By 
While many folks have gotten their shopping done during Black Friday, Cyber Monday and other special events throughout the holiday season, there’s always bound to be one person who hasn’t quite gotten their stocking stuffers secured just yet. You could brave the cold and venture into brick and mortar stores to cross off those last few items on your shopping list, but that isn’t always the best route for a few different reasons:
- You can’t always find what you’re looking for inside the specific stores in your area
- The prices tend to be better online
- And sometimes, well, we just like to be lazy
With Amazon being the first online stop for many shoppers we thought it’d be a good idea to show you why you shouldn’t proceed to order anything without having an Amazon Prime subscription. It offers many benefits that can not only help you save money on shipping, but also take care of some other holiday needs that may arise. Let’s run them down!
Free 2-day shipping for those last minute Christmas gifts
Most products on Amazon ship extremely fast, but if you need to ensure your gifts make it to doorsteps in time for Christmas then you’ll likely want to opt for two-day shipping. With Amazon Prime, Amazon guarantees 2-day delivery on all Prime-eligible items, of which there are a ton.
Not only is there that guarantee, there’s also the fact that it’s free — no need to shell out extra dough for increased peace of mind. And should you really push the clock and need 1-day shipping, you can pay anywhere between $4 and $8 on most items, instead of the usual $15-20 you’d have to pay without Prime. This alone is usually worth the cost of admission for anyone who shops with Amazon on a daily or even weekly basis.
Access to Amazon’s daily lightning deals 30 minutes before the rest of the crowd
Of course, saving money doesn’t only have to apply to shipping. Amazon likes to put hundreds of items on sale for ridiculous prices through their lightning deals each day. If you’re worried that a deal that’s too good to be true is going to be sold out before you get a chance to order, Amazon Prime now gives you the added benefit of accessing those deals 30 minutes ahead of the rest of the pack. Nothing like a steep discount to help make your gift purchasing decision that much easier.
Holiday entertainment with Amazon Prime Instant Video, 500,000 eBooks and Amazon Prime Music
Whether you’re traveling to see family for the holidays or hosting a crowd at your own home, Amazon Prime equips you with enough multimedia to keep the family entertained. Amazon Prime Instant Video gives you access to a large library of movies and television shows, Amazon Prime Music has thousands of free songs (check out our review right here), and you even get access to over 500,000 Kindle eBooks through the Kindle Lending Library, all for no cost over the typical $99 per year Amazon asks for.
Unlimited photo storage to save your holiday memories
Amazon recently added another cool perk for folks who decided to sign up for Prime — unlimited photo storage. While the gigabytes of space you’re afforded from other services are typically more than adequate for storing quick photos, a large collection of high quality images (like those taken with DSLR cameras) could take up a rather big chunk of space. If you need somewhere to store tons of photos for long-time safe keeping, there’s no good reason to venture outside the comfy confines of your Amazon Prime account (especially considering Amazon prides themselves not only on server speed, but also availability and stability, as well).
It’s free for 30 days if you haven’t already tried it!
The last reason is the most obvious, and it should be the one that tips you over the edge: you’ll get the first 30 days for free, which you can sign up for right here. Even if you decide you don’t like it, you’re not on the hook to continue the membership past that initial 30 days.
You’ll get full access to all the perks paying members enjoy during that time, so whether you’re just looking to save money on some last minute shipments or looking to let Netflix rest for something a bit different you should definitely give it a go.
It’s worth mentioning that you get a full year of Amazon Prime with the purchase of an Amazon Fire Phone, so you’re potentially getting a serviceable smartphone and Amazon’s premier service for just over $100 each. Not a bad deal there. Oh, and students can also get the service for free for a whopping 6 months, after which they only pay $50 per year. What are you waiting for?
I already got Prime, but what the heck Phandroid? At least put a [Sponsored] tag or something, cause this isn’t the type of articles I look for at a site like this.
Like you, we are capable of liking things without getting paid for it.
Well Quentyn should have at least have received a years membership for this advertisement.
As nice as that would be, I’ve been a happy Amazon Prime member for years and I don’t need to be paid by Amazon to let others know what they might be missing. :)
Same.
I am a Prime Member too… I can’t stop buying gadgets and such.
Same. I blow through USB cables like nobody’s business for some reason. Ha
Liking something is one thing, singing its praises in an article is another. All those links have a referral tag, you are getting paid for it. Even if that wasn’t your intention, this is really poor form – it is at least the appearance of impropriety.
If this post were sponsored, you’d know.
The article felt strongly sponsored, which confused me on why you forgot to mention that the article was sponsored.
