Is Amazon Prime worth it? New delivery fees, Prime Video adverts, Kindle books, and other perks explained

Amazon Prime Rule Change And Delivery Charge

When it launched in the UK in 2007, one of the main perks of Amazon Prime membership was next-day delivery on thousands of products at no extra cost.

In the years since, Amazon has slowly expanded the number of perks included with the subscription, adding a Netflix-like streaming service, unlimited back-up for your photos, and exclusive access to limited-time deals ...but earlier this year, Amazon tweaked its terms and conditions – adding a £1.99 charge for next-day delivery on certain orders.

Yes, while Prime members previously enjoyed unlimited next-day delivery (and same-day in some parts of the UK) at no extra cost, Amazon tweaked the rules starting in September 2023 to add an additional £1.99 charge for the speediest shipping.

While some orders will still be eligible for next-day delivery at no cost, others will cost £1.99 if the total value of your basket falls under £20.

Prime members who spend over £20 will always qualify for free next-day shipping. In some parts of the UK, Prime members also enjoy same-day delivery on baskets over £20. Of course, that's still a saving compared to those without a Prime membership, who are charged £5.99 per delivery for items under £25.

There are also exceptions to the rule for both Prime and non-Prime shoppers. For example, Amazon's own-brand devices will qualify for free delivery – even when they fall below the £20 threshold. And when ordering books, you'll only need to meet a £10 threshold to qualify for the next-day delivery.

Amazon offers a number of delivery options, including Same-Day / Get it Today / Tomorrow by 1pm.

Explaining the change to customers earlier this year, Amazon penned an email that read: "As we invest to improve our same-day delivery service we are writing to let you know about an update to the same-day delivery options available for Prime members in eligible postcodes.

"The majority of Prime members currently receive most of their Prime orders with one-day delivery, while free same-day delivery can be manually selected for eligible orders. From September 18, 2023 eligible Prime orders under £20 will continue to be shipped with free one-day delivery.

"Where available, same-day delivery can be selected at checkout, but there will be a fee of £1.99 per delivery for orders under £20. The fee for customers who are not Prime members will remain £5.99."

Orders from Amazon Prime members are always prioritised by Amazon. If you want to ensure your order is prioritised by workers at the Amazon Fulfilment Centre, non-Prime shoppers can spend an extra 99p to ensure that delivery occurs two business days after dispatch. In the small print, Amazon says this includes Saturdays – but not bank holidays.

Adverts In Prime Video

From February 2024, Amazon introduced ad breaks into its Prime Video service. Until now, Prime Video offered ad-free streaming for all Prime members. If your broadband connection was fast enough, your stream would be upgraded to 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Atmos, and Dolby Vision quality too.

However, Amazon has stripped-out these features in the latest shake-up. For those who don't know, Dolby Vision is an HDR standard set by the renowned British-American company, which is best known for its work in sound for the biggest film releases. Dolby Atmos is a certification for sound and a must-have seal of approval for anyone who has invested heavily in surround sound kit.

Until now, Amazon bundled Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision to all Prime Video subscribers at no extra cost. The only restriction was your broadband speed and whether it could handle the top-of-the-line streaming experience.

Both of these features are now reserved for those who spend £2.99 on the upgraded ad-free experience.

The overhaul to Prime Video follows similar changes to Disney+ and Netflix, which introduced an ad-supported price plan and reserved flagship Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision content for the most expensive tiers.

What's Included With Amazon Prime?

Amazon Prime isn't just about speedy delivery – there are a slew of other benefits included with the membership scheme. We've got the complete list of perks below.

Next-Day (or Same-Day) Delivery

Prime members can enjoy the fastest delivery option offered by Amazon at no extra cost – as long as they're marked as "Fulfilled by Amazon".

For some items, Prime members will need to spend a minimum of £20 to qualify for free next-day delivery. If that threshold is not met, you'll need to spend £1.99 for delivery. That £20 minimum spend drops to £10 if you're ordering books. Select second-hand or damaged items from Amazon Warehouse will be eligible for next-day delivery too.

If you live in select parts of Greater London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool, you can enjoy same-day delivery as part of your Prime membership. But be warned, this isn't available on every item in Amazon's warehouse.

