Shopping on Amazon just got more expensive – unless you’re a Prime subscriber

Over the past few years, Amazon has done quite a bit to make its $99/year Prime membership an appealing proposition. From free shipping and access to an impressive selection of video content, Amazon Prime is arguably as alluring a service as Netflix. At the same time, life on Amazon for non-Prime subscribers has become a bit more aggravating over the years. Speaking to this point, Amazon this week announced that it’s raising the minimum price for free shipping for non-Prime users.

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Under the new rules, if a non-Prime member makes an order online, it will only be eligible for free shipping if the order is at least $49. Notably, the previous threshold for free shipping was only $35. The one caveat to Amazon’s new price increase is that book orders above $25 are eligible for free shipping.

Amazon’s updated shipping page reads in part:

To place an order online, do the following:

Add at least $25 of books (in which case all other eligible items in the order also ship free), or at least $49 of all other eligible items to your Shopping Cart. Any item with “FREE Shipping” messaging on the product detail page, that is fulfilled and shipped by Amazon, is eligible and contributes to your free shipping order minimum.

Looking ahead, it stands to reason that Amazon will only continue to enact new rules and roll out new services in order to make its $99/year Prime service more appealing. In other words, it’s time to start your free trial of Amazon Prime if you’re not already a subscriber.