With that being said, Prime is awesome. I buy everything except for groceries from Amazon, and with me being a student keeps the yearly membership fees low, which is icing on the cake.
But to keep it relevant to Android, maybe suggest Android-related deals from Amazon (eg accessories). That’s just my opinion, take it or leave it.
Yes, we’d see referral tags in all your links. You are getting paid for this even if that wasn’t your intention.
At least the “central” admits when it’s sponsored..
Scared to say the full name here? lol
As much as you read and comment on Phandroid you should know this is not how Phandroid operates. Just saying.
Which is why I was surprised when reading the article, because I felt it was strongly sponsored. In the past, Phandroid has related their articles on Android in general, whether it was through accessories, app reviews, rumors, opinions, or even wallpapers. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this was the first time something was posted that “advertised” a service that didn’t connect it back to Android. There was a mention of the Fire Phone, but that honestly shouldn’t be even considered because of how horribad it is.
Like I said in a reply to Quentyn, a simple suggestion on cool products you can get for your Android phone that can be had via Amazon would suffice, and would get less accusations (at least from me).
Perhaps it was the way the article was written, where there wasn’t a neutral approach to Prime, or the fact that an article supporting Prime was on an Android news website made it seem like an advertisement.
If you guys are shifting to a blog type approach in addition to Android news, where you talk about what you like and don’t like, you should consider marking it as such (e.g. [Blog]).
If it was Google Prime would you think different? Curious.. not trying to be an ass.. lol.
Ah the good ol’ Google circle-jerk… I sense salt in your comment replying. There’s no need to feel salty over this.
lol. I was asking after reading this comment: https://disqus.com/home/discussion/phandroid/5_reasons_you_need_amazon_prime_right_now/#comment-1748906195
But seriously… I agree if it was Google Prime then no one would say a thing.
paid paid
nope nope
this this
Just canceled my prime, 2-day shipping is great but everything else is a half-rate ‘value-added’ scam. Video, never used it, Kindle, never used it, Music, pay for Spotify and it’s WAY better, cloud storage, dropbox and box are better and both have free options, MEGA is the safest. If they ever consider dropping the price to bring it back to 2-day shipping ONLY I would be interested. Also the PRIME shippers are usually the more expensive options to go with, sure it’s usually cheaper than in stores but it’s not the CHEAPEST option out there, and in the end you’re paying for it. Truth is, there’s only ONE real reason to buy Amazon Prime, the rest is just a sales pitch.
Prime is still generally the cheapest option when shipping is figured in, plus you get the item in 2 days, versus the slower shipping from the item without free shipping. Either way, amazon always shows the cheapest overall price. Many times I opt to pay a couple bucks more to get the 2 day shipping instead of 5-8 days for the cheaper item.
I rarely use any of the other addons, I just buy so much from amazon it’s cheaper to have prime than not.
I’ve heard that sentiment a lot and though I loved having 2-day and used it A LOT, I didn’t NEED it, and whatever math you want to use to justify the price you just can’t argue that the additional services are ‘free’, they’re not. I don’t use them and I don’t NEED 2-day shipping so until Amazon offers a Prime service sans ‘extras’ I consider my cancellation a sort of ‘voting with your dollar’ protest. It’s ironic, if they upped the price to 100 with an extra fee for the ‘add-ins’ I’d still be paying my prime membership, but because I know they can do the shipping with extras for 100 then I know they can do the shipping only for cheaper, and that’s all I want.
Though Prime has value for LOTS of consumers I think the ‘5 reasons’ is misleading considering every ‘extra’ of theirs is offered free, as good or better from another party and none of their ‘extra’ services would be able to stand alone. No one would sign up for Amazon Video against competition with Netflix – No one would choose Amazon Music against Spotify/Google Music – No one would pay for Amazon Image storage versus services from Adobe or Nikon.
There are very few things in my life that I pay for that I NEED. Most of the stuff I buy on amazon I don’t NEED, but if I’m buying it I WANT it ASAP.
Too true, I will say though that once I got it I curbed my tendency to impulse buy a little. When seeing something in a store I’d think, “yeah but if I can’t wait two days I can get it much cheaper” where as the same thought only with a week of wait would not stop me from an in-store purchase. If I later went ahead with the purchase it would be because I had the money and put thought into how much I wanted or actually needed the item.
for me, it’s 20 miles to the big box stores & thats assuming they have what i want in stock. to my door is a great value. even though gas is 2.08/ gallon here, i would still have to drive 40 miles round trip. i luvz my prime & it luvz me.
