Amazon Is Raising Its Yearly Prime Membership Price To $119

The last time Amazon raised its yearly Prime subscription price was back in 2014 when it increased from the original price of $79 to $99. Shoppers complained vigorously at the price hike, but eventually accepted it and moved on. It remains to be seen how this second price increase will sit with long-time customers.

Earlier this year, Amazon raised the price of its monthly Prime fee from $10.99 to $12.99. If a person were to [unwisely] subscribe on a month-to-month basis for the whole year, they would end up paying a total of $156 for the year versus the new rate of $129.

“Prime provides an unparalleled combination of shipping, shopping and entertainment benefits, and we continue to invest in making Prime even more valuable for our members,” said Amazon back in January. “The number of items eligible for unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping increased in recent years from 20 million to more than 100 million items. We have expanded Prime Free Same-Day and Prime Free One-Day delivery to more than 8,000 cities and towns."

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos revealed last week that there are currently over 100 million Prime subscribers worldwide. However, even with that many paying customers, rising costs have forced Amazon's hand.

“The value of Prime to customers has never been greater,” said Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky. “And the cost is also high, as we pointed out especially with shipping options and digital benefits, we continue to see rises in costs.”