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Amazon Prime Instant Video - Page 8

post #211 of 923
2/26/11 at 8:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by b_scott View Post

here's the problem with this argument - it's predicated by being written by a person who doesn't want to watch older movies.

To me, Netflix is for movie/tv enthusiasts who want to fill up on old movies and TV they missed or rewatch old favorites. Sure the new movies are great too, but I watch far more media that is 5 years old or older.

It would be interesting to see what the breakdown is on this as far as Netflix members are concerned. i don't watch much older content so I rarely use the streaming service and am getting more and more frustrated with the long wait times for new Blu Ray releases so I have migrated some of my viewing habits to PPV on Amazon and iTunes. Now it seems Netflix is best for prior season TV shows on disc--for me. I did get Red yesterday and was thrilled to finally get a new release. Regardless, competition is good and I'll stick with Netflix for now--I have the 2 disc option but I'll leave in a heartbeat if it no longer proves useful for my viewing habits. As for Amazon's place in the streaming market, ironic that they host Netflix on their servers.
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post #212 of 923
2/26/11 at 8:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by plasma21 View Post

you mean "faze" don't you....

do i? hmmm
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post #213 of 923
2/26/11 at 9:01am
Amazon is trying to dethrone Netflix.
Put on your tinfoil hat, speculate on all the negatives and get in your bunker!
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post #214 of 923
2/26/11 at 9:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taperwood View Post

Amazon has tied the price of their streaming service to something they have very little control over, which is the cost of shipping. That adds a layer of complexity to Amazon's streaming costs that Netflix does not have. That's all I'm saying. There is no speculation there.

Sure there is. You're imagining a linear relationship between the fuel-oil component cost of shipping the the price of shipping for Amazon and further that there's a linear relationship between the cost to provide Prime services and the price that Amazon will place on membership. I don't think that either linear relationship exists. The cost of oil has experienced pretty wild fluctuations over the past 5 years, yet the cost of Amazon Prime membership has remained the same (there was a period during 2008 when the crude oil prices were 40% higher than today's). My guess would be that Amazon's shipping costs were a lot higher when they started offering the Prime service. Hell, Amazon has been giving slow-boat ground shipping away on greater-than-$X-purchases for years.

I think that Amazon Prime is a "loss-leader"--give people a great deal to get them in the door and they'll very often leave with a bunch more stuff than they came for. There's been a rumor for the past year that Amazon's been trying to figure out a way to give Kindles away to Prime members.
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post #215 of 923
2/26/11 at 9:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by michaeltscott View Post

I think that Amazon Prime is a "loss-leader"--give people a great deal to get them in the door and they'll very often leave with a bunch more stuff than they came for. There's been a rumor for the past year that Amazon's been trying to figure out a way to give Kindles away to Prime members.

That is really the best way to describe Prime. I have already used my Prime to buy Blu Rays I wouldn't have bought before because they were less than $25. Now I can wait for the price to go down and get them to add to my collection and not worry about shipping. I doubt I'll really save any money and probably end up spending more, but that's not really the issue--Amazon customers are happy and so is Amazon.
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post #216 of 923
2/26/11 at 10:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by michaeltscott View Post

The cost of oil has experienced pretty wild fluctuations over the past 5 years, yet the cost of Amazon Prime membership has remained the same (there was a period during 2008 when the crude oil prices were 40% higher than today's). My guess would be that Amazon's shipping costs were a lot higher when they started offering the Prime service. Hell, Amazon has been giving slow-boat ground shipping away on greater-than-$X-purchases for years.

I think that Amazon Prime is a "loss-leader"--give people a great deal to get them in the door and they'll very often leave with a bunch more stuff than they came for. There's been a rumor for the past year that Amazon's been trying to figure out a way to give Kindles away to Prime members.

In the past, I wondered how Amazon could do it on free shipping / $25 minimum / non Prime .. especially when I would place a small order at it ships in two different boxes, that being before I became a Prime member .. however, due to the deep volume discounts they get from UPS / USPS based on volume, they are still making money ..

Prime membership is a good value for the consumer as well as Amazon .. figuring in $80 a year over a large customer base, some of which won't use up the whole cost in shipping fees in a year .. same concept as the club stores, such as Costco / SAMS etc ..

Bezos has positioned Amazon as the King of on-line retailers without a doubt .. I believe part of the Prime streaming bonus deal is another attempt to throw the gauntlet down on Walmart / VUDU ..

What I don't understand is the moaning a groaning about quality and selection .. it's a bonus, folks .. costs nothing more than Prime did 2 weeks ago ..

Now, if Bezos starts handing out Kindles for Prime members, that's going to really grab some headlines ..

In the end, the Prime member gains as a consumer with more added value ..

