Does Amazon Prime Automatically Renew?

It’s becoming standard policy for most subscription services to give free trial periods. After all, people want to see exactly what they’ll be getting before they commit to a membership.

Amazon offers a very decent trial period of 30 days. The nature of billing practices will differ between providers, but just about every free trial will be followed up by an automatic subscription to the service.

In this article, we’ll cover Amazon Prime’s subscription policies, especially as they pertain to the automatic renewal and activation of a membership.

So, It’s a Yes

You can sign up for Amazon without a free trial but there’s no practical reason to do that. Once that 30-day trial expires, the card that you used to set up the account will be charged for the subsequent month of Prime. This will happen if—and only if—you don’t cancel the subscription within those 30 days.

Three days before the trial ends, you will receive an email reminder to cancel and the automatic renewal. This is clearly stated in the terms of the agreement.

If you don’t cancel, the subscription will renew at the monthly rate – that is, unless you choose another billing option. If you choose to set up your Prime account on the yearly plan, the yearly price will be charged to your account at the end of the 30-day trial.

To avoid getting charged for the auto-renewal, you can cancel your membership at any point during the 30 days. If you think you might forget to cancel it and don’t want to get charged automatically, do this immediately upon creating it. You can reactivate the membership later.

If you’re on the monthly plan, your subscription is renewed every 30 days. With the yearly plan, it will renew every 365 days. Your membership is paid in advance, so you will have the remainder of the month already paid for, whenever you cancel it.

To cancel the subscription once it’s started, access your account from the Amazon Prime page and click on the Prime button. At the very top of the Prime membership page, you will see an options bar. Click on “Update Your Settings” and then click the “End Membership and Benefits” button.

Is Amazon Prime Worth It?

Prime offers an impressive range of benefits. You’re probably already aware of the most attractive ones—free two-day shipping on most items and unlimited streaming—but there are many other perks that don’t get quite as much attention. To help you make an informed decision about whether it’s worth it or not, here’s a look at some other services included with Prime.

There’s a section of Amazon called Prime Reading which works a lot like a personal library. You can download titles to read on any of your devices. The selection is not spectacular but it rotates frequently. At any given point, you will have access to around 1000 books and magazines. Often, new or trending titles will make it on the list, so it’s a great feature for avid readers. There is also a rotating selection of audiobooks available.
For music lovers, Amazon offers the Prime Music This is a fantastic service, with over two million songs available for unlimited streaming. You can also access it through their mobile app. The music library is extremely well stocked and has thousands of playlists that make for easy navigation. It’s an ad-free service that allows unlimited skipping and it’s compatible with any Amazon device.
Since its acquisition by Amazon, Twitch.tv has an option to link Twitch accounts to Amazon for added benefits. The Twitch Prime account will give you one free channel subscription every month, plus access to free games and in-game loot at no additional charge. The games and loot will rotate frequently and you’ll usually have a limited time to take advantage of the offers, so check in on Twitch frequently.
On a very select number of groceries and some household goods, Amazon Prime members are eligible for free 2-hour delivery. Availability will largely depend on what you’re ordering and where you’re having it delivered, but this service is a godsend for people how don’t have the time to go grocery shopping. The free delivery will trigger at the $35 mark.
For the fashion aficionados, Amazon offers Prime Wardrobe. This service allows you to browse a massive selection of clothes and accessories and select up to eight items that will ship in resealable packaging with a prepaid label. You can return anything you don’t want to keep within seven days. After the 7-day grace period, you’ll get charged only for the items you keep

The Only Way to Shop Online

The Amazon Prime membership has a very wide array of benefits. The list in this article only covers a small part of them. If you want to give it a try, you can do so for 30 days free of charge. Just remember that your membership will auto-activate after the trial period and auto-renew after that. You’ll be charged for the plan you chose at setup (monthly or yearly billing). You should try to time your trial with any big orders you want to make to get as much use out of the free shipping as you can.

What do you think is the most valuable service included with Amazon Prime? If you have any recommendations or ideas for future services, share them in the comments below.