Amazon is about to raise the price of Prime membership in the US. Annual subscriptions will jump from $119 to $139, while monthly fees will rise from $12.99 to $14.99.
The price hikes will hit existing subscribers from 25th March 2022; new users from 18th February.
But here's the good news: Prime subscribers can dodge the pesky price hike for an entire year! Here's how the money-saving hack works:
1. Gift yourself a Prime membership for $119 before the price increase. (As ever, you'll be charged tax on the $119 total.) And make sure you use the e-mail address registered to your Prime account.
2. Wait for the Amazon e-mail confirming that you've generously gifted yourself a 12-month Prime membership. Got it? Good.
3. The day before your current membership expires, log into your Amazon account and manually cancel your subscription (go to Prime Central, select 'Update' and then 'Cancel'). This will stop Amazon auto-renewing your Prime membership at the new, higher price.
4. After your Prime membership has ended, you can manually redeem your gifted Prime membership, bask in the $20 saving and enjoy that winning feeling.
It's not only existing members who can lock in Prime at the cheaper price. New subscribers can sign up to a 30-day free Prime trial before 18th February 2022 and snag the $119 a year rate.
Amazon last hiked the price of annual Prime membership in 2018, when it increased to $119 from $99. Four years before that, it bumped the fee from $79 to $99. The upcoming increases are said to be down to supply chain and labour shortages.
In the UK, Amazon Prime costs £7.99 a month or £79 a year. If Amazon were to mirror its US price hike over the pond, Prime could increase to around £9.99 a month or £99 a year.
In the meantime, there are plenty more Amazon savings to be had. US customers can currently bag an Echo Dot (3rd Gen) smart speaker for only $4.99 when they subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited, while UK shoppers can grab an Echo Dot (3rd Gen) for £9.99. Who needs Prime Day, eh?
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