Amazon alters free delivery rules

Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 12:00 by Graham Miller

Amazon's Super Saver delivery option has been popular for some time because it effectively allows you to buy any item, no matter how inexpensive and get it sent to your home without having to pay a penny extra for the privilege.

That is until now, since Amazon has announced this week that it is imposing a 10 minimum spend before an order made online is eligible for free delivery, according to TechRadar.

Interestingly, this approach is not applicable across every product category, with DVDs, Blu-Rays and videogames all being exempt. That means you can buy one of these items for under a tenner and Amazon will still let you pick free delivery.

The obvious reason behind this choice is that Amazon makes a lot of money from sales of home entertainment and so would be foolish to charge customers more. In addition, DVDs and games are small and light, so postage costs are not significant anyway.

Of course, mainstream retailers who operate in the high street and via safe shopping online might find that they are able to benefit from boosted sales as a result of this decision, because until now, it has been tough to compete with Amazon's bargain basement business model.

The combination of low prices and free delivery on everything has put the squeeze on bricks and mortar retailers, but with this change in the rules, there might be more incentive for consumers to shop around elsewhere.

Amazon confirmed that those who are paying the 49 annual subscription to its Prime service will still get free delivery wherever it is applicable, so things have not changed across the board.

Amazon's rivals may follow suit if this change to delivery charges proves to be popular and the company itself believes that it will be able to offer an even wider array of cheap items as a result of the move.