Is Amazon Prime Day Worth It?
July 12, 2016 is just a regular day. However, with it being one of the worst times of the year for retail, Amazon continues with their tradition of Amazon Prime Day.
So what exactly are the benefits of Amazon Prime Membership? Not 100% sure. I think they give you free 2 day shipping. Normally, it's just free standard shipping on orders over $25. Standard shipping ranges from 5-9 days. Of course, being in the GTA and since the Amazon warehouse is in Mississauga, we sometimes get our packages the next day.
Another benefit of Amazon Prime Membership is unlimited photo storage on their cloud servers. This service costs $11.99 a year. Amazon Prime Membership is $79 a year. Google offers something similar with their Photo service. You just need to upload photos under High Quality instead of Original Quality.
Another benefit is access to lightning deals 30 minutes before they are released to everyone. Uh... I'm not on Amazon a lot to begin with. Only when I'm doing research for something and I'm trying to determine if it's better to buy on Amazon or at the brick and mortar locations.
Finally, the last benefit is 20% off diapers with some sort of baby subscription thing. Not sure what that is, but we won't need it. With baby on the way, we've decided to use cloth diapers instead of disposables. More on that later.
Frankly, these "benefits" don't exactly convince me these are great reason to pay $79 a year. It's like a more expensive version of the Costco membership. To be honest, these reasons not enough to convince me of the benefits of Amazon Prime membership.
However, as we are looking for baby items, I figured I would check out some of the deals offered. First one I noticed, was a $5 credit if you purchase a $30 gift card. As I do shop on Amazon once in a while, and we will need to purchase baby bottles (cheaper here than anywhere else), I signed up for a free trial of Amazon Prime and picked up the $5 credit deal. The $30 gift card was delivered to my email and I added the balance to my account. The $5 credit would be deposited to my account in 2 days, so already, that makes the free trial worth $5 off of baby bottles.
Well, I continued poking around and found a stroller for $125. Regular price $399! Of course, maybe it's just an inflated price. So I took a look via Google. Seems it really does cost $399... huh... At least it did when it first was released in 2012. Now, this same stroller is around $300 at Toys 'R Us. I poked around a few review sites and even watched a video review on YouTube. Wifey figured it was a decent price for a stroller that could be used from 3 months to 5 years. What sold me was the positive reviews on Amazon and the reviews online. Seems this stroller is lightweight (at 16 pounds) and is very maneuverable. I checked it out after adding it to the cart. At the very minimum, we likely would have spent $100 on a stroller anyway. At least this way, the money spent will go a long way (hopefully).
That wasn't all, though. Despite getting a stroller, we needed a car seat. Wifey and I considered going to Kijiji to pick up a car seat. However, we were looking for a car seat that would accommodate an infant, toddler, and child. As such, being 2016, we'd likely need to purchase a child seat manufactured in 2011. The thought process being kids would need a booster seat until they are 6 years old. As such, anything manufactured 2012 and after would still be in use. Unfortunately, due to some regulations by Health Canada, we wouldn't be able to pick up a used car seat from 2011 or earlier. Here is the relevant text.
Well, with that in mind, wifey and I figured it was better to purchase one brand new.
Luckily for us, Amazon listed one of the top recommended car seats in one of their Amazon Prime Day Lightning Deals. Originally, the car seat was listed for $250 and now it was going for $195. They did have another car seat for sale at $100, but the reviews were not as... encouraging as the $195 car seat. This also happened to be one of the car seats I was eyeing at Toys 'R Us and Walmart. However, the prices there are $290 and $280 respectively. I checked this one out as well. A total savings of $55.
Combined with the stroller, we saved at minimum $230. Of course, it's not what you saved, it's what you spent. In total, we spent around $360. I know, you might be wondering what about the $30 we spent to get the $5 credit. Well, I used the $30 gift card to help pay for the stroller. So it wasn't really an added cost.
Of course, there's also the cost of yearly Amazon Prime Membership. Fortunately, you can cancel your free trial offer within 30 days. I'll be doing that once wifey and I receive all of our stuff from Amazon.
