New Amazon Prime, Not All Items Ship Free

[orangeblossom]

blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/08/28/amazon-prime-not-all-goods/


Beware Amazon Prime members: All blenders are not created equal.



A Cuisinart warehoused in California may no longer qualify for two-day shipping to a Prime member in Vermont. That’s the idea behind a new program Amazon is testing with some independent merchants.



The program, nicknamed Ship by Region, lets certain sellers designate where they’re willing to ship goods in two days or less to Prime members.



The merchants may limit how far they will ship some items – large-screen televisions, for example – with the two-day guarantee under Prime. If a Prime customer is outside that region, shipping may take longer.



Amazon, for now, is limiting the option to a select group of sellers authorized to list items as Prime-eligible even when the goods are housed in non-Amazon warehouses. That program aims to expand the number of items showing up in search results for Prime, Amazon’s $99-a-year program that offers free two-day shipping on most items. Previously, all merchants had to ship their goods to Amazon warehouses first for them to be Prime-eligible.



Peter Faricy, vice president of Amazon’s marketplace, said in an email that merchants participating in the direct-shipping program have seen sales rise.



Amazon has been bulking up the Prime program to make it more comprehensive and attractive, employing one-day sales, streaming music, free e-books and other goodies to entice customers.



The new offering also calls to mind a feature of new rival Jet.com, which promises cheaper prices based in part on how close a customer is to where products are warehoused.



Separately, Amazon has been studying a shipping program that would allow customers to receive all deliveries on a single day of the week, according to a person familiar with the matter.



That program evokes memories of “AmazonTote,” once offered in the Seattle retailer’s hometown. AmazonTote, under which goods were delivered in a large reusable bag on a set day of the week, had something of a cult following before the free service was suddenly halted in 2011.



It’s not clear when Amazon may introduce “Amazon Day,” as the new service is known. A spokeswoman declined to comment on the retailer’s plans.



By combining orders in fewer boxes and on fewer days of the week, Amazon would reduce shipping costs. Such expenses rose 29% to $2.34 billion in this year’s second quarter, outpacing the 17% increase in all operating expenses.



For customers, the appeal may be in predictability – getting all of one’s boxes on a day someone will be home, or the day before recycling is collected.



Correction: For some Prime-eligible merchandise, Amazon will not guarantee two-day shipping based on how far it has to travel. A previous version of this article said shipping might not be free when goods have to travel longer distances.

[shamrockshake]

I wish they would do something like the 'tote' thing at Christmas time. I buy so many things to get the sale prices throughout the season, I wish I could add it to one delivery like the week before Christmas or something and save the 47 small packages from Black Friday- Christmas

[elleblue]

The tote thing would be cool. Having certain orders take longer than two days if they're coming from clear across the country is fine (as long as there is plenty of warning before you enter your order) too.

[LoveTrains]

Eh I never buy from third party folks so I don't this affects me.

[gt7301b]

I feel like Amazon is already doing this in my area. Half the stuff I want to buy no longer has free shipping.

Honestly. I wish Amazon would quit trying all this new stuff. 99% of the time I don't need the item same day, I just want solid, reliable two days on everything.

[Deleted]

This is fine if it means more 3rd parties will opt for some Prime.

[egeiger]

Aug 28, 2015 22:47:35 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Eh I never buy from third party folks so I don't this affects me.

Is it for third parties? I read it to mean that if the stuff was in an Amazon warehouse across the country, since they don't keep every item in every warehouse.

[orangeblossom]

Aug 29, 2015 7:38:42 GMT -5 egeiger said:

Aug 28, 2015 22:47:35 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Eh I never buy from third party folks so I don't this affects me.

Is it for third parties? I read it to mean that if the stuff was in an Amazon warehouse across the country, since they don't keep every item in every warehouse.

Yes, it's mostly for third parties.  Another article I read, simplified it.


consumerist.com/2015/08/28/amazon-prime-shipping-isnt-free-for-some-items-depending-on-where-you-live/


Amazon’s Prime program includes third-party merchants, whose shops let the online Everything Store expand its inventory without building more warehouse space. While the company is experimenting with making these merchants part of the Prime program for items that already have free shipping, However, some of these merchants get to limit how far they will ship an item for free.

This is logical for smaller companies that don’t have the same bargaining power with the U.S. Postal Service and private carriers as Amazon, and who simply don’t want to subsidize cross-country two-day shipping. The Wall Street Journal reports that sellers can define which geographic regions they’re willing to provide free Prime shipping for, and customers in other areas pay standard shipping fees.

Another Amazon shipping experiment that the WSJ learned about from an unnamed source is called “Amazon Day,” a service that would combine all of a household’s Amazon orders on the same day of the week. This would cut back on shipping costs for Amazon, which doesn’t really want to send multiple items in multiple packages to the same Prime-addicted house.

The Amazon Day (not to be confused with Prime Day) idea is still being “studied” though, and not in the testing phase yet.

[LoveTrains]

Aug 29, 2015 7:38:42 GMT -5 egeiger said:

Aug 28, 2015 22:47:35 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Eh I never buy from third party folks so I don't this affects me.

Is it for third parties? I read it to mean that if the stuff was in an Amazon warehouse across the country, since they don't keep every item in every warehouse.

From the article above:


Amazon, for now, is limiting the option to a select group of sellers authorized to list items as Prime-eligible even when the goods are housed in non-Amazon warehouses. That program aims to expand the number of items showing up in search results for Prime, Amazon’s $99-a-year program that offers free two-day shipping on most items. Previously, all merchants had to ship their goods to Amazon warehouses first for them to be Prime-eligible.





Read more: pandce.proboards.com/thread/473380/amazon-prime-items-ship-free?page=1#ixzz3kDGmD4LG

So the OP reads like amazon is taking something away from amazon prime. But what they are doing instead is adding items to prime that were not originally part of prime through third party sellers. But, the sellers can determine if the item will be prime for someone in NYC or someone in Los Angeles. It might only be prime for one of them.