Wow! I know that there seems to be a big price battle going on between WalMart and Amazon. They are in big competition to win customers right now which is great news for consumers. It is no secret that I am a huge Amazon fan. I order items off Amazon like it is my job. I of course have Amazon Prime so that I can get free shipping even if I just need a new toothbrush sent to me. I find it so much more convenient to have items shipped to my front door then having to go out and shop around all over town. Since I travel so much, I have limited time at home and Amazon saves me precious time. If you don’t have Amazon Prime, you will be happy to know that Amazon has lowered it’s spending threshold on orders for free shipping from $35+ down to only $25+.
Amazon Lowers Free Shipping Threshold Again!
Threshold For Free Shipping – Some History
Back in February 2016, Amazon’s Free Shipping Threshold Was Raised To $49! At the time, it appeared that they were trying to make their Prime membership more valuable. Then, February of this year, Amazon Lowered Spending Threshold For Free Shipping back to $35 which was likely in response to Walmart offering free 2 day shipping on orders over $35+.
Right now Walmart is offering what they are calling a pickup discount when you pick up your item versus shipping it.
Bottom Line
This certainly is good news for customers who can score better prices when these 2 compete to have the best deals! I do think that for Amazon Prime members, they are going to have to come up with some new benefits to make the cost of the membership worth it. I wouldn’t be surprised to see people canceling their memberships now that they only have to spend $25 to get free shipping at Amazon. What do you think?
HT: RachelÂ
About The Weekly Flyer
The Weekly Flyer writes about travel from a business traveler perspective. He travels the world every week accumulating points and miles along the way.
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This is a really good thing. To be honest I stop being an Amazon customer with a $49 threshold and a lot less of a customer at $35. Just too prohibitive to find enough items to meet the minimum. And then Amazon would screw up the order or their third party vendor would provide a crappy item without resolution. With so many competitors online, it’s just as easy to go to eBay or a direct vendor or local merchant for in-store pickup for a $15 item rather than try to creatively find $50 in merchandise.
I have no interest in being a Prime member as the benefits just would not make sense. My hunch is that Amazon song Walmart’s threshold and also probably from its metrics determined that a lot of non-Prime customers were not coming back.