Amazon Ups Prime Now Delivery Costs Causing Mass Confusion

Online retailer Amazon has raised prices for minimum delivery for their same day delivery charges, just weeks before Black Friday

Prime Now customers, who are already paying £79 a year, will now have to pay extra costs for same-day deliveries under £40.

Prime Now, which was introduced in 2015, specialises in delivering food, groceries, and home products. It is only on Prime Now items that an extra delivery charge will incur. Next day delivery still remains the same.

The service will start to charge £3.99 on orders under £40, but these must be over £15. For one hour delivery, customers will have to pay £7.99.

Previously, Amazon had a minimum order of £20, but it was then free for same-day delivery on Prime Now products.

The Prime Same Day delivery service (which is confusingly different to Prime Now) will continue to run with no extra costs to Prime members, however this was made unclear, and many users believed they would have to pay extra for this service as well.

We reached out to Amazon and got this statement:

“These changes only apply to Prime Now deliveries.

“A minimum order total of £15 is required for Prime Now orders. Delivery fees vary depending on the delivery option you choose, and subject to applicable minimum order thresholds.

“The delivery fee payable for your order will be displayed to you during checkout and when you place your order.

“We’ve lowered the order threshold to £15 for a fee based on customer feedback to give more customers more flexibility and continue to expand selection of low priced everyday essentials.

“Offering customers scheduled two-hour delivery windows at no additional cost for orders over £40 ensures that we can continue to ship increased product selection on everyday items in ultra-fast time.”

Customers took to social media to vent their frustrations at the company for introducing the new charges, however many believed that these charges applied to Amazon Prime, rather than just Prime Now.

Twitter user Scott Bevan said, “Gosh, adding a £3.99 delivery charge to orders under £40 without notice is very sneaky and not cool. Shame.”

Other users have threatened to stop paying for Amazon Prime altogether. Simon Jeffries said, “It’s clear the new £3.99 delivery charge is to reduce business and make money. Sneakily added and going to annoy people paying for Amazon Prime. I’m one who’s thinking about cancelling.”

Following the confusion and negativity online, Amazon brought forward its Black Friday sale with own brand gadgets such as the Amazon Echo on sale.