amazon add-on program

[basschick]

we've been secondary prime members for 2 1/2 years. in that time, once in a while we need a single small item, and amazon has always sent it free with our prime membership. today i went to replace a pill crusher we had bought previously by itself at amazon, and there was no button to check out. it said the product was an add-on and would need to be part of an order for $25 or more - and didn't even give me the option to pay for shipping if i preferred.

"The new Add-on program allows Amazon to offer thousands of low-priced items that would be cost-prohibitive to ship on their own. We've kicked off the Add-on program with thousands of new Add-on Items, and we're adding more each day. Add-on Items ship with orders that include $25 or more of items shipped by Amazon, and you can get them delivered to your doorstep with free shipping."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...76660&pop-up=1

i get that it cost amazon lots to send small items, but like i said, they didn't give the option for me to pay for shipping. and it especially seemed unpleasant to launch this program so close to adding sales tax for those of us in california.

anyway, i didn't see a thread about this, and seemed like a good thing for prime members to know about. could be book related, although not ebook related...

[daffy4u]

Interesting. I'm a Prime Member as well and I made a small order under $15 this morning and did not run into the add-on program.

I guess since not everything is eligible for Prime shipping Amazon is trying to find a more efficient way to ship inexpensive non-Prime items.

Thanks for the heads up.

Edit: I just double checked and my order this morning was Prime eligible, so I wouldn't have come upon the add-on program.

Thanks again, I'll keep my eyes open on future orders.

[basschick]

i ordered a small item via prime last week with no problem, yet my son says he's run into this a couple weeks ago. seems like it's being applied unevenly or not to all lower cost products... or maybe items handled by amazon.

[vxf]

Originally Posted by basschick

we've been secondary prime members for 2 1/2 years. in that time, once in a while we need a single small item, and amazon has always sent it free with our prime membership. today i went to replace a pill crusher we had bought previously by itself at amazon, and there was no button to check out. it said the product was an add-on and would need to be part of an order for $25 or more - and didn't even give me the option to pay for shipping if i preferred.

"The new Add-on program allows Amazon to offer thousands of low-priced items that would be cost-prohibitive to ship on their own. We've kicked off the Add-on program with thousands of new Add-on Items, and we're adding more each day. Add-on Items ship with orders that include $25 or more of items shipped by Amazon, and you can get them delivered to your doorstep with free shipping."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...76660&pop-up=1

i get that it cost amazon lots to send small items, but like i said, they didn't give the option for me to pay for shipping. and it especially seemed unpleasant to launch this program so close to adding sales tax for those of us in california.

anyway, i didn't see a thread about this, and seemed like a good thing for prime members to know about. could be book related, although not ebook related...

Thanks for the heads up. That is pure BS, for those that paid for prime.

[SeaKing]

There seems to be confusion.

Amazon has always had items that weren't Prime. That is why you click the Prime button on the left so that you don't see the ones that aren't eligible, though sometimes you do get a few not eligible show up. These won't have a Prime designation.

If you select those items (not Prime) you will get a shipping charge though occasionally that won't happen.
i.e. I have bought $10 items that weren't Prime, but when I looked at the price box on the top right after I added it to the Cart, it had "no shipping cost."

Items that were over $25 again from other companies would sometimes have a shipping cost.

Another thing that is confusing is sometimes the same item is offered by Amazon and others and the prices can be different and the shipping charges or not shipping charges will vary.

You have to look for the Prime designation.

I buy from 75 to 100 items a year and that has been my experience.

[SeaKing]

One other thing. On occasion I tried to buy an item like one I bought before and ran into the "not Prime" problem when I just used the search function to find the item.

I have learned to always look at my previous order list that Amazon has and select the item from there and so far over the years everything has been fine.

[elemenoP]

No, this is definitely something new. It used to be that anything that came from Amazon's warehouses could ship for free using Prime. Seaking, you are thinking of items sold by 3rd party sellers. The question is, did Amazon add new items to their warehouse in order to offer them with this new "add-on program," or did they take items that previously used to ship for free, and designate them as "add-on items?" Amazon is saying the former but it looks to me like some of the latter, too. And who's to say how many items they might change from Prime shipping to "add-on" in the future?

http://allthingsd.com/20120525/didnt...ands-of-items/

http://deals.woot.com/questions/deta...add-on-program

eP

[basschick]

SeaKing, the item i bought was shipped by amazon and was eligible for prime on saturday. it was only yesterday that it was an add-on, and still sihipped via prime. it's just that it now only ships via prime in orders of $25 or more - and it's still free 2 day shipping.

[petrucci]

I recently signed up for the free trial of Prime on Amazon. I figured that it would be useful to obtain free shipping on small purchases. Then I encountered the add on program. They really should provide a refund to people who signed up for Prime prior to the add on program.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

No, this is definitely something new. It used to be that anything that came from Amazon's warehouses could ship for free using Prime.

While this program appears new, it's not true that all things coming from Amazon and their warehouses could ship with Prime. I remember a few times being surprised that some items I was looking to buy weren't Prime eligible.

[elcreative]

What happened to the "Amazon is your friend" brigade and they would never do anything like that comments? Hey, guess what, they're a business just like any other and once they've got what they wanted by loss-leading then they can (and will) go to more realistic (or worse) pricing to make a profit and recover losses... a real surprise...

[AnemicOak]

There are a couple of threads on Amazon that might be of interest...

Amazon "Downgrading" Prime Shipping with Their "Add-on Program"

Add On Items Prime Shipping

[MovieBird]

I encountered this a month ago when I was looking at mechanical pencils. Is it really so hard to look at the "buy" button and note anything out of place?



You can even click on the Details link and read all about it before purchasing! The upshot was that I didn't make the purchase, but I fail to see how Amazon is screwing anyone with this.

[RainingLemur]

Huh. I just ran across my first add-on item thing yesterday and didn't realize what it was. Ah well, though. The initial rage will subside, and I'll put my Bezos cloak back on and get back to shopping.

[pidgeon92]

I buy very few things from Amazon that are less than $25. Perhaps the occasional cookbook. I don't see this affecting my continued use of Prime membership, but I'm sure many will cancel.