Amazon pulls Prime pricing, confirms test of payment options
updated 08:34 pm EST, Sun November 18, 2012
Prime reverted to yearly-only charging
Amazon has stopped offering its customers a monthly payment option for its Prime service. The company recently included an option for US customers to pay $8 per month instead of $80 per year for the two-day delivery and Prime Instant Video streaming service, but has since switched it back to yearly-only.
A spokesperson speaking to All Things D confirmed the test is over, saying "We regularly test new options for our customers. At this time, we've completed our test and are no longer signing up new customers for Amazon Prime monthly memberships."
The $8 pricepoint is likely to have been an attempt to lure customers away from the similar-costing Netflix and Hulu, and onto Amazon's Prime Instant Video instead. It was also observed that the test was only conducted in the US, though this could possibly be due to Prime consisting of different components in other markets.