Great post, BTW ..
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post #217 of 923
2/26/11 at 10:17am
Of course there is a linear relationship. Just because you don't see it on the outside does not mean it does not exist. Because they are offering streaming at no additional cost to Prime membership, they are taking money from somewhere else within the company. The same applies to the price of Prime membership and increased shipping costs. The money has to come from somewhere else.

I do agree 100% that at this point Amazon streaming is part of the loss-leader for Prime membership and not the reverse.

Quote:
Originally Posted by michaeltscott View Post

Sure there is. You're imagining a linear relationship between the fuel-oil component cost of shipping the the price of shipping for Amazon and further that there's a linear relationship between the cost to provide Prime services and the price that Amazon will place on membership.

I think that Amazon Prime is a "loss-leader"--give people a great deal to get them in the door and they'll very often leave with a bunch more stuff than they came for. There's been a rumor for the past year that Amazon's been trying to figure out a way to give Kindles away to Prime members.
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post #218 of 923
2/26/11 at 10:35am
I don't personally think Prime is a loss leader .. we are not privy to anywhere near the data needed to determine that one way or the other .. I.E.

1) How many Prime members don't use $80 worth of shipping per year .. ??
2) How much did Amazon pay for the rights to stream the current content .. ?? I'm guessing not much based on the current selection ..
3) What are the tax advantages from a Corporate standpoint .. ??
4) If Amazon can sell their goods to non-Prime members and get them free shipping on a $25 minimum order, how many Prime members would have gotten free shipping anyway if they were NOT Prime members .. ?? Quite a few, I'm guessing ..
5) The cost of economy shipping VS Prime Free 2 Day shipping is minimal .. and it's really not free 2 Day shipping anyway .. you must be a Prime member to get it..
6) The goal of the model for Prime, which is based on club's like Costco / Sam's is the membership fee should be all profit .. and it is in the case of most B&M retailers I know of .. the idea being to sell the widget at cost + labor / operating expenses .. and a small profit, or at the minimum a break even .. thus the membership fee is all gravy ..
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post #219 of 923
2/26/11 at 10:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mgkdragn View Post

I don't personally think Prime is a loss leader .. we are not privy to anywhere near the data needed to determine that one way or the other .. I.E.

1) How many Prime members don't use $80 worth of shipping per year .. ??
2) How much did Amazon pay for the rights to stream the current content .. ?? I'm guessing not much based on the current selection ..
3) What are the tax advantages from a Corporate standpoint .. ??
4) If Amazon can sell their goods to non-Prime members and get them free shipping on a $25 minimum order, how many Prime members would have gotten free shipping anyway if they were NOT Prime members .. ?? Quite a few, I'm guessing ..
5) The cost of economy shipping VS Prime Free 2 Day shipping is minimal .. and it's really not free 2 Day shipping anyway .. you must be a Prime member to get it..
6) The goal of the model for Prime, which is based on club's like Costco / Sam's is the membership fee should be all profit .. and it is in the case of most B&M retailers I know of .. the idea being to sell the widget at cost + labor / operating expenses .. and a small profit, or at the minimum a break even .. thus the membership fee is all gravy ..

Also something to consider is that Amazon is a massive data center provider for thousands of businesses, including Netflix, with massive server farms. Amazon is also a CDN service provider, Netflix has to pay companies like Level 3 for the delivery of their product. Amazon's cost to deliver streaming video is probably in the range of a few pennies per GB. Figure $0.05 on the high end, at that rate, if I used every GB of my 250 allowed by Comcast it would still only be $12.50 for the month. I think this streaming business is costing Amazon virtually nothing to provide, it's the proverbial blip on their balance sheet.
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post #220 of 923
2/26/11 at 10:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mgkdragn View Post

In the past, I wondered how Amazon could do it on free shipping / $25 minimum / non Prime .. especially when I would place a small order at it ships in two different boxes, that being before I became a Prime member .. however, due to the deep volume discounts they get from UPS / USPS based on volume, they are still making money ..

the way they can do this is that the free shipping (regular) is through USPS, and USPS will make sure everything else is loaded and then fill the truck with all the Amazon boxes they can. UPS however will make sure it's delivered on the day they say, if at all possible. But UPS is always paid for in some way.

I'm sure Amazon subsidizes the free shipping somehow in their prices.
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post #221 of 923
2/26/11 at 11:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mgkdragn View Post

I don't personally think Prime is a loss leader .. we are not privy to anywhere near the data needed to determine that one way or the other .. I.E.

1) How many Prime members don't use $80 worth of shipping per year .. ??

