Amazon to add extra charge to certain Prime orders next month

Business

Amazon Prime customers will face an extra charge on certain deliveries from next month.

The retail giant said members will have to pay £1.99 for same-day delivery if their basket totals less than £20 – on top of their £8.99 a month subscription fee.

Customers were notified about the changes, which will come into effect from 18 September, via email.

In a statement, Amazon said all orders will be delivered to Prime members with the fastest available free option “by default”.

“Prime members enjoy fast, free one-day delivery on millions of items. We are constantly innovating to deliver a wide selection of great value products at the fastest speeds, and more than a million items are now available for same-day delivery in the UK,” the company said.

“Prime members can receive same-day deliveries where available for free on select orders over £20, or for £1.99 if the total order is below £20.”

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Regular Prime subscribers will have already seen costs rise from £7.99 a month to £8.99 a month last year, while the one-off annual cost increased from £79 to £95.

It marked the first increase in membership prices since 2014, which the company said was due to “increased inflation and operation costs”.

The delivery charge announcement also comes after Amazon reported record sales during its “Prime Day” promotion in July, which offered discounts on some products for subscribers.

Hundreds of Amazon workers at a Coventry warehouse staged a walkout to coincide with the event last month in a long-running dispute over pay.

The GMB union said the Coventry warehouse workers had voted for six more months of strikes in June.