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Amazon Prime vs. Jet.com: Which is really the better deal?

Published Aug 11th, 2015 1:46PM EDT
BGR

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Amazon Prime

is wildly popular with shoppers but it’s not the only subscription based shopping service out there. Last month Jet.com launched with the hopes of unseating Jeff Bezos’s empire and it offered some great deals of its own that in many cases bested Amazon Prime’s prices. Rather Be Shopping has taken an extensive look at both Amazon Prime and Jet.com and has written up a terrific comparison to help shoppers determine which service is right for them.

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So what are the most important things to know about each service? In the case of Jet.com, you need to remember that you must order at least $35 worth of merchandise to get free shipping. You also need to keep in mind that the availability of two-day shipping is limited on Jet.com and mostly applies to household goods. Personal electronics will typically have shipping times of between two and five days.

On the plus side, Jet.com has a terrific “smart cart” pricing algorithm that lowers the price of complementary goods whenever you put one of them into your shopping cart. So for instance, if you buy a pack of guitar strings, it will lower the price on guitar picks as well. Or if you buy a new charger for your phone, the site might lower the price of smartphone cases as well. The new site also gets good marks for offering an easy way to compare prices to Amazon.

As far as Amazon Prime goes, the main positives are that it gives you free two-day shipping for everything no matter how much you order; it gives you access to Amazon’s music streaming service and its video streaming service; you also get early access to deals through MyHabit.com; and you get unlimited cloud photo storage.

That’s a lot of great perks — so what are the negatives? According to Rather Be Shopping, the biggest one is that it just makes you a lazy shopper who mindlessly clicks on Amazon whenever you need anything and makes you forget to do smart comparisons for better deals.

These are just some of the pluses and minuses of Amazon Prime and Jet.com. To get the full story, check out Rather Be Shopping’s full comparison of Amazon Prime and Jet.com by clicking here.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.