I’ll admit it, I’m an Amazon junkie. I buy my soap, electronics and everything else on there. Would buy food from there too if it wasn’t so dang pricey.
Even though I don’t use the video much, Prime is a great value.. Nothing like buying something online and having it delivered barely a few days later.
Except what I want is never offered under Prime. I canceled Prime after the first year. It makes it sound like everything offered on Amazon will fall under the Prime umbrella. It doesn’t. Not even close.
Vast majority of items I buy qualify for prime. Free shipping pays for itself quickly.
It’s not everything but for me, I rarely if every find something that isn’t Prime eligible. But either way, that’s a good point.
Most of my stuff is, but I rarely buy Prime eligible books- they are almost always marked up.
I think I’ve had maybe 3 items not fall under Prime eligibility, and I buy a ton of stuff. It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure.
If you’re a student you can get 6 months free then 50$ a year.
Whaaaaaa?
I also recently learned you can sign up your household (up to 5 people), so they can make purchases on their own Amazon accounts.
Don’t tell my wife.
=.O
OMG!! Don’t tell my friends!! They’ll leech of me. =.[
I’ll also mention that Amazon is incredibly loose about sharing if you are willing to share your password/ credit card info with your friends. You can add unlimited shipping addresses, credit cards and billing addresses all with different names. And since family accounts have all credit cards linked to them anyways there isn’t a huge reason to make separate accounts. You can also log in simultaneously to unlimited devices, although I’ve never tried it with video.
Six months of free Prime shipping but not all of the Prime feature like videos but it is still a good perk for being a student, especially getting Prime for half off. edit **unless they recently changed it””
That’s the way I understand it as well. I signed up when it was a year free for students, then 38 per year after. But it said no instant video access.
Now my co-worker sitting right here confirmed, she is getting student prices and gets tons of free prime labeled content… Go figure…
Yeah I did the same thing last year, got a year free of Prime, then I tried the offer again and got 6 months free 2 day shipping and no instant video, I’m not complaining though. I still get that nice discount for when I “upgrade”.
Those are some pretty compelling reasons. Though personally, I don’t do enough shopping there to justify a prime membership.
To use Kindle Lending Library it’s not enough to be a Prime member… you also have to own a Kindle.
I’m pretty sure you can use the Kindle Reading app. I have yet to try as I still use the library for books on my Kindle.
Yeah, I’ll pass. I order a fair amount from them, but the simple reality is I get free shipping *free” anyway as I just wait until I have $35 of stuff.. POW! And 2 day shipping – well, not really that big if a deal when I have it in 4 or so normally anyway. And everything else is just a bunch of fluff hype I find no value in.
If Amazon would drop UPS in favor of USPS &/or FEDEX, I’d give it another go.
Most of my items come from USPS at the moment. UPS is conserved for those bigger items that I buy from Amazon
I’m glad that they ship through UPS. When my packages get shipped through FedEx they come all busted up. I’ve had to report many of the packages to FedEx because of it. Never a problem from UPS. And I do also get packages shipped from amazon through USPS and I don’t have a problem with it, but it is only for packages that will fit in the mailbox.
I have gotten packages through USPS that don’t fit in the mailbox like for example my Audio Techinca ATH-m50x Headphonesand heck even the Fire TV box my parents bought was shipping via USPS and didn’t fit in the mail box USPS driver had to stop and get out of hte truck to hand deliver it.
When I found out I had to pay to watch other movies/TV shows that conveniently didn’t fall under Prime, I made sure that my 30 day trial wouldn’t turn into an actual payment. I couldn’t even watch the last few episodes of Elementary (season 2) before the season 3 premiere (something I could (and did) do by just going to the CBS website) without paying extra.
Why the phuck does this article just OOZE ‘sponsored schitt?’
There is “referral” code in the “sign up” link. Not surprised.
At least AC says when it’s sponsored….
They weren’t sponsored for this, as stated in the below comments.
And even if it is, who cares? Phandroid isn’t a charity.
I GOT 4 KIDS! Click the link!
Do we all understand the difference between sponsored and using a referral code?? DO we??
I guess I’m sponsoring League of Legends and all the other MMO’s I play when I send out the referral code, huh?
…because lots of dumb comments.
I’d really like to point out, as a Prime subscriber and fan, that many items in books and movies cost MORE to get the “Prime” version than it would’ve to buy it with standard S/H.
I’ve noticed the same at times, that’s why you always have to be careful with these memberships, just like Costco and Sam’s club.