I ordered 92 items last year and received all within 1-2 days
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post #222 of 923
2/26/11 at 11:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by b_scott View Post

I ordered 92 items last year and received all within 1-2 days

To me, with those sorts of delivery times, Amazon has become a virtual "corner store". Having the item in your hands in such a short time span has a value of it's own. Sure, having something right this minute is nice, but with the selection Amazon has - something that can't even be touched by a brick-and-mortar store - and the delivery times, it's the second best thing for "impulse" type purchases. :-)
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post #223 of 923
2/26/11 at 11:19am
Since I cannot get HD quality through my PC, and my LGBD590 does not have Amazon. (I am hoping LG adds Amazon, but not holding my breath)

I may consider getting a Roku XDS. Can someone with a Roku tell me how good the HD quality and selection is?
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post #224 of 923
2/26/11 at 1:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by b_scott View Post

I'm sure Amazon subsidizes the free shipping somehow in their prices.

And yet those prices have to remain competitive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by b_scott View Post

I ordered 92 items last year and received all within 1-2 days

I count 104 separate 2-day and release-day shipments (they use UPS Next Day Air Saver for the latter), or about 76 cents per.
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post #225 of 923
2/26/11 at 1:32pm
So has anyone taken the time to investigate the "exclusive" (compared to Netflix) titles that Amazon is offering as part of this?

I'm interested, but not about to get rid of Netflix. So the benefit of AmazonVOD (shipping rates aside) really comes down to what aVOD has that Netflix doesn't.

-Suntan
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post #226 of 923
2/26/11 at 1:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by michaeltscott View Post

And yet those prices have to remain competitive.

true - I'll bet they just buy with larger discounts in higher bulk amounts, and then charge the same or slightly less as other places.
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post #227 of 923
2/26/11 at 2:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by b_scott View Post

I ordered 92 items last year and received all within 1-2 days

Here's George Clooney's take on that....
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post #228 of 923
2/26/11 at 2:08pm
For another perspective on this, here in Washington State we have 8-10% sales tax on Amazon purchases, so shopping through Amazon is not such a good deal. I haven't ordered anything from them in over a year. Local prices have adjusted to Amazon's presence in our state and it rarely makes sense to order from them instead of buying local or ordering from out of state companies.
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post #229 of 923
2/26/11 at 2:29pm
Do local retailers have enough volume of sales to even come close to Amazon's prices? I find that hard to believe, but if true, then you are very lucky.
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post #230 of 923
2/26/11 at 2:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by keenan View Post

Do local retailers have enough volume of sales to even come close to Amazon's prices? I find that hard to believe, but if true, then you are very lucky.

I've just spent the last half hour "spot checking" the price of things we usually buy on a monthly basis from Target and SAM's Club.

So far I haven't found anything that Amazon is even close for being a better deal. It actually surprised me how far behind they are on a lot of "household" items. Even factoring in paying state taxes at Target/Sam's Club.

I know they are better for electronics and computer parts (often neck-and-neck with Newegg) but honestly, I don't buy enough of those things in a year to make it worthwhile.

-Suntan
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post #231 of 923
2/26/11 at 3:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by olyteddy View Post

Here's George Clooney's take on that....

can't watch at the moment, but i'll try later.

I buy almost everything on Amazon because I don't own a car and it's much easier and less time wasteful rather than trying to get transportation to a store.
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post #232 of 923
2/26/11 at 3:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suntan View Post

I've just spent the last half hour "spot checking" the price of things we usually buy on a monthly basis from Target and SAM's Club.

So far I haven't found anything that Amazon is even close for being a better deal. It actually surprised me how far behind they are on a lot of "household" items. Even factoring in paying state taxes at Target/Sam's Club.

I know they are better for electronics and computer parts (often neck-and-neck with Newegg) but honestly, I don't buy enough of those things in a year to make it worthwhile.

-Suntan

yeah i'd never use Amazon for buying household items in bulk. That's not really their forte - usually Amazon doesn't actually even sell the stuff, it's just sellers.
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post #233 of 923
2/26/11 at 3:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suntan View Post

I've just spent the last half hour "spot checking" the price of things we usually buy on a monthly basis from Target and SAM's Club.

So far I haven't found anything that Amazon is even close for being a better deal. It actually surprised me how far behind they are on a lot of "household" items. Even factoring in paying state taxes at Target/Sam's Club.

I know they are better for electronics and computer parts (often neck-and-neck with Newegg) but honestly, I don't buy enough of those things in a year to make it worthwhile.

