Why You Can Trust CNET Which perks do you get with Amazon Prime? And which one did Amazon take away?
With an Amazon Prime membership, you get a raft of perks, from deliveries to discounts on prescriptions.
Get your Prime hacks here.
What's the price of convenience? It's $119 a year, if you pay for Amazon Prime annual subscription. (Otherwise, you pay $13 a month. And students get a discount.) The benefits are definitely worth paying for. Of course, you're probably familiar with Amazon's free two-day shipping option. But depending on where you live, you can also get free one-day delivery, same-day delivery and even two-hour delivery. The delivery perks may alone be enough reason to become an Amazon Prime member, but the benefits don't end there.
As an Amazon Prime member, you can get discounts at Whole Foods, lower prices on prescription medicine, free grocery deliveries and access Prime Video and Prime Music, where you can watch the latest movies or listen to new albums.
Here's the best Prime membership benefits that you may not know about -- and one Amazon recently took away. And check out these Black Friday deals before the big shopping day.
Read more: Amazon Prime Video: The best movies to see this week
1. Exclusive Whole Foods discounts
Although Whole Foods deliveries now come with a $10 charge (they used to be free for members), there are other ways to save on organic fruits and vegetables. There are also free one-hour pickup windows depending on your location -- just remember to check in with the Amazon app to see if you need to enter the store.
Some other Whole Food perks for Prime members are still around. Blue tags indicate sales exclusive to Prime members, while yellow tags mean an extra 10% off of an item already on sale. This gets you discounts on weekly bestsellers, including produce, packaged goods and beauty products, but note that it excludes alcohol.
You can also use the Whole Foods Market app at checkout to get exclusive Prime discounts on select products. The few cents saved on items may seem insignificant individually, but savings do add up in the end. But there are other Amazon grocery delivery options if you don't want to pay the extra fee.
2. Free Amazon Fresh delivery
Another grocery delivery option for Prime members is Amazon Fresh. You can restock your pantry directly from Amazon. But instead of paying $10 for Whole Foods grocery delivery later this month, you can get free delivery for orders that exceed a certain amount (depending on where you live).
You can also use the service to get discounts when you order more or when you set up automatic delivery subscriptions for certain items and save even more for future deliveries. Plus, some items, like fruit snacks and cookies, are SNAP-eligible.
3. Amazon Pharmacy's two-day delivery and discounts
If you refill at least one prescription on a regular basis, Amazon's Pharmacy may be a more convenient choice. Plus, Prime members may get lower prices on medicine. Amazon will transfer your prescriptions, and 24/7 pharmaceutical assistance is available. The pharmacy works with most insurance plans, but it is available in 45 states right now.
4. Try Amazon's personal shopper program
Prime members can order clothes for their next outing with Prime Try Before You Buy (the name changed from Prime Wardrobe). Here's how it works: Choose up to eight items -- clothes, shoes or accessories. Keep them for up to seven days to see if you like them. Send back what you don't like for free and only pay for what you keep.
And you can try the styling service for personalized help starting at $5 per month. If you're not sure which clothing or shoes are eligible, look for the "Try Before You Buy" icon.
5. Amazon gift cards when you trade in used electronics
Amazon is boarding the train to the sustainability station, and it's something you can directly benefit from. With Amazon Trade-In, you can send back your used electronics in exchange for Amazon gift cards. Make sure to check on the eligibility of each product -- some trade-in options are only available for a limited time.
6. Discounts and guarantees on preowned products
Amazon Renewed gives you access to products that may have been opened but weren't used by their original owners -- or were refurbished. Amazon assures that these preowned items work and look like new, coming with the Amazon Renewed Guarantee. A variety of products and brands are available, even from Apple and Vitamix.
7. Amazon Warehouse savings on almost everything
Amazon Warehouse resells like-new or preowned items that have been returned by customers. Some of the products only had their boxes opened by original purchasers before they were sent back, unused, so they're resold at a discount. While there's no regular manufacturing warranty on these products, they are backed by Amazon's 30-day return policy and 90-day renewed item return policy.
8. Amazon Outlet's overstocked items
The Amazon Outlet features overstocked items and other products at discounted prices. Like at an outlet, you can find premium brands and items under $10 ranging from home furniture to clothing and pet supplies. Keep in mind that although the online shopping experience is convenient, just like an outlet, the best deals can take sifting to find. Luckily, you can do it from the couch.
9. Limited-time Lightning Deals year-round
Amazon's Lightning Deals are a promotion where a product or service is on sale for a short period of time or until it's sold out. You can find them all throughout the site, but especially on Prime Day and in Today's Deals. On Prime Day, Lightning Deals are only for Prime members.
There is one lightning deal per customer until the promotion ends or all the deals are claimed by other shoppers. You can join a waitlist for a deal, but keep in mind that these discounts are extremely time-sensitive, so grab them fast. Unless refreshing the page over and over is your thing, these deals aren't necessarily the way to find something specific because of their fleeting nature and limited availability.
10. 5GB of storage with Amazon Photos
Amazon's online shoebox for photos and videos offers secure and unlimited full-resolution photo storage plus 5GB of video for Prime members. To use this feature, you can choose to manually or automatically upload media in the Amazon Photos app. You can personalize the displays on Amazon devices like Fire TV, Echo Show and Fire tablets as long as you have the app.
Plus, with the Family Vault perk, up to five family members can share the same plan. If you want more, there are paid plans available. If you choose to switch -- which can be done anytime -- there is a 100GB option for $2 per month and 1TB plan for $7 per month.
For more, here are the latest on the new Amazon Fire tablet, the Amazon Glow for kids and the new Halo View fitness tracker.