That being said, I’ve been able to enjoy some great indie films and many TV shows I watch without spending an extra dime. Also, electronics are almost always the same price… I tend to get Prime mostly on those, movies, and camera accessories.
Absolutely love Prime.
agreed and my love grows daily. :)
I tried a trial run of Prime… Noticed the vast majority of stuff I would have immediately bought didn’t even have the free shipping. Most of the shows I wanted to watch, not Prime eligible. And in fact nearly every single show available on Prime for free is also on either Netflix or Hulu with a few exceptions, and they don’t have enough exclusive streaming deals (like Under the Dome and Extant, Teen Wolf) to matter to me much.
Plus every ecosystem they have is tacky looking IMO.
I really wish Google would offer a Prime-like service for their entertainment, would probably be much better. :)
Amazon prime has Under the Dome. I watched that terrible show through its service.
None of the 5 reasons, even when taken together, are worth the price for me. How much stuff and how fast do you really need? Patience is a virtue and it is free…
Instant stress free gratification, that’s worth every penny. Yet again I’ve been on student for the past few years so it’s been good to me.
I’ve used Prime for car parts that are out of stock elsewhere. Cars parts often need to be replaced immediately for safety or to avoid costly repairs.
Well… The $10 a month wasn’t too bad for me. And you can’t find everything in stores. Also, if you work government hours you never have time to go to the stores anyways. Unless it’s on the weekend, or you just so happen to be working late/early that day. Yea… patience.
Pretty funny that people are accusing this article of being “sponsored” but also admit that they’re equally obsessed with Amazon Prime. We’re just trying to share that knowledge/love with the unknowing masses!
Almost all Phandroid staff use and love Amazon Prime (although I’m speaking for only myself). If you’re someone who already uses it- fist bump. If not, we’re recommending the service to others because the timing is perfect (holidays!) and the service is awesome. It’s also a reminder that you may want to suggest it to your less-than-tech-obsessed friends who might be ignorant to its existence. Many articles are more basic on Phandroid because we’ve got a wide array of readership levels to appease.
When we love a product and recommend it we’re labeled unethical advertorial spammers. When we bash another product and suggest against it we’re labeled fanboys of the competition. Sometimes you just can’t win… but we’ll blog on bloggin’ on!
For the record… I think everyone can mostly agree the Fire Phone sucks. I still think that $200 is a sick deal for it if you’re a person who just wants a phone that works pretty good. And that’s because of Prime. Phan Staff mostly disagrees with me (ex: I made Q include it in this article). But whatevs.
Do you really not see the problem with praising something so highly (it looks exactly like an advertisement) when you are getting paid for it via Amazon’s referral programme? This seems very unethical; you’re entitled to your opinion but making money out of it is a conflict of interest. Even if I’m misunderstanding the referral programme and you’re not getting a dime, this is very much the appearance of impropriety and that is not good journalism.
Then it looks like you have a problem with nearly every website on the planet. Google Ventures backed Viglink and many other companies automatically insert affiliate links into content, helping website owners drive revenue while keeping the revenue generation aspect separate: http://www.viglink.com/
Whether or not you think content is guided by editorial decisions or revenue generating decisions is something the reader should decide for themselves, but we very much keep the two separate. And trust me… that line is much less blurred on Phandroid than it is on other sites you probably frequent.
Had this been a sponsored post we would have marked it sponsored. It’s not. If you agree with our assessment of Amazon Prime- awesome. If not- that’s fine, too. But it’s just another tech suggestion that you can take or leave. If you look a bit more closely at other sites you visit, you’ll find everything we do is common practice and supported by Google.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
:)
Using affiliate links is fine. Auto-linking can be fine, although they’re not all just product names – are they all auto-linked?
The problem is when an article which does nothing but urge visitors to buy this product does so using links that make them money from sales. This isn’t news, this isn’t a review, this is a plug. I accept that it’s an innocent plug for something that Quentyn likes – I wouldn’t be on this site if I thought otherwise – but the conflict of interest still exists.
The concept of the appearance of impropriety, and the importance of avoiding it in business and especially in journalism, is not something that you should brush off. It doesn’t have to be intentional or even actually be improper at all to appear that way.
Sorry… but I’m brushing it off. Read the article. It’s a good and helpful article. Thanks for the lesson on “the concept of the appearance of impropriety” but you’re inaccurately assigning blame. To be honest, the criticism is so ridiculous that I shouldn’t have even responded in the first place.
On to more important things!
This is very disappointing.
