In recent days, Amazon customers who do not have a Prime subscription have made the unpleasant discovery of an increase in the minimum amount required to receive their packages without having to pay shipping cost.
Without warning, but social networks are there to remind us, Amazon has increased the minimum order threshold to benefit from free delivery.
This increase, already applied in the United States for several weeks, has been effective since October 7, 2023 on the French platform of the e-commerce giant. The latter has decided to align itself with orders exclusively composed of books, which are free if and only if the basket exceeds 35 euros.
Difficult to find your way amidst delivery prices, so here is the guide
If Amazon has railed against the new rules imposed for book deliveries, with a certain logic as they can serve the end consumer, the firm has in turn given a yellow smile to its customers.
While customers who are not subscribed to Amazon Prime could claim free delivery for orders over 25 euros, the limit was increased, to 35 euros more precisely.
• Here’s what Amazon now offers for Prime members :
- Order without any books in the basket: free delivery;
- Order of less than 35 euros with a book among the items: 3 euros;
- Orders over 35 euros with new books only: 0.01 euros.
• And for non-Prime customers :
- Order of less than 35 euros in total, containing only multimedia products (therefore without books): 2.99 euros;
- Order of less than 35 euros without any book: 3.99 euros;
- Order of less than 35 euros with at least one new book: 3 euros;
- Order over 35 euros without book: free delivery;
- Orders over 35 euros containing only new books: 0.01 euros.
There is a trick to avoid delivery costs: the Amazon Locker. If one of the many secure lockers with free access is near you, you can benefit from free delivery (and 0.01 euros for books) by choosing it as a collection point. However, be careful: large packages cannot be delivered there due to lack of space (a detail which, in theory, is made clear to you as soon as you try to place an order).
In any case, Amazon sent us its reaction, via a company spokesperson: “ We have not made the decision to change the free shipping threshold lightly and we are also taking into account the changes required by the new book shipping regulations. All Amazon customers in France will continue to have access to free delivery, or 1 cent for books, every day, throughout the country, from the same minimum order amount of €35 . At the same time, we’re also reducing standard shipping costs for non-Prime customers on all products, excluding media. We are implementing these changes to ensure the best buying and selling experience on Amazon, support customers as the cost of living rises, and to encourage them to consolidate their orders where possible “.
By increasing its minimum threshold, Amazon joins Fnac
Here, Amazon is aligning itself with the new policy imposed on book orders, but also and above all with that of its competitor, Fnac, which only offers free delivery from 35 euros of purchase.
Amazon’s other competitors, namely Boulanger and Cdiscount, are therefore becoming even more attractive for consumers who do not wish to give in to the lure of loyalty or subscription cards. At Boulanger, delivery is only charged below an order of 19 euros. On the Cdiscount side, we drop to only 10 euros. However, it is not certain, given the economic situation, that the two actors will be able to stick to it.
Like what is happening with telecom operators, with promotional offers which alternately go from 12 to 6 months, consumers will once again be the big losers of this maneuver. Despite this increase in the minimum amount at Amazon, which could push new customers to switch to Prime and others to no longer order on the platform, the proposal from Jeff Bezos’ firm remains very interesting. Prime subscribers always benefit from very fast delivery (in 1 day) at no additional cost.
Sources: AmazonClubic
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