So what exactly are the benefits of Amazon Prime Membership? Not 100% sure. I think they give you free 2 day shipping. Normally, it's just free standard shipping on orders over $25. Standard shipping ranges from 5-9 days. Of course, being in the GTA and since the Amazon warehouse is in Mississauga, we sometimes get our packages the next day.
Another benefit of Amazon Prime Membership is unlimited photo storage on their cloud servers. This service costs $11.99 a year. Amazon Prime Membership is $79 a year. Google offers something similar with their Photo service. You just need to upload photos under High Quality instead of Original Quality.
Another benefit is access to lightning deals 30 minutes before they are released to everyone. Uh... I'm not on Amazon a lot to begin with. Only when I'm doing research for something and I'm trying to determine if it's better to buy on Amazon or at the brick and mortar locations.
Finally, the last benefit is 20% off diapers with some sort of baby subscription thing. Not sure what that is, but we won't need it. With baby on the way, we've decided to use cloth diapers instead of disposables. More on that later.
Frankly, these "benefits" don't exactly convince me these are great reason to pay $79 a year. It's like a more expensive version of the Costco membership. To be honest, these reasons not enough to convince me of the benefits of Amazon Prime membership.
However, as we are looking for baby items, I figured I would check out some of the deals offered. First one I noticed, was a $5 credit if you purchase a $30 gift card. As I do shop on Amazon once in a while, and we will need to purchase baby bottles (cheaper here than anywhere else), I signed up for a free trial of Amazon Prime and picked up the $5 credit deal. The $30 gift card was delivered to my email and I added the balance to my account. The $5 credit would be deposited to my account in 2 days, so already, that makes the free trial worth $5 off of baby bottles.
Well, I continued poking around and found a stroller for $125. Regular price $399! Of course, maybe it's just an inflated price. So I took a look via Google. Seems it really does cost $399... huh... At least it did when it first was released in 2012. Now, this same stroller is around $300 at Toys 'R Us. I poked around a few review sites and even watched a video review on YouTube. Wifey figured it was a decent price for a stroller that could be used from 3 months to 5 years. What sold me was the positive reviews on Amazon and the reviews online. Seems this stroller is lightweight (at 16 pounds) and is very maneuverable. I checked it out after adding it to the cart. At the very minimum, we likely would have spent $100 on a stroller anyway. At least this way, the money spent will go a long way (hopefully).
That wasn't all, though. Despite getting a stroller, we needed a car seat. Wifey and I considered going to Kijiji to pick up a car seat. However, we were looking for a car seat that would accommodate an infant, toddler, and child. As such, being 2016, we'd likely need to purchase a child seat manufactured in 2011. The thought process being kids would need a booster seat until they are 6 years old. As such, anything manufactured 2012 and after would still be in use. Unfortunately, due to some regulations by Health Canada, we wouldn't be able to pick up a used car seat from 2011 or earlier. Here is the relevant text.
It is also important to note that if you own a car seat or booster seat made before January 1, 2012, under Health Canada’s Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, you may not be able to advertise, sell, or give it away because it may not meet the latest requirements set out by Health Canada.
Well, with that in mind, wifey and I figured it was better to purchase one brand new.
Luckily for us, Amazon listed one of the top recommended car seats in one of their Amazon Prime Day Lightning Deals. Originally, the car seat was listed for $250 and now it was going for $195. They did have another car seat for sale at $100, but the reviews were not as... encouraging as the $195 car seat. This also happened to be one of the car seats I was eyeing at Toys 'R Us and Walmart. However, the prices there are $290 and $280 respectively. I checked this one out as well. A total savings of $55.
Combined with the stroller, we saved at minimum $230. Of course, it's not what you saved, it's what you spent. In total, we spent around $360. I know, you might be wondering what about the $30 we spent to get the $5 credit. Well, I used the $30 gift card to help pay for the stroller. So it wasn't really an added cost.
Of course, there's also the cost of yearly Amazon Prime Membership. Fortunately, you can cancel your free trial offer within 30 days. I'll be doing that once wifey and I receive all of our stuff from Amazon.
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