-Suntan

I'm sure it does depend on the item. I buy lots of books and the local retailers, even the big chains like Barnes and Noble, Borders(which recently filed for bankruptcy), Target, and so on don't even come close to Amazon's prices. Costco at times has been competitive, but their selection is non-existent for anything other than the very top, hottest recent releases. And right or wrong, I still have to pay sales tax at Costco, since Amazon has no physical presence in California(by design of course) I'm not charged any sales tax by them, and with a local rate of 9.25%, that adds up fast.
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post #234 of 923
2/26/11 at 4:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by b_scott View Post

yeah i'd never use Amazon for buying household items in bulk. That's not really their forte - usually Amazon doesn't actually even sell the stuff, it's just sellers.

So what do you get from them that makes Prime worth it? I mean, I can't say as I buy more than 10 items a year where Amazon is the best cost.

Not trying to make any point, just curious what people with prime actually use it for.

-Suntan
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post #235 of 923
2/26/11 at 4:08pm
Well, yes and no. Local retailers that are national chains can subsidize their prices here to be competitive with Amazon. Generally, everyone here has found that Amazon can be matched or beaten with some careful shopping, therefore it's not the go-to place that it is in other states.

So, to bring this back into the streaming aspect of this thread, unless Amazon spins off its streaming business from Prime, I'm very unlikely to ever try it, but I think it's great that they are doing it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by keenan View Post

Do local retailers have enough volume of sales to even come close to Amazon's prices? I find that hard to believe, but if true, then you are very lucky.
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post #236 of 923
2/26/11 at 6:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taperwood View Post

For another perspective on this, here in Washington State we have 8-10% sales tax on Amazon purchases, so shopping through Amazon is not such a good deal. I haven't ordered anything from them in over a year. Local prices have adjusted to Amazon's presence in our state and it rarely makes sense to order from them instead of buying local or ordering from out of state companies.

Yeah--there are about a half-dozen states where Amazon has some B&M presence and therefore is required to collect state tax on sales to residents. I know that they're headquartered in Seattle (I lived there for 5 years, late 80's/early 90's, in an apartment at 61st & Alki, working for Digital Equipment Corp). My aunt has the same problem in Kansas, probably due to some warehouse distribution center there.

Sucks for you--sorry.
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post #237 of 923
2/26/11 at 10:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryan_CoxPHX View Post
Since I cannot get HD quality through my PC, and my LGBD590 does not have Amazon. (I am hoping LG adds Amazon, but not holding my breath)

I may consider getting a Roku XDS. Can someone with a Roku tell me how good the HD quality and selection is?
I have three Rokus, one with a 37" LCD, one with a 34"CRT and an XR (the old high end model that has been replaced by the XD/S) connected to my 65" Panasonic plasma in my HT. All do a great job with both SD and HD streams. Even on the 65" I'm quite pleased with how fine the PQ is. I also use Amazon VOD with all three displays and again, everything looks great. I was again especially impressed with the HD stream from Amazon on my 65" display. I recently watched Red and it looked (and sounded) great. Have not had any problems (all my units are hard-wired which I swear helps a lot) but from time to time (not often) depending on the time of day, the stream gets bumped down from HD to four dots. Even when this happens, PQ is still fine. This happens maybe 2-3 times a month if that. The Rokus are amazing little boxes that offer you so much more because of their extra channels (both private and public).They offer, I think, upwards of 60 or 70 channels now. I have been watching all the past episodes of HD Nation and Tekzilla on the Mediafly channel and they also look very good in HD. I can't say enough about what a great value these units are depending on what you're looking for.
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post #238 of 923
2/27/11 at 4:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Simandl View Post
So is there a way to add the free streaming movies to "Your Library" along with the movies we've paid for? I only see a link to "Watch Now," no adding to library unless we pay for them like non-Primers.
This is something I too was wondering about. It should be set up like Netflix "Instant Queue".
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post #239 of 923
2/27/11 at 7:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suntan View Post
So what do you get from them that makes Prime worth it? I mean, I can't say as I buy more than 10 items a year where Amazon is the best cost.

Not trying to make any point, just curious what people with prime actually use it for.

-Suntan
Some of us buy everything from Amaozn--well maybe not everything but for online stuff--and I buy a lot of online stuff--my first choice is always Amazon. I just signed up for Prime so now I can buy small things--like a discounted Blu Ray I want--and get it send for free with 2-day shipping--and now I can also watch their Prime movies and TV shows through my Roku. Prime is not for everyone but for those who already use Amazon a lot, it is a good deal.
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post #240 of 923
2/27/11 at 7:29am
I'm disabled, don't drive, and use Amazon for near all my purchases. For me, Amazon Prime makes sense.

I also have an Amazon Visa card. I get 3% off Amazon purchases, 2% on dining, and 1% on everything else. Since there is no annual fee, and I pay off the complete balance every month, the savings really add up. (Actually, you accumulate points, but once I hit 5,000, I have it set to take $50 off my bill.)

btw... I have never known a company with such a great return dept.
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