Amazon Prime is a membership program that Amazon offers to exclusive customers offering premium services monthly or yearly. Amazon prime offers discounts on shipping, access to thirty minutes fast deals, free Prime Video membership, Amazon Drive and Twitch Prime.

The popular two-day shipping benefit has driven over 80 million subscribers. Other benefits include specific and partnered benefits that come with no minimum order size and apply to millions of approved products.

For instance, if you’re a member and not in a hurry to cash out your two-day shipping for credit, you can use the extra dollars to buy online movie rentals and eBooks.

Why do customers subscribe to Amazon Prime?”

The main win with signing up for Amazon Prime is its free premium delivery and next-day shipping options for almost all items. For some products, you might be lucky and benefit from same-day delivery. Non-members can only get free delivery for products over $25 but have to wait for 3 to 5 business days to receive the products.

Other than that, Amazon prime offers more benefits including:

Prime now shopping

Prime now allows you to receive your items on the same day. Such items include whole food groceries and you can receive them in two hours but only if it’s available in warehouses near you. You also get an extra discount of 10% on eligible sale items online, in stores, and the whole foods market.

Amazon Family

Amazon Family offers family-based coupons and deals for all prime members. You have access to Amazon’s own customer first-line basic home items such as baby wipes, 20% baby diapers discount, and 15% baby registry discounts.

Unlimited Streaming

You get access to thousands of movies and TV shows once you sign up for Amazon Prime. You can also subscribe to Showtime and HBO at an extra cost. Thanks to the prime playlist, you can listen to over 2 million songs, all ad-free, or subscribe to a discounted Amazon music unlimited to access over 70 million songs.

Amazon Prime Day and Prime Early Access

Amazon runs annual celebrations to celebrate its anniversary and allows members to access wonderful deals each year. As a prime member, you get access to exclusive benefits of Prime day deals annually. During the rest of the year, you get a 30-minute head start to lightening deals before the non-prime members.

Amazon unlimited photo storage

Prime membership gives you access to unlimited 5 GB video storage and full-resolution photo storage. Your images will be backed up to the cloud using the Amazon photos app that you can easily access via your mobile phone or computer.

Unlimited reading

As a member, you have access to thousands of books, magazines, and comics to read for free. The service is available on Fire tablets and Kindle, Android, or iOS devices with the Kindle app.

Free games

With prime Gaming, you can access free in-game content and PC games, plus a monthly Twitch channel subscription.

How can Brands Qualify for the Amazon Prime Program

As a seller, getting your products on Amazon Prime is fairly easy. You have to obtain the prime badge first for all your products. Before that, you need to set up a Prime account and analyze your fulfillment options to determine if it’s profitable to pursue them.

There are two main fulfillment options for you to consider to get a Prime badge:

Fulfillment by Amazon

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is one of the largest fulfillment networks in the world. When you register your brand to be part of FBA, you can send your products through Amazon’s fulfillment network. When your customer buys your product, the order goes direct to the Amazon warehouse, an employee picks, packs, and ships your product to the customer.

The program provides top-notch customer services relating to fulfillment. FBA helps businesses like yours benefit by managing inventory and fulfillment. You also get free two-day shipping in a pocket-friendly option for both parties. So, once you join the FBA program your products are automatically eligible for Amazon Prime.

Seller Fulfilled Prime

If you prefer to have control over your delivery process, Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) is the best option for you. It is a less popular option with only 7% of sellers on it with a waitlist. This program allows you to be in charge of shipping from your warehouse.

You can still get a Prime logo under SFP but you have to abide by Amazon prime’s rule including the two-day shipping, excellent customer care, and on-time shipment. This option is better for sellers dealing with hazardous or fragile products that require extra caution when handling. Also, it’s a lot harder getting accepted into SFP that’s why it’s it has fewer sellers.

What are the challenges of using Amazon Prime?

As much as Amazon Prime offers massive benefits, there are also a few challenges you’ll be facing.

Despite being one of the biggest fulfillment centers, Amazon center’s doesn’t favor products that move slower. Amazon centers aren’t shelf-stable and will incur storage fees for products that aren’t popular.
Depending on the size and weight, your FBA storage fees vary. If your products are large or heavy, need bubble wrap or tape, or any extra services the shipment fees go up. This extra cost chokes out small businesses rather quickly.
If you’re selling through vendor central, the rigid policies can cause deductions and chargebacks. Amazon allows orders in small quantities but ignores brands’ choices for minimum order quantities. In other words, Amazon sometimes pushes to ship dozens of fulfillment centers at an additional cost.

FAQs

How much does Amazon Prime cost?

For monthly membership fees, you can sign up for $12, and the annual membership charge is $119. You’ll get a free month trial period and Amazon will automatically charge you for the next membership period.

What exactly do you get with Amazon Prime?

You would enjoy many benefits but the free two-day shipping tops the list. Amazon Prime allows fast delivery on eligible products to addresses in the US, among other shipping benefits. For more information, check out Amazon Prime for more shipping benefits and free same-day delivery in eligible locations.

How do I get Amazon Prime for free?

You can sign up for the Amazon Prime free trial. Note that after the period expires you’ll pay for the next month. To get you started, Go to the Amazon Prime page, select start a free trial, then follow the instructions as displayed.

Can I get a discount on Amazon Prime?

If you’re a student, you can get a free 6-month trial of Amazon Prime but you have to prove your claims. You can use your student email with .edu mail address when you sign up to get the free trial period. After you sign up, you’ll pay a discounted rate of $6.49 per month.

What comes free with Prime?

Amazon Prime membership gives you free two-day shipping, plus extra privileges like music and video streaming, for a $119 annual fee. A standard Amazon Prime membership currently costs $119 per year — perhaps a steep price to pay for free 2-day shipping.

If you have any questions or thoughts that need answers, feel free to comment below and we’ll get back to you with detailed answers. Also, check out our detailed guide to selling on the Amazon marketplace here.

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