Question about Prime Membership

[Ali Gator]

My Prime membership is coming up for renewal on Tuesday, and after 10 years of having it, I'm seriously considering canceling it (at least for a while - if I miss it, I can always re-subscribe). The bottom line is: I don't use it all that much for shopping (just dog food) , or streaming (all the movies or TV shows I'm interested in are either for rent / buy).

One of my friends said that if I wait long enough (about 3 months), I will start getting really good offers from Amazon to 'come back', like other subscriptions offer (gyms, cell phones, etc). Does anyone know if that's true or not ? What's been your experience ? Are the 'come back' offers good deals, or is it more like 5% off ?

[+ JamesB]

Since I only live in the U.S. part-time, I cancel my Prime membership whenever I leave. It just doesn’t make sense to keep paying for something I won’t use. When I return and sign up again, I usually get some kind of deal, like 30 days free or a 3 month subscription for around $20.

[+ sync]

I'm a relatively new subscriber to Prime.  I'm a frequent viewer, but I too am put off by so many of the rent/buy options.

[Ali Gator]

11 hours ago, JamesB said:

Since I only live in the U.S. part-time, I cancel my Prime membership whenever I leave. It just doesn’t make sense to keep paying for something I won’t use. When I return and sign up again, I usually get some kind of deal, like 30 days free or a 3 month subscription for around $20.

Do you cancel completely or put it on 'pause' ?

 

Today, I put my membership on 'pause' (after I cleared out my payment options completely) rather than cancel completely. BY putting it on pause, I can restart my subscription sometime in the future and my info is saved - contact, shipping address / notes, orders from the past, 'wish list', etc. The pause takes effect on Tuesday - day my subscription was supposed to renew. If I cancel - and then want to subscribe in the future - I lose all that info and start from scratch.

[+ sync]

12 minutes ago, Ali Gator said:

Do you cancel completely or put it on 'pause' ?

 

Today, I put my membership on 'pause' (after I cleared out my payment options completely) rather than cancel completely. BY putting it on pause, I can restart my subscription sometime in the future and my info is saved - contact, shipping address / notes, orders from the past, 'wish list', etc. The pause takes effect on Tuesday - day my subscription was supposed to renew. If I cancel - and then want to subscribe in the future - I lose all that info and start from scratch.

Very good information.  👍

[maninsoma]

1 hour ago, Ali Gator said:

Do you cancel completely or put it on 'pause' ?

 

Today, I put my membership on 'pause' (after I cleared out my payment options completely) rather than cancel completely. BY putting it on pause, I can restart my subscription sometime in the future and my info is saved - contact, shipping address / notes, orders from the past, 'wish list', etc. The pause takes effect on Tuesday - day my subscription was supposed to renew. If I cancel - and then want to subscribe in the future - I lose all that info and start from scratch.

Are you sure about what happens if you cancel versus pause your Prime membership?  It isn't like a membership is required to shop on Amazon, so I don't know why they would delete all of your information if you stop being a Prime member.  If anything it makes sense for them to keep everything else available in case you want to still shop on Amazon and either pay for shipping or buy enough to qualify for free shipping.

[MikeBiDude]

 

23 minutes ago, maninsoma said:

Are you sure about what happens if you cancel versus pause your Prime membership?  It isn't like a membership is required to shop on Amazon, so I don't know why they would delete all of your information if you stop being a Prime member.  If anything it makes sense for them to keep everything else available in case you want to still shop on Amazon and either pay for shipping or buy enough to qualify for free shipping.

You are correct sir! See below. Google is your friend 😉

No, canceling Amazon Prime won't make your past purchases disappear or affect your order history. Amazon will never delete your purchase history for legal reasons, and your past orders will remain accessible in your account. While you may lose access to Prime-related benefits like free shipping and early access on new orders after canceling, your previous purchases will still be available. [1, 2] 

 

Here's a more detailed explanation: 

• Purchase History: Your order history, including details about past purchases, will remain accessible in your Amazon account. [1, 1] 
• Legal Reasons: Amazon is legally obligated to retain purchase information for a certain period, so your purchase history will not be deleted. [1, 1, 2] 
• Prime Benefits: Canceling Prime will only affect new orders. You'll no longer receive free shipping or other Prime benefits on future purchases, but your past orders will not be impacted. [2, 2] 
• Access to Purchases: You will still have access to digital content you purchased (like movies or books) even after canceling Prime. [3, 3, 4, 4] 
• "Save for Later" Lists: Be aware that "Save for Later" lists may change or disappear at any time, so it's a good idea to create shopping lists instead for a more permanent record of items you'd like to purchase, according to a forum discussion on amazonforum.com. [1, 1] 

 

[+ JamesB]

2 hours ago, Ali Gator said:

Do you cancel completely or put it on 'pause' ?

I’ve always canceled my membership when I’m away, however there was one time I wasn’t even in the U.S. and a big ticket item I wanted went on sale during Prime Day. The savings were over $600, so it made sense to sign up for Prime just for that. I got the three month deal for just over $20, and the next day, after the item shipped, I paused the membership. Then I just resumed it when I was back in the States.

 

2 hours ago, Ali Gator said:

Today, I put my membership on 'pause' (after I cleared out my payment options completely) rather than cancel completely. BY putting it on pause, I can restart my subscription sometime in the future and my info is saved - contact, shipping address / notes, orders from the past, 'wish list', etc. The pause takes effect on Tuesday - day my subscription was supposed to renew. If I cancel - and then want to subscribe in the future - I lose all that info and start from scratch.

Cancelling Prime does not clear or delete anything in your account.

[Ali Gator]

Then what is the difference of pausing or canceling your membership ? One must be more beneficial than the other. 

[mike carey]

With the other streaming services I use (analogous to Prime at least for the streaming element of Prime), I can 'cancel' my service but it runs until my paid period ends (most are monthly, but I'm paying Prime annually to use an Amex statement credit that covers it), but I can still log into the 'cancelled' account and resume payment. From what's been said above (and I haven't tried to pause because I've timed my 'cancellation' so I used the balance of the month's access), 'pausing' seems to offer the chance to stop your access to the service and use the remaining paid time later. It would be worthwhile checking any paid accounts to see if they offer both 'pausing' and 'cancelling' or only the latter. In either case, it appears that your account is inactive, not deleted.

[+ JamesB]

8 hours ago, Ali Gator said:

Then what is the difference of pausing or canceling your membership ? One must be more beneficial than the other. 

If you have paid for the whole year in advance and won't be using it for a while, it makes sense to pause it. In my case I only need it about 4 months out of a year, so paying by the month, canceling it and signing up whenever I need makes more sense. Also if you cancel it you will likely get some kind of promotion to sign back up, pausing it does not trigger any kind of promotion or discount.

[Ali Gator]

4 hours ago, JamesB said:

If you have paid for the whole year in advance and won't be using it for a while, it makes sense to pause it. In my case I only need it about 4 months out of a year, so paying by the month, canceling it and signing up whenever I need makes more sense. Also if you cancel it you will likely get some kind of promotion to sign back up, pausing it does not trigger any kind of promotion or discount.

Thanks - I just changed it today to cancel.

Edited May 26 by Ali Gator