Amazon Prime Membership Price Increases Nearly 20 Percent

The month-to-month option for an Amazon Prime membership is now going to cost 18% more for users, effectively immediately.

Amazon released the new pricing metric on its website this morning, which outlines that those paying as they go will now be looking at a $12.99 price point, as opposed to the $10.99 that it had been. The overall cost would make it a $156 per year investment, which would be $24 more than previously charged.

The speculative move was made to encourage users to switch to the annual membership as studies have showed the turnover rate of an annual subscriber is significantly lower than that of monthly users. In most models following that line of economics, it is better for Amazon Prime to have a much higher baseline of predictable income versus dealing with the churn rate of monthly users. The annual fee did not change, remaining at $99 for the 12-month option. The last time Amazon moved its annual fee was in 2014, when it went up from $79.

Additionally, the increase will impact the student pricing — which was a new line that was recently launched by the company. It will see a similar 18% increase for users, moving from $5.49 to $6.49. However, the annual rate for students remains unchanged at a $49 price point.

The change was made to all accounts as of Jan. 19, 2018, but Amazon Prime users will be given a grace period of cancellation, if made before the first charge will hit accounts on Feb. 18, 2019.

A note was made on the site that if a user had signed up for the account, but did not use its benefits then those users are eligible for a full refund. Additionally, it noted that if a Prime membership was generated automatically, or promotionally — like through Sprint, for example — then it will be on the user to reach out to that specific company for details on rates and how to manage the membership.

The change in price is the second major brand to ask more of its consumers.

Netflix recently drew the ire of some subscribers when announced in October that it would be raising prices, which it did in November. The increases moved the subscription price from $9.99 to $10.99 for second-tier services and moved any $11.99 subscribers to $13.99 but maintained the $7.99 price for certain users.

There is speculation that Netflix may make a second bump in its numbers as a recent report that the original productions are making costs increase for the content provider and a 17% increase may be passed on to consumers.