Amazon is harking back to earlier times with its most recent adjustment to shipping rules.
The e-commerce giant has tinkered with its minimum purchase amount required for complimentary shipping over the years, likely in an effort to nudge occasional shoppers toward its $99-per-year Prime subscription.
Now Amazon has returned to a simpler rule: a new free shipping minimum of only $25.
How to Score Free Shipping on Amazon Without a Prime Membership
“This is the first time since 2013 that non-Prime customers can qualify for free shipping on orders of $25 or more at Amazon,” wrote Phil Dengler, who first spotted the update at Best Black Friday. “Since Amazon has now changed their minimum twice within a span of less than three months, it’s unclear how long the $25 threshold will remain in place.”
The minimum purchase amount previously jumped from $35 to $49 in May 2016, but that increase only persisted for eight months before Amazon quietly reverted it back to $35.
Best Black Friday reports the adjustment occurred sometime in the past week. Given estimates that nearly half of American households are Amazon Prime subscribers, a large portion of shoppers may not have tracked free-shipping limits because Prime made the issue irrelevant for them.
That said, Dengler notes Amazon’s free shipping for non-Prime buyers isn’t exactly speedy — deliveries can take five to eight days.
By comparison, Walmart earlier this year rolled out free two-business-day shipping for purchases of $35 or more, while Target is experimenting with a program to provide next-day delivery for online household item orders.