Lightning Deals

Amazon reserves a number of discounts and deals exclusively for Prime members. Known as Lightning Deals these price cuts are only available for a short amount of time. Amazon advertises these deals ahead of time, so you can set multiple alarms and reminders to make sure you don't miss out.

During sales events – like Amazon Prime Day, Amazon Spring Sale, and Black Friday – the retailer regularly refreshes these blink-and-you'll-miss-'em deals.

Prime Video

As part of their subscription, all Prime members get access to Amazon's answer to Netflix, Prime Video. The streamer is also available with a standalone subscription of £5.99 per month for those who aren't interested in the other benefits of Prime membership.

Prime Video has apps for a wide range of devices, including iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, Sky Glass, Sky Stream, Virgin Media TV 360, Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and some of the most popular Smart TV brands, including Samsung, Hisense, Sony, and LG. You can sign-in and watch on multiple devices at once.

Amazon's streamer has a mix of syndicated shows, like Fargo, The Handmaid's Tale, and Mr Robot, alongside all-new TV shows commissioned by Prime Video that you won't find anywhere else. That includes The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel from the duo behind The Gilmore Girls, superhero satire The Boys, prequel series (and reportedly the most expensive television show ever commissioned) Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power, and Clarkson's Farm from the motormouth ex-Top Gear frontman, Jeremy Clarkson.

Prime Video is also home to a slew of original films, including Academy Award winner Everything Everywhere All At Once, Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm, and The Green Knight to name just a few.

Prime Reading

If you like to read digital books on your Kindle eReader or via the Kindle app on iPhone, iPad or Android devices, this is a brilliant perk. Amazon bundles thousands of ebooks, magazines, and comicbooks that can be downloaded and read for free – for as long as you remain a subscriber to Amazon Prime.

Amazon regularly refreshes the selection of digital books available with this perk, so you shouldn't have to worry about running out of new pageturners after a few months of your Prime subscription. Prime Reading is not to be confused with Kindle Unlimited, which is a separate subscription that offers a bigger library of books and magazines. It costs £9.49 per month, but Amazon regularly offers 30-day free trials for newcomers to the service. Cancel anytime and you won't be charged.

Free Photo Back-Up

Are you constantly swatting away low storage warnings on your iPhone or Android device? Prime subscribers can back up their photographs at full resolution – so you won't lose any quality by storing your snaps in the cloud – at no extra cost. To take advantage of the offer, you'll need to download the Prime Photos app, which is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. You'll need to allow access to your photo library so that Amazon can securely upload your images to its servers.

If your phone unexpectedly breaks or is lost or stolen, you'll be able to restore all of your photographs at full resolution from the cloud.

Photos stored in Amazon Photos can be used as a screensaver on any of your Amazon-branded devices, including Fire TV boxes, Fire Tablets, and Echo Show hubs.

If you're used to Google Photos or Apple's Photos app, you'll find almost all of the same functionality baked into Amazon's equivalent app. That means the app will regularly highlight photos from your library and automatically sort snaps into albums dedicated to family members, friends, and pets. Using advanced image recognition, you can search your photo library for people, places, and things.

Deliveroo Plus

If you regularly order takeaways with Deliveroo, there's a mouth-watering perk available with your Prime membership – you'll get one year of Deliveroo Plus free of charge.

This usually costs £40 per year and offers free delivery on takeaway orders over £25 made from the Deliveroo app. Not only that, but Deliveroo Plus members also get access to exclusive special offers and rewards. You can redeem the giveaway for Prime members on the Deliveroo website.

Amazon Music Prime

Amazon includes a massive library of 100 million songs for all Prime members at no extra cost. For context, that's the same number of songs available on Spotify, which costs £10.99 per month. Of course, there are some limitations on Amazon Music Prime – although you'll get access to a mammoth catalogue of tracks, you'll be limited to shuffling tracks from an artist, album, or playlist. To select a specific song, you'll need to upgrade to a standalone paid plan. This is also required to download songs to listen offline.

Amazon Prime Music will recommend new artists based on your listening habits. It also bundles a number of ad-free podcasts, including some of the most popular shows in the UK. If you own an Amazon Echo, Fire TV, or Echo Show, you can request songs, playlists and podcasts with chatty AI assistant, Alexa. If you're unsure of the exact title of a track, Alexa can unearth the song when you quote a few lyrics.

