I Can't Order from Amazon Without Signing up for Prime? Seriously?

Walmart is a good alternative. They deliver to physical address though. Right now I don't want anything delivered to my door. If I really need something, I can have it delivered to my stepfather's place.

The people next door keep the area in front of their door dirty, including expected dog poop smear. I don't want to have anything delivered here.
 

Remy said:
I'm sure this has been discussed but I didn't research. I signed up by accident once for Prime when placing an order. I immediately cancelled. Now I'm alert to it and I'm very diligent before placing an order to be sure I do not sign up for it. I want to place an order. I'm afraid there is no way out that I can see to refuse Prime. I just need to cancel immediately.

Anyone else notice this? Thanks.
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You don't have to take prime in order to place an order with Amazon. It's tricky but unless something has changed it can still be done. I rarely but from Amazon anymore, but I noticed last time they tried everything to get me to sign up for prime. But I didn't. You can too. Good luck.
 
I'm not proud of this, but I order stuff fairly frequently on Amazon. What I see after I click on the "Check Out" box is a screen that pimps Amazon Prime. In tiny, tiny letters down toward the bottom of that half-screen, there's a link that says "No Thanks." I always click on that, which brings up shipping options.

Most of the time, shipping is free though delayed a day or two after the so-called "Next Day" arrival date. I can live without whatever it is I ordered for a day or two, but I've never seen a "you can't buy unless you agree to accept Prime" option. However, as someone noted above, you really have to review the shopping cart options carefully -- Bezos and his thugs have zero problems with roping you in to something you don't want or need.
 

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I don't know why people keep having problems with Amazon. Every time I order anything from Amazon, they try to get me to sign up for Prime, but I simply click "No thanks" (in small print). Then my order goes through. There is no reason to not order anything from Amazon. I've been doing it for over 20 years, and I have never had a problem. Just click on 'No Thanks".
 
If you don't have Amazon prime it just means you don't get free or quick delivery. So you add items to basket, go to checkout and you will have a delivery charge added. Which is cheaper than a subscription to Prime, your choice?
 
Amazon Prime membership generates $35 Billion per year. After they stopped letting people get away with sharing memberships they made $6 Billion. I’m not sure of the last number; it was definitely in the billions.
 
I marginally get enough benefits out of Amazon Prime to justify getting it as I do watch a fair amount of Prime Video and lightly use their other benefits. What burns me though is that having Prime doesn’t fully open up the range of offerings in an area, to obtain which requires additional cost upgrades. They add up quickly…

For example, you used to be able to listen to specified selections of music through Amazon Prime, but now without buying “Music Unlimited” your request will net you a padded playlist of songs that they consider similar to your request, and I’m not willing to wade through the dross to get to the gold. Free books with Prime too are limited in number…but they’ll be happy to upgrade you at additional monthly cost!
 
This has nothing to do with Amazon Prime, but I do subscribe to "Kindle Unlimited". This costs me about $14 per month, but as I'm an avid reader, I download on "loan" free e-books to my Kindle -- probably 10-12 per month. This more than pays for itself, otherwise I would not participate. There used to be a limit of 10 books you could "borrow", but Amazon has increased that number to about 20, I believe. Nevertheless, when I'm done reading a book, I "return" it to keep from accumulating them. If I want to keep a book, I can always buy it, of course.
 
I buy things through Amazon regularly and have never had a problem. I've never had any use/need for Prime.

I trust that those here are aware that "Free delivery on $35 of items shipped by Amazon" means just that. If you have, let's say, two items in your cart. One costs $30 and is shipped by Amazon. The other costs $20 and has free shipping but is shipped by the seller. When you go to check out you'll still have a shipping charge because you're still $5 short of the $35 minimum.

Once the $35 minimum of items shipped by Amazon has been reached you, of course, have to select free shipping at checkout.

Naturally they try to market their products and services (just like every other major business), but for me everything appears pretty clear and above board. If people fail to actually read what they're agreeing to, I don't see how that is Amazon's fault.

ETA: I'm curious . . . I NEVER conduct any financial transactions using my "smart" phone. It's always done via a secure desktop computer. I am aware that phone "apps" generally appear and function differently from real computer programs. Could this possibly be a source of the problems described?
 
I canceled Prime months ago and have no problems ordering and getting what I ordered. I skip the offers to renew Prime, but may renew later this year to watch some of the new shows on Prime.

Amazon is no longer the price leader it once was so I use it less.
 
John cycling said:
I've only ordered 6 items from Amazon in the last 10 years, only with free shipping, and never with Prime.

I've ordered many more things from Ebay, due to the prices being much better, and sometimes from Walmart.
Besides random occasions like those, I always do my food and regular shopping locally and in person.
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Ebay and Walmart beat Amazon on shipping, price, and speed of delivery about 90% of the time. But I still check Amazon, just to make sure.
 
Paladin1950 said:
I don't know why people keep having problems with Amazon. Every time I order anything from Amazon, they try to get me to sign up for Prime, but I simply click "No thanks" (in small print). Then my order goes through. There is no reason to not order anything from Amazon. I've been doing it for over 20 years, and I have never had a problem. Just click on 'No Thanks".
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Exactly the same here. My first order was in 1997 and I have never had a single problem they couldn't easily fix. I had Prime for a few years and then about two years ago, dropped it. Didn't have trouble dropping it. I wait now until I have $35 in the cart and still get my free shipping. I always mark "no thanks" to the offer of Prime. I use laptop... maybe it's more difficult to avoid the pitches if using the app on a device? Not sure.
 
CallMeKate said:
Exactly the same here. My first order was in 1997 and I have never had a single problem they couldn't easily fix. I had Prime for a few years and then about two years ago, dropped it. Didn't have trouble dropping it. I wait now until I have $35 in the cart and still get my free shipping. I always mark "no thanks" to the offer of Prime. I use laptop... maybe it's more difficult to avoid the pitches if using the app on a device? Not sure.
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I'm on a laptop. I do think I found the button that states no to prime. It is small and hidden.

The thing with Amazon is, they carry just about everything. So wanting to order some smaller priced things, really makes it easier when you can wait and have enough for the free shipping.

Right now I I'm looking at the RFID protection stuff. I'm not sure if I want the sleeves, a small card case or those cards that go over your chipped cards? Since I have 3 chipped cards now. I finally caved and got a debit card at my banks heavy suggestion. My wallet is RFID, but it's big and clunky, had it for years. Want something smaller.
 
@Tommy I'm not sure. I'm using a laptop. I don't have a smart phone.

One thing I do know is that the Amazon cart is configured differently than it used to be. The shipping box is smaller, so it's easier to miss the free shipping choice when you have enough in the cart. But thanks from help here, I think I found the decline prime button. And it's not easy to notice.
 
Tommy said:
I NEVER conduct any financial transactions using my "smart" phone. It's always done via a secure desktop computer. I am aware that phone "apps" generally appear and function differently from real computer programs. Could this possibly be a source of the problems described?
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Bingo. Game, set, and match. The love affair that many people have with their phones provides a marvelous opportunity for scammers, marketing thugs, and others to bilk many out of their money. Yes, desktop and even laptop <cough, choke> computers have a vulnerability, but I firmly believe that with standard anti-scammer software and other included firewalls helps a great deal. Still have to be diligent, but phones -- bleah. I hate the damn things, unless they're used as PHONES.
 
Buy a lot from amazon while never had a Prime membership despite constant pressure. As I expected, once amazon had enough Prime accounts, they annually jacked up its fees from the attractive low ball amount their bean counter types began with.

If one reaches the end of the Cart process and only see Prime membership choices, one probably inadvertently selected something only meant for Prime of which there are sometimes specials. Thus copy the Amazon name for whatever product, close that window, and open a new generic amazon window at www.amazon.com. Paste the product name into the Search field and then repeat the product selection while being more careful of anything that is related to Prime. Expect the cost to increase.
 
debodun said:
I don't shop online, but could someone enlighten me on what is so bad about Amazon prime?
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You have to pay monthly for it. Yes there are some benefits, like streaming, downloading books. I guess shipping is supposed to be a little faster. I don't care about that. I'm not impatient. What bugs me is I did sign up for it once without noticing. I didn't opt in. I had to opt out. I cancelled immediately after seeing my 'thank you for signing up for prime' e mail.

Should I ever dump cable, I may look into it. I don't need or want it now.
 
Eupher said:
This has nothing to do with Amazon Prime, but I do subscribe to "Kindle Unlimited". This costs me about $14 per month, but as I'm an avid reader, I download on "loan" free e-books to my Kindle -- probably 10-12 per month. This more than pays for itself, otherwise I would not participate. There used to be a limit of 10 books you could "borrow", but Amazon has increased that number to about 20, I believe. Nevertheless, when I'm done reading a book, I "return" it to keep from accumulating them. If I want to keep a book, I can always buy it, of course.
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I have Kindle Unlimited also, and have had it for several years because I also read a lot. Sometimes, you can get expensive books with the KU membership, and since you can keep them as long as you want,, there is no hurry to return them/
I also watch for when KU has a sale on membership cost and buy a years worth then. Sometimes you can also buy a “gift membership” at a discount, and then I do that and gift it to myself, and it just adds on to the end of the membership I have going now.

Also, regarding amazon prime, if you are low income, have medicaid or EBT, you can get prime for half price with their special membership.
 
Remy said:
@Tommy I'm not sure. I'm using a laptop. I don't have a smart phone.

But thanks from help here, I think I found the decline prime button. And it's not easy to notice.
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This is not unique to Amazon. I've seen lots of subscription services that make it near impossible to figure out how to opt out, while others are clear about it. Years ago, I was on one that had no opt out link at all. It didn't even list a phone number. I had to google to find a phone number for the company so I could tell a person I wanted to get out of the subscription. I was expecting a hard sell, but they were nice about it on the phone.
 
Remy said:
I'm sure this has been discussed but I didn't research. I signed up by accident once for Prime when placing an order. I immediately cancelled. Now I'm alert to it and I'm very diligent before placing an order to be sure I do not sign up for it. I want to place an order. I'm afraid there is no way out that I can see to refuse Prime. I just need to cancel immediately.

Anyone else notice this? Thanks.
Click to expand...
I resisted Prime for a long time then accidentally did sign. It was the best thing I ever did!
Most of my orders are delivered free and so fast, often next day. I am saving a fortune on deliveries.
 

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