 200,000 people.
rileyphone 4y ago
You can turn off the previews in account settings. Still annoying though.
squeaky-clean 4y ago
> If I was interested in watching Law & Order I can start from Season 1, not from their knockoff version of it. Actually you cannot. Only Law & Order SVU is available on streaming. The original series and the other spinoffs only have the most recent season available online.
- buildsjets 4y ago
  Actually, you CAN. It's all over bittorrent, therefore it is available online. Which brings us back to the title question, how many of you are open to piracy again?
j45 4y ago
Prime is still useful outside of the US. EBay shipping feels in that case can be exorbitant.

BrotherBisquick 4y ago

Far be it from me to shill for Amazon, but I find that I can't go without 2-day shipping. Ebay is fine I guess, but I'd lose my mind if I had to wait a week for something. That makes the $140/yr worth it to me.

jrib 4y ago

yeah, I canceled Prime a few years ago. I reasoned that if I needed the product fast then it would be faster to physically go to target or walmart. And if I didn't need it fast, then the default shipping would be fine. Their add-on services all felt lackluster too. Most of the prime video content is not well-rated.

radicalbyte 4y ago
What do they charge in the US? It costs me 3 EUR / month here in NL which is worth it. Amazon regularly either undercut or price-match other stores and for 36 EUR a year I get enough entertainment from Prime alone. Netflix is 15 EUR / month and I honestly just keep it for the kids + my wife..
- i_am_jl 4y ago
  In the US Prime Video is $9/month, full Prime is $15/month. I think it's half price for students.
  - brimwats 4y ago
    Student discount is now time limited iirc!
ghaff 4y ago
It doesn't matter as much to me now but when I was traveling a lot some determinism in the shipping time was worth a lot to me. And even now, there's a category of things that I don't need right now but I want soonish and probably won't get to the store for a day or two anyway. It's still a decent value to me overall--especially throwing in video.
BirAdam 4y ago
I just cancelled Prime for the same reason.

Liquix 4y ago

> The same products can had on eBay for less money with no shipping charges added. eBay sellers also tend to ship promptly, which used to be one of the main reasons to use Amazon/Prime. The latter's shipping speeds have increased by orders of magnitude in some parts of the country over the last couple years. It's not uncommon these days for a Prime order to sit in limbo for 3-4 days before being shipped, while the same order to the same city shipped instantly in 2018.

thesuitonym 4y ago
Interestingly, I haven't had Prime since maybe 2016, and my experience was that Amazon is only capable of two day shipping, but if you don't pay for it, the item just sits on the shelf for three days, then ships.
cactusplant7374 4y ago
Prime delivery was a once a week thing in a remote town in Utah several years ago. On the other hand, my parents live in a rural area in the midwest and frequently get packages next day or two day. I'm guessing the difference is down to distribution centers.

bambax 4y ago

If you can wait, most Amazon products are on Aliexpress for much less, sometimes 50% less, up to 90% for electronic components.

cactusplant7374 4y ago
I return a lot of products bought from Amazon. How is the return policy and cost with Aliexpress?
- bambax 4y ago
  Never tried it; I don't think it works too well. Amazon is probably better in that case.
- distances 4y ago
  When do you return Amazon stuff? I have returned online clothes purchases from other stores but I'm pretty sure I've never returned anything I bought from Amazon. Basically because I buy "things" from it, and I end up doing so much research before buying that I'm always happy with the purchase.
  - cactusplant7374 4y ago
    I buy and research multiple products in parallel. You can’t beat my system. Jeff Bezos hates me.
    - bambax 4y ago
      Jeff Bezos loves you, because he makes money each way. It's the third party sellers who are footing the bills. You make think that you're sticking it to the man, but you're actually screwing the little guys.
- verall 4y ago
  It sucks. In my case I got a dysfunctional cell phone LCD assembly and seller said I could either ship it back (would cost like half the cost I bought it for) or they would refund me 40% of what I paid. The system to contact the seller has technical measures to prevent you from conversing in Chinese even though that is obviously what the seller is most comfortable with. I think it's fine if you're either buying nonelectronics or buying in bulk but I will not use it for purchasing electronics again.

patentatt 4y ago

I dropped Prime for the first time in many years just last month. 2-day shipping is pretty much standard now at Target and Walmart, there was nothing terribly compelling on Prime Video, and I never even used any other services. Why again have I been shoveling ~$12/month in perpetuity to Amazon?

freedomben 4y ago
Prime shipping for me is now a week or two! It's not uncommon to wait 12 days for an order that's Prime from the Amazon warehouse to arrive at my house, and I don't exactly live in a super rural area. It's ludicrous IMHO to pay for prime now when we barely use prime video and super saver shipping wouldn't take much longer than prime.
- arvindhmani 4y ago
  Whoa, that's unbelievably long if you're a Prime subscriber. I pretty much assumed 2-day shipping was standard for every single Prime member in the US. Do you live elsewhere? And how urban is your area if I may ask (approx. population)?
  - freedomben 4y ago
    Yes, I live in Eastern Idaho, area population about 200,000 people.

rileyphone 4y ago

You can turn off the previews in account settings. Still annoying though.

squeaky-clean 4y ago

> If I was interested in watching Law & Order I can start from Season 1, not from their knockoff version of it. Actually you cannot. Only Law & Order SVU is available on streaming. The original series and the other spinoffs only have the most recent season available online.

buildsjets 4y ago
Actually, you CAN. It's all over bittorrent, therefore it is available online. Which brings us back to the title question, how many of you are open to piracy again?

j45 4y ago

Prime is still useful outside of the US. EBay shipping feels in that case can be exorbitant.