Now with $35 minimum for free shipping (for those of us who don't have Prime) it'll be even harder to find enough stuff to buy to get free shipping.

WTF. When did this happen?

As of yesterday, according to their site.

Well, fuck.

No wonder. I was too tired to figure out why my order last night didn't qualify for free shipping. I left everything in the cart and went to bed. Looks like I'll be holding out now til the BF deals start. I guess they're trying to push more and more shoppers to try the Amazon Prime service.

+1

I would also expect the cost of Prime to go up in the near future, possibly before Black Friday.

Well, that's a big bucket of suck. It's gonna cause a HUGE decline in my impulse purchasing, which is better for my wallet if not my id.

Prime just doesn't appeal to me. 80 bucks a year for two-day shipping isn't enticing when I was getting five-day shipping for free. And Machete don't stream.

Damn! That royally blows! I have Prime now (well, my Dad does, so I'm enjoying his benefits) but he wasn't planning on renewing. Now he just might...

It'd be nice if they keep it at $80 and the $35 minimum is a way to entice people into Prime.

I had Prime for a several months. Sometime last year they had a deal where if you signed on for a trial of Prime you got a sizable discount from your order (and you could cancel before the trial ran out). I ended up paying the $80 and seeing how much I liked it. While 2-day shipping was nice, their regular "free" shipments to me always came quick too (often just 2-3 days). I wasn't impressed with the streaming selection (Netflix is much better IMO, and its hard to justify paying for both). The whole thing didn't seem worth it to me.

Well that sucks, I guess it's time to get Prime.

I'm still riding out the student prime membership, but will pay the full membership once it expires. With the free (mostly) 2 day shipping and the prime videos, I think it's worth it. I also don't have cable or Netflix, so not paying for those services helps with the cost of prime. Also, no sales tax for me

I must have just got in under the wire for the $25 free shipping. Late Monday night I was looking at a CD ($23) to buy and it was out of stock. Clicked on the "5 New From..." page and it came up with an Amazon store listing but it said free shipping with $35 purchase. Went back to the main page (which still said $25 free shipping) and added it there along with a $5 item from my wish list and got the free shipping.
I'm considering getting a new Kindle around Thanksgiving which automatically gives you a month of free Prime shipping (which would last through Christmas). When that runs out I'll have to make a decision on whether to bite the bullet and pay for Prime. Having a minimum order for free shipping has saved me a lot of money because it cuts down on my impulse buying. I'm hoping they offer some kind of deal for new Kindle owners to keep Prime at the end of the month trial.

Yes free shipping with $35 and now have to pay TAX.

This is why I always want B & M stores like Best Buy, Fry's etc to stay in business - so there is a decent pressure on Amazon.

Now more and more B & M stores are matching Amazon online pricing ( if it sold by Amazon not 3rd party) I just bought small (work) projector from Best Buy and they happily matched the Amazon price - no calling manager nothing.

I was a student prime member, and I got in on the thing where they offered you the ability to extend up to 4 years for $40 per year, but the first year just expired, and now they want proof of enrollment to extend it.

Yeah, Amazon is gonna start charging tax for my state on 11/1, since we're opening a new distribution center late next year. I think they should wait until it opens before charging tax. I'm highly bummed about this...

Well if they already have an office and/or some type of presence in the state, they get to charge you now.

They don't, yet... But they may have started construction on the building, so I guess that's enough...

Looks like Amazon just bumped up the free shipping threshold to $35. That's what I'm seeing clicking through a few items today. If anyone's posted this before, feel free to delete this.

It's been talked about in several other existing Amazon threads, including the BD Bargains one. Probably better suited for discussion here, though.

I'm disappointed, but I'm not as upset as others seem to be. With every retailer, I evaluate total cost (tax, shipping, gas/travel) when making a purchase. Certainly this means I'm less likely to purchase things on occasion from Amazon, especially if I don't have multiple items allowing me to reach the $35 threshold. I'm still happy to have a free shipping option, especially when it's usually a very quick service and I'm rarely in a hurry to receive the things I order.

It's in the general amazon thread in this subforum.

As one who has paid taxes on Amazon longer than I can remember, it's not that big a deal once you realize your packages start arriving faster with a distribution center in your state. I have Prime and depending on when I order, sometimes I get things the next day.

It's a trade off, but I still save time and gas going to a store and dealing with moronic employees.

Another bargain thread derailed...

Ergo, Amazon is no longer a bargain. QED.