Amazon is bumping the minimum purchase amount needed to get free shipping from $35 to $49—the first time the free shipping price has increased since 2013.
The original minimum purchase amount from the website to get free shipping was $25. Under the new policy, you need to buy $49 of items, or at least $25 worth of books, to get free shipping.
The shift has been attributed to Amazon’s goal of maximizing the number of Prime subscribers, who get free 2-day shipping for an annual fee of $99.
“Every business step Amazon takes, is to increase its Prime subscription. Their main goal is economies of scale (in everything they do). Its a simple but brilliant business model,” wrote a top-voted comment on Reddit.
Amazon states that it has “tens of millions” of Prime subscribers, and external observers have put the number of subscribers as high as 54 million, according to NBC News.
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