Get Amazon Prime at 80% Off

by: on June 4, 2012
5 Comments

Amazon Prime DiscountOver 5 million people have signed-up for Amazon Prime getting free two-day shipping on most things on Amazon.

They also get unlimited instant video streaming (like Netflix) and, once a month, a free Kindle book borrowed from the “Kindle Owner’s Lending Library”.

The catch, of course, is the $79 annual fee for the Prime membership.

But, it turns out you can pay just $15.80 for Amazon Prime, or 80% off.

How to get Amazon Prime at 80% off

Amazon has a policy that allows a current member to share their account with up to 4 additional “household” members. While Amazon states that they have to live with the master account holder, they don’t enforce it. Invited members can ship to their own addresses. They generally seem relaxed about this restriction encouraging people to alternatively share with “up to 4 coworkers”.

Important to note that the accounts you share with aren’t connected in any way. There’s no issue with shared credit cards or seeing what other people order.

At 5 people sharing one account, that’s just $15.80 per person, or 80% off!

Other ways to get a discount

There are a few other ways to get a discount on Amazon Prime:

  • Students. With Amazon Student, you currently get 6 free months of Amazon Prime. Once the 6 months are up, you get to renew for just $36 for up to four more years.
  • Moms. With Amazon Mom, you get a free three month membership and 20% off diapers and wipes subscription. Once your three months are up, you have to pay the full $79 per year but you still get the 20% off discount on diapers.

Lastly, Amazon offers a 1 month free membership. After a month, you may find you don’t actually need it or that it’s definitely worth paying the full $79.

Aside from the benefit of free two-day shipping, it’s nice not to have that terrible internal debate on whether you should pay up to get that coffee maker in 2 days, whether you can wait the full 7 days, or whether you’ll wait to buy it when you’re ready to spend enough to qualify for free shipping.

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  • http://twitter.com/jtretakoff Joshua Tretakoff

    I appreciate the link bait, but your solution to how to get Prime for 80% off is to get 4 other friends to split the cost with you? That’s indeed a valid solution, I grant you, but that’s like saying “Get a $1000 Tiffany Bracelet for 50% off” and the solution being to split the cost with your girlfriend. It’s either too pedantic or too foolish, neither of which befit a classy organization like YipIt.

    One other key note on your premise: even if you share the Prime membership, only the “Prime” member gets the benefits of video streaming and Kindle lending. And, keep in mind, although you do say Amazon is not enforcing it, there is nothing stopping them from turning on that enforcement one day, and your proposed “solution” would require a refund.

    Amazon Student and Mom are very good examples of how to get Prime at a discount; might want to stick to reporting on those.

    • Not_a_self-righteous_prick

      Aside from the video streaming and kindle sharing limitations, Joshua’s comment is way off the mark, and to liken this to ‘sharing a Tiffany’s bracelet” is plain ignorant.

      Unlike sharing a bracelet, where only one person can use it at a time, these shared Prime accounts are fully functional, with no limitations due to their shared nature.

      While Amazon may choose to enforce a restriction on this practice in the future, they don’t know, so this method is still valid. Discounting this method because of something that “might” happen is asinine.

  • Mariodigir

    Contrary to Joshua’s insulting remarks … I like your idea and in fact … use it! Thank you!

  • heuristocrat

    I agree that this article is useful but should have been reworked. The student deal is a good one and the mom one is worth mentioning. The shared prime membership actually does work with family or close associates so is important but I don’t think it’s consistent with getting your own prime for 80% off. 

    And yes I think there is increasing hostility out there around what people view as “click bait” and this one probably qualifies. 

  • Chris

    Actually Joshua was not that far off. One of the main benefits of prime is the “video streaming” (for use with roku, ipad, etc.) if a member pays their money and then finds out they do not get the video streaming…big miscommunication. And to make a bad decision hoping that your opponent does not see it, is not a good strategy. Violating the terms of service, without being prepared for the consequences…

    Not being a goodie goodie trust me.
    just know that more and more companies are relying upon ip tracking and ip banning.