The founder and owner of this site shouldn’t need such a lesson but you did and apparently still do. Nor should you consider this to be ridiculous and for you to be so dismissive is incredibly amateurish. I could accept that profiting from praise was an accident but when you and other Phandroid staff brush it off when pointed out shows that I was wrong to consider this site to be worth visiting.
I did read the article. Did you read my response? How am I inaccurately assigning blame?
My lazy ass has been a prime member for 3+ years now, yea some things cost more but who cares ( unless it’s insanely priced ). I avoid the humanoids standing on line at this time of year and I’ll take that over anything.
I’ve not stepped foot in a store to buy a gift in 2 years. No crowds. No searching for parking. No lines of cars trying to get in or out of the mall. And I use Amazon year round for purchases that I don’t need: right now this moment.
I really should use the movie service more and perhaps will not that I have the Fire TV stick.
Yea I love how people will complain if they have to spend a dollar on shipping but not think twice about using a gallon of gas to go to a store and but the same thing.
That is a great point. If you live far away from stores that price match amazon that is savings right there.
My wife has not dragged me out clothes shopping in what was once a nearly weekly excruciation since she discovered the wonders of Prime.
Couldn’t get Prime Instant Video working on any of my Android devices (Nexus 4 or 7 (2013) in the UK. Contacted Amazon support and was told it ‘wasn’t supported’. If they can get that working properly I would consider it again.
This is all I use. Also use subscribe and save for items like TP, razors and vitamins. They deliver on the schedule you setup.
If you’re in college you also get a hefty discout on prime.
Just wish they would give up there endeavours into android and leave it to the pros!
Heck, if you have a .edu account you get the discount. LoL!! I graduated, but I still have access to my school email. So… I’m in school. =.P
Benefits of that school, I guess.
Reminds me of how Facebook started.
Amazon prime is great for shipping, but their video really needs help. I will stick with netflix. Their video ui is horrible and their collection is not that good. I just activate prime during the holidays. don’t need it all year since best buy price matches them.
What UI are you using? I use it on my PS4 and it works great. The collection is very good as well.
The collection is only good for paid rentals and purchases. It has a fraction of the content of Netflix streaming.
I thought Amazon Prime was a yearly subscription?
This paid advertisement is brought to you by Amazon.com.
Phandroid, if you want to get away from comments like these, then post a critical review. You know, the good, the bad, and comparisons to competitors.
While I’m critical of this article, I believe that he entitled to give a positive review to something that he really likes and providing a negative review would be false balance. I don’t like how it barely is a review – that it looks exactly like a sponsored article should ring some alarm bells. Given that, intentionally or not, they are getting more money the more people that they persuade to sign up, I’m disappointed that this criticism is considered by them to be ridiculous.
There is no such thing as “false balance,” unless the author is lying.
If we did a 5 reasons you don’t want Amazon Prime you would say the competitors are paying us. I can’t think of any sponsored articles here that didn’t have a give away… And that was how it was sponsored! A giveaway that I can not partake in!!
I’m going to go post in AF what really grinds my gears thread. [Sponsored Comment]
Exactly. You can’t win though being you’re dealing with a comments section on the Internet where everyone and everything ever invented sucks and negatively abounds. If the name of Amazon Prime was changed to Google Prime with ZERO changes in content it would be the best thing ever invented.
I feel that as this is very positive and it includes referral links, there is a conflict of interest. You *are* getting more money the more people that you persuade to sign up. I don’t think this was intentional but I am very disappointed by Phandroid’s reaction to our concerns.
(Edited to be more coherent.)
We would be stupid to not use referral links. A referral link is NOT the same as being sponsored.. far from it actually. Not to mention, referral links hardly pay the bills for servers, writers and all the other costs that go into providing day by day news coverage.
I thought Rob handled the your (the readers) concerns very well. He confirmed that the article is not sponsored and that is not how Phandroid operates. This article is not a conflict of interest either. You can certainly think it is but it definitely is not.
Quentyn simply wrote an article praising his experience with Prime. I have Prime and love it.. and agree with what he has to say about the service. He is simply passing on valuable information to you… our readers.
Did Amazon pay you for this link?
j/k good link for students..thanks!
I’ve already used it. =.[
Okay… Maybe it wasn’t sponsored by Amazon directly… (from what phandoid has told us) maybe the title should have been ” 5 reasons Amazon Prime may be for you.”
With the verbiage of NEED and NOW in the title I feel this is a greasy car salesman situation and I should back away slowly.
Good alternative at this time of year
http://gadgetsalert.com/free-vodafone-wi-fi-connectivity-khan-market/