Amazon Prime Membership Rises 25% to $99 Per Year

As discussed by the company earlier this year, Amazon has raised the price of its Amazon Prime Membership to $99 per year, up from the $79 fee that had been charged since the program’s inception in 2005. The company began notifying customers of the change via email this morning.

We are writing to provide you advance notice that the price of your Prime membership will be increasing. The annual rate will be $99 when your membership renews.

Even as fuel and transportation costs have increased, the price of Prime has remained the same for nine years. Since 2005, the number of items eligible for unlimited free Two-Day Shipping has grown from one million to over 20 million. We also added unlimited access to over 40,000 movies and TV episodes with Prime Instant Video and a selection of over 500,000 books to borrow from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

The 20 percent Amazon Prime Membership cost increase is less than the 50 percent maximum the company toyed with during its February earnings call, but it may still turn away many customers who don’t shop with the company frequently.

Existing customers will see the new fee when their subscriptions renew, but new customers can still lock in the $79 price for a year if they sign up within the next seven days.

Amazon Prime was launched by the company in 2005. It was initially limited to providing members with free two-day shipping on eligible items, but has expanded greatly during its life. Amazon Prime now offers members unlimited access to a Netflix-like TV and Movie Prime Instant Video streaming service as well as the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. These new features, coupled with rising shipping costs, are how the company justifies the membership fee increase.