To bypass the restrictions on Amazon Music Prime, so you can play individual songs and download tracks to listen offline, you'll need to upgrade to Amazon Music Unlimited. This is a fully-fledged competitor to Apple Music and Spotify, with advert-free streaming, the ability to listen offline, a vast podcast library, and access to Spatial Audio and HD quality.

Prime Music Unlimited costs £10.99 per month – the same price as Spotify. However, Prime members enjoy a discounted rate of £9.99 per month when they upgrade. Up to 6x people can enjoy all of the benefits of a Prime Music Unlimited account with the Family Plan bundle, which costs £17.99 per month – effectively, £2.99 per person.

Prime Gaming

If you're a dedicated PC gamer, there are plenty of in-game goodies available from Amazon as part of your Prime membership. Amazon offers exclusive in-game upgrades, including weapons, characters, and skins every month. But most exciting of all, Amazon has a rotating catalogue of free games for all Prime members.

This works in a similar way to PS Plus giveaways for PlayStation users or Xbox's (now defunct) Games With Gold. In the past, we've seen Amazon hand out blockbuster titles, such as Dead Space 2, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

Prime members can also unlock exclusive benefits on Twitch.tv, which is also owned by Amazon. Streamers will be able to access exclusive emotes, Twitch Chat colours, and the ability to talk to members-only crown chat badge.

Amazon Prime Day

Amazon holds a number of blockbuster sales exclusively for Prime members. Dubbed Prime Day, these two-day sales events offer Black Friday-like prices throughout the calendar. Without an active Amazon Prime membership, you'll be stuck paying full price for the sale items. Ouch.

Is Amazon Prime Worth It?

If you're regularly hit with the £5.99 delivery fee when ordering items on Amazon, subscribing to Prime could be a real money-saver.

At £8.99 per month – or £7.99 per month if you pay annually, prolific Amazon shoppers will be in pocket in no time (even with the new £1.99 for some Prime orders under £20). However, Amazon Prime becomes a real no-brainer if you're planning to a handful of the other perks bundled with the membership.

For example, if you plan on streaming a few exclusive boxsets and films from Prime Video, reading books and magazines on Kindle with Prime Reading, or removing the adverts from your favourite podcasts with Prime Music ...then there is serious value for money to be found with Amazon Prime.

To put the cost of Prime membership into perspective, Netflix charges a minimum of £10.99 per month to watch without adverts – something available for free with Prime Video, meanwhile, iPhone owners are charged 99p for 50GB of cloud storage rising to £2.99 for 200GB to back-up their photographs to the cloud – again, something that Prime subscribers can enjoy at no extra cost.

How To Get Amazon Prime For Free

Amazon regularly offers a 30-day free trial to its Prime membership scheme.

Sign up for the free trial and you'll unlock access to all of the benefits, including next-day delivery, streaming from Prime Video, Kindle books, photo back-up, and free PC game downloads.

Check out the Amazon Prime free trial here.

Cancel anytime during the free trial and you won't be charged a penny. If you decide to stick around past the 30-day trial period, you'll be charged £8.99 per month for Amazon Prime until you cancel.

If you've taken advantage of a free trial before, it's still worth checking the eligibility of your account as Amazon renews its free trial offer every year or so.

Ahead of blockbuster sales events, like Prime Day, Amazon Spring Sale, or Black Friday, the Seattle-based retailer allows those who have previously tested its Prime subscription the chance to have a fresh look.

How To Cancel Amazon Prime Subscription

If you've decided that Amazon Prime isn't right for you, it's simple enough to remove the benefit from your Amazon account.

First up, you'll need to head to your Account page, which can be found by hovering over your name in the top-right corner of the Amazon homepage and clicking Your Account. Then select Prime, followed by Manage > Update > Cancel and More, and then follow the on-screen instructions to end your subscription.

If you're in the middle of a free trial, you'll still enjoy the benefits of Amazon Prime until the end of the 30-day period. If you're a paying Prime member, you'll still be able to take advantage of all of the perks until the end of your billing period.