The big day has finally arrived, mates. Amazon Prime has launched in Australia, bringing with it all the riches and conveniences you’ve vaguely heard of from your American brethren.
Amazon’s subscription-based premium service, the flag the company flies the highest, is now here in Australia as of this morning.
The good news is that Australian shoppers are getting it at an absurdly cheaper price than US customers, which is somewhat unbelievable given the exchange rate and the general “everything is always more expensive here” thing we’ve got going on.
US users of the service currently pony up a cool US$119 for an annual subscription. However here in Australia, there’s a deal to be had.
Along with a free 30-day trial of the service, Australian users are only being asked to part with AUD$6.99 per month. That’s a total of AUD$59 per year. Well down on the cost of the American service across the pond. And, as an introductory offer, for punters who sign up prior to January 31 2019, that monthly price reduces down to a mere AUD$4.99 per month. Wild times.
The bad news? The service in Australia pales in comparison to its American counterpart.
While US customers on the service enjoy free same-day or next-day delivery on a raft of products, Amazon Prime in Australia is only offering customers two-day delivery, and even then that’s if they happen to live in Metropolitan centres. And even then that excludes Darwin.
Two-day business delivery, for the time being, is on offer to people living in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Canberra, and Hobart, as well as major regional centres like Albury-Wodonga, Bendigo, