[fleitz]

It's the value of certainty that people are buying. Think of it more like 'Shipping Insurance', delivery fees are an unfortunate unavoidable thing, like car accidents.

However, by purchasing 'shipping insurance' one can normalize the cost of shipping similar to the way one normalizes the cost of car accidents through car insurance.

There is a virtuous circle too that is the opposite of moral hazard typically incurred by insurance companies as having certainty of cost makes risk taking less costly. Similarly, if shipping is free, then people order more things, creating economies of scale that reduce shipping costs, enabling amazon to make more profit, or price prime cheaper.

[manyxcxi]

There are other valid reasons besides not paying the initial shipping cossts.

Typically anything shipped Prime is a no-fee/no-hassle return. Great for when you're buying clothes. After accidentally buying something NOT shipped prime, then getting hit with a bunch of fees from the seller to return it I've gotten much more careful about it.

We also get discounts on our monthly recurring purchases that make it cheaper than going to the store to replenish, not even factoring for saved time.

There's also the Prime video- which has a surprisingly good catalog of shows and movies (in the US at least). I still watch Netflix more, but I use prime video at least once a week.

[sokoloff]

Most non-clothing items are not no-fee returns unless Amazon has made an error or the product is defective.

My wife and I double-bought a gift for our daughter and the return shipping fee was going to be $6.99 as it was our mistake. That's fair enough, IMO, but it's not free.

Returns are often free on clothing/shoes and around Christmas.

Prime Video is indeed a bigger benefit than I originally thought. The kids watch it several times a week and I probably once a week.

[fleitz]

I got prime pretty much for the new Top Gear, everything else is just gravy. And now that I know I can return stuff I'm probably going to start buying clothes through prime.