Amazon Prime members to face extra charge next month: Find out how you can avoid the new £1.99 fee

22 August 2023, 08:23 | Updated: 22 August 2023, 08:25

By EJ Ward

Amazon Prime members will soon face an extra charge from next month for same-day delivery.

Customers will face an extra £1.99 fee if their order is below the new minimum threshold of £20. This is on top of their £8.99 a month subscription fee.

The retailer has said the changes will come into place from 18 September and customers have been informed of the new charge via email.

The email said the majority of Prime members currently receive most of their orders with One-Day delivery, while free Same-Day delivery can be manually selected for eligible orders.

But, the retailer said from 18 September 2023:

"Your Prime Same-Day or Overnight (Tomorrow by 1 PM) orders over £20 will automatically be delivered to you using the fastest available option, at no extra cost. This means that where available, you will get eligible orders delivered for free on the same day or by 1PM the following day, depending on when you place your order.

"Eligible Prime orders under £20 will continue to be shipped with free One-Day delivery. Where available, Same-Day delivery can be selected at checkout, but there will be a fee of £1.99 per delivery for orders under £20. The fee for customers who are not Prime members will remain £5.99."

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The email reads: "Same-day delivery can be selected at checkout, but there will be a fee of £1.99 per delivery for orders under £20.

"The fee for customers who are not Prime members will remain £5.99."

All other Prime orders will not come with an additional charge.

Amazon Prime customers have previously been able to get free same-day delivery on eligible items, provided the order is placed by 12pm, or 1pm in Scotland.

The service operates “most days of the year”, and the order deadline is earlier on certain holidays and busy shopping days.

A spokesperson for Amazon said: “Prime members enjoy fast, free One-Day Delivery on millions of items.

"We are constantly innovating to deliver a wide selection of great value products at the fastest speeds, and more than a million items are now available for Same-Day Delivery in the UK.

"Prime Members can receive Same-Day deliveries where available for free on select orders over £20, or for £1.99 if the total order is below £20.

“All orders will now be delivered to Prime members with the fastest available free option by default.”