Likely aiming at challenges from retail rivals like Target and BestBuy, Amazon announced a significant change to its shipping policies. From now and onward for a “limited time” all items will ship for free on Amazon, for everyone, with no minimum purchase required.
Though the “limited time”doesn’t set specific start and end dates, it marks the first time that Amazon is changing its policies in favor of online shoppers not paying for Prime memberships. Now, the millions of items shipping for Christmas should arrive at the doorsteps of eager shoppers within five to eight days, without extra charge.
Prime members, however, will continue to enjoy the same two-day delivery, same day shipping on up to 3 million items, and tons of other benefits also at no extra cost.
“This holiday, customers can enjoy free shipping with no minimum purchase amount on orders that will arrive in time for Christmas, including items from Amazon’s expertly curated Gift Guides across electronics, fashion, home, and toys,” Amazon said.
Items eligible under this change are sold by both Amazon and also third-party sellers. All it takes to get started it to add eligible items to a shopping cart, and then ensure that it is marked with the “Free Shipping” message on the product detail page. You can then select “Group my items into as few shipments” and select “Free Shipping,” to have the items arrive before Christmas and within the five- to eight-day period.
“With hundreds of millions of items available for free shipping to all Amazon customers and more than three million items available with Prime Free Same-Day Delivery, customers can enjoy the largest selection of items that are fast and free,” Amazon said.
Target recently announced that it would be offering free two-day shipping for all customers through December 22 and Best Buy also has no limits for its shipping. Along with free shipping, both of those retailers have their own sales planned for Black Friday and the holidays. Target is offering sales on the Xbox One X, and other electronics, and Best Buy is likely to offer some of the same discounts. Amazon, too, has its own promotions in store and is currently holding an early Black Friday deals event.
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