Amazon is raising the price of Prime in the US, from $119 to $139. However, you don't have to pay the higher charges.
As reported by KnowTechie, there's a hack available to American Prime subscribers that helps them avoid the price increase. But you need to move fast to take advantage of it. Here's how.
Buy and Send Yourself a "Gift of Prime" Membership
Although Amazon targets its “Gift of Prime” membership to family and friends, there's no rule that you cannot buy a gift for yourself.
If you buy a Gift of Prime membership, pay it in full and upfront, and send it to yourself, you can activate it whenever you want. So you can start using it months after Amazon Prime's recently announced price hike goes into effect.
If you buy yourself several gifts you can theoretically avoid paying the higher price for years—the upfront cost will be hefty, though.
How to Exploit the Hack
- Head over to the Gift of Prime page on Amazon and buy a full Prime membership for $119 (you will still have to pay taxes on top). Send the gift to yourself. When the e-mail for gifted membership arrives in your inbox, let it stay there until your current membership expires.
- Head to Prime Memberships under your account (top-right corner) and turn off auto-renew. This will ensure Amazon doesn't automatically renew your subscription. This is important because automatic renewal will charge you the new higher price.
- When your Prime membership expires, activate your "gifted" Prime membership. Just like that, you get to stay on the old $119 rate.
If you're a current Amazon Prime monthly subscriber, you can lock in the lower $119 rate. Just switch over to yearly subscriptions before February 18, 2022.
If you were considering an Amazon Prime subscription, now's the time to get it too. New Prime members who sign up before February 18 will get a free 30-day Prime trial which will lock in the lower $119 per year rate.
Fair Is Fair
Using this hack may seem a little crafty, but it is not illegal. So don't feel guilty.
Amazon also probably knows about it, but they won't mind if people rush to exploit it, since it will lock in more subscriptions for them.
And that's good for business.