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Amazon Expands No-Rush Shipping Credit to Include eBooks, Books

amazon-logo3Amazon has long offered an incentive to Prime members to choose a slower shipping method, and earlier this week they changed the incentive to include a $1 credit which can be applied to buy books or ebooks.

A couple days ago one member of MobileRead Forums noticed that Amazon had changed the description for this program.

It now reads:

About FREE No-Rush Shipping

Choose FREE No-Rush Shipping and we’ll automatically apply a $1 books and ebooks credit to your account once your order ships.

You can use this credit by logging on to Amazon.com or browsing your Kindle device. You can find the book or ebook you want to purchase and we’ll automatically apply the credit at checkout.

Your order with No-Rush Shipping will arrive in 5 – 7 business days. This No-Rush credit expires on December 31, 2014. Terms and Conditions apply.

Have you ever taken Amazon up on their offer?

I have not;  I can’t in recall ever having been offered the credit (selective blindness, perhaps). But if I had been offered I would probably have turned it down. Before it switched to books the dollar credit used to be good for instant video. That would not appeal to me for the simple reason that I don’t buy DRMed video.

And now that the credit can be applied to ebooks, I will still probably turn it down.  I’m too impatient of a person to wait extra days and only get a dollar for my troubles.

Do you think it’s worth it?

image by hedera.baltica

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Comments


Lindsay September 15, 2014 um 12:09 am

I haven’t seen that offer yet. I always get the video one, but I never stream videos from them, so I haven’t bothered selecting it. For ebook credits, I probably would. I order a lot of house and grocery stuff from them, and I don’t always need my fabric softener in two days. 😉


Richard Adin September 15, 2014 um 5:41 am

I’m not a prime member because I have not seen any advantage to prime for me. I don’t mind waiting for standard shipping. Of course, I also buy very few things at Amazon, pretty much only when no one else has the item I want. But if I had paid for a Prime membership, I would think that would indicate I was impatient. Consequently, I do not think $1 is much of an inducement. If I could accept $1 to go slow, why not simply save the cost of my Prime membership altogether, a much larger savings? I think the incentive will need to be much larger to have an impact, perhaps $5 or more.

Yet that Amazon is incentivizing the go slow option makes me wonder why. Is Amazon under such pressure from investors that it needs to find a way to both get people to pay the Prime membership yet not use it? Is Amazon’s Prime balance sheet so greatly unbalanced? Is Amazon finally trying to stem the revenue bleeding? There are a lot of interesting questions that this incentivization raises. Perhaps the future will expose the answers.


Amber September 15, 2014 um 6:51 am

I ordered something this weekend and only seen the standard video offer. Books would be a little bit more of a temptation but looking back at my past orders there would only be a couple of things in the last 6 months that I would have passed up the free 2-day shipping. The only reason I buy prime is for the shipping since I don’t use any of the other benefits so a dollar really isn’t too much of an enticement not to use it. I don’t know if it is related but I notice the option to upgrade to the next day shipping is often missing on alot of my orders in the past month or two. Makes me wonder if they are really losing a lot of money on the shipping thing?


Ebook Bargains UK September 15, 2014 um 9:11 am

Keep up, Nate! 🙂

This kicked off back in July!

http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-now-offers-prime-members-video-credit-for-slower-shipping/

Amazon’s shipping costs are a big headache for their bottom line, and the key reason behind Amazon wanting cheap front-list ebook prices from the Big 5. Shipping thousands of heavy hardbacks costs Amazon a small fortune in storage, packaging and delivery, especially to Prime members. Shipping ebooks costs them sweet FA.

Prime is one of those great ideas that s actually backfiring badly short term. Members pay $99 for a year, and get access to the free music, video and the monthly ebook, all of which cost Amazon. Savvy consumers buy more from Amazon and soon max out that $99 they paid just covering shipping costs. Amazon’s margins are so thin on most products that Prime ends up costing them money.

A great lock-in long-term, but a huge burden right now, especially when handing out free membership for a year to anyone daft enough to take up the Fire phone.

To add to Amazon’s woes, news is breaking that India s clamping down on Amazon’s warehouses and has issued directives stopping local businesses using Amazon Fulfilment centres. Amazon has thoughtfully responded by explaining that it is India’s antiquated laws that are the problem.

Last month Bezos played one-upmanship with Flipkart who obtained a billion dollars in funding. Next day Bezos announced $2 billion for Amazon India.

Last week Amazon went cap in hand to Bank of America (announced Friday after business hours for some strange reason…) to borrow… $2 billion.

You couldn’t make it up…

Nate Hoffelder September 15, 2014 um 9:16 am

Actually, the video credit has been around since at least last year:
https://the-digital-reader.com/2013/11/11/amazon-announces-new-sunday-delivery-option-prime-members/


Kim W September 15, 2014 um 9:21 am

I’ve seen it a couple times. Took advantage once when I was ordering a book for my son for college and had time before school started.


Rob Siders September 15, 2014 um 9:28 am

I’m actually more inclined to take the upgrade to next day than I am the downgrade. Not always, but sometimes. My wife, though, does a better job of planning ahead and ordering things in advance of when she needs them, so the credit has gotten us a few movie rentals thanks to her.


Vonda Z September 15, 2014 um 10:31 am

I saw this and went to order my Dad’s birthday present. The ebook offer was available as a shipping choice at checkout. The video offer is no longer available.

I definitely chose the shipping downgrade. My Dad’s birthday isn’t until October, so no sense having his gift sitting around here an extra few days when I can be building up some e-book credit in the mean time. I much prefer an e-book credit to a video credit. I watch mainly prime video and rarely pay for movies/tv, so that offer is pretty useless to me, but I read a lot of e-books, so this offer gives me a return on my Prime investment when I don’t care about delivery speed.

For the most part, if I am ordering myself a fun new "toy," then I want the expedited shipping that I bought Prime for. I don’t want to wait a week to get my package. But for mundane things (eg, I ordered some stainless steel ice scoops to replace some plastic ones last month), I don’t care if they take 2 days or 2 weeks, really. So I like having the option of getting a little money back on those things that I don’t need/want right away, even if the expedited shipping is worth more than the refund.


Juli Monroe September 15, 2014 um 1:47 pm

I’ve been using and enjoying the video credit. I think I used it 4 times in the last couple of months (which brought that first Doctor Who episode down to a sensible $1.99). I’d be even more interested in the book credit, so I hope I’ll see it on my next order.


Anne September 15, 2014 um 6:20 pm

I usually do take advantage of these offers. In fact, I placed three orders with Amazon today and chose slow shipping in exchange for the credit on all of them because it made sense to do so. One was a gift that was being shipped to the giftee and there is plenty of time for it to arrive. Two was a personal order and I won’t be out of the current supply for 10-14 days. Three was a business order for some equipment and since I’ve lived with the problem with the limping equipment for two weeks already, I figured another week or so wouldn’t be a terrible hardship.

I don’t have prime because of impatience. I have prime because I can share it with my mom (who is impatient) and my business. Also, I don’t have to pay sales tax on the prime subscription and I do on shipping charges if applicable. With a large family the best use of prime for me is the ability to ship to other people without shipping charges and Amazon maintaining an address list for those people. Two day shipping comes in handy when I’m late in deciding upon a birthday present. I also use the KOLL most months, I’m enjoying prime music far more than I thought I would and prime video comes in very handy when I have visiting nieces and nephews. Overall prime is a great deal for me but sometimes no rush shipping is just fine and I’m happy the credits are available. That said, I doubted we’d ever see a book credit so I’m particularly happy with the current promotion.


Re September 16, 2014 um 1:43 am

The credit isn’t only for e-books, it’s "real" books as well! I place lots of one item orders instead of a large order to keep collecting the video credits. I got a whole season of a show I wanted free that way. I’ve gotten $4 in book credits so far. I like this incentive, clearly. The order just has to be over $1 to qualify.


Lu Ann November 11, 2014 um 12:30 pm

I love this promotion. I mostly bought Amazon Prime to receive no shipping charges. With using this promo credit, I can still get the items I want with no shipping charges. I usually don’t need whatever I ordered in 2 days so I can be patient and get the credit. I do read 30+ ebooks a month so I use the credits to buy ebooks all the time. Unless you are a big reader and a patient person, this may not be much of an incentive but I love it!


Jill November 16, 2014 um 12:49 am

I don’t purchase videos, so I never took the credit previously. I really like the ebook credit option, though, because I buy them from Amazon. Unless I absolutely need the item in 2 days, I usually take the credit. Besides, half the time I get it in 2-3 days anyway, despite their estimate being 5-7 days.


Lesa November 20, 2014 um 7:36 pm

I’ve chosen the book option, and received the emails saying I had a credit. When I order books, the credit doesn’t apply, and no one on Amazon can figure out why or how to do it. I was transferred three times, and finally they just offered me a $5 credit and overnight shipping in one item. I still have no idea if any of my credits will ever apply, so I don’t think I will be choosing this option anymore.

An November 22, 2014 um 9:24 pm

You can earn the credit but it won’t apply to a real book when you purchase, I know because last month the email mentioned using in a book. This month the email is different.


Re November 29, 2014 um 3:00 am

Yep, now it is only a credit for ebooks, instant video or mp3. I can see why because now there is no more shipping fees acrued by them because those items are not mailed.


The Jag December 10, 2014 um 2:47 pm

Yeah, I was first happy about instant video option but was then sold on the book credit. Unfortunately, they’ve changed it back again to ebooks and instant video. Would much prefer books!!!


pangolin January 5, 2015 um 9:25 pm

I’ve used the slow shipping several times for the ebook credit.

What I find interesting is that most of the time I choose 5-7 day shipping or the slow shipping… they’re still shipping it either overnight or 2 day because it doesn’t even LEAVE their warehouse until 2 days before it needs to arrive.

I’ve done this enough times to realize how stupid it really is. How is anyone saving money by delaying the shipping time? I mean, I get a dollar and I just pretend that I didn’t order the thing I ordered for a week? Doesn’t it still cost them the same if it hasn’t left their facilities?


TimeDivided February 6, 2015 um 9:25 am

I use prime for so many things that this really pays off. When I need something immediately I use my 2 day, but if im just buying stuff for around the house (cleaning supplies, etc) or gifts for events that are a ways off still, I always opt for this. I have had prime for less than 6 months and by taking advantage of this I have recieved 4 free ebooks, totalling around 35$.


Amazon Bumps No-Rush Shipping Credit to Two Dollars | Ink, Bits, & Pixels June 19, 2015 um 6:24 am

[…] has offered a one dollar slow shipping incentive for the longest time, and last September they expanded the offer so you could use the credit towards the purchase of Kindle […]


Lucinda October 13, 2015 um 12:59 pm

How does one know which items ( I’m looking for books – Kindle or paperback) are "ELIGIBLE" for the promotional credit?


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