Amazon chief financial officer Thomas Szkutak said nothing is finalized yet, but from all signs, Amazon Prime customers could see a price increase of 51%, roughly $40 (US).
Amazon Prime was introduced nine years ago and offers members free shipping on any item, streaming video and other perks for $79 per year. This price has never increased. For some shoppers who order often and order heavy items from Amazon, this has been a significant cost savings in shipping. However, customers that primarily use the service for streaming video might find this increase too much.
A real fear is that Amazon might suffer from the same backlash that Netflix did when it increased prices. In a poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal, 47% of responders said they would drop their Prime account if the price increased. As of 2012 there are nearly 8-million prime customers at Amazon.
To date, no price increase has been confirmed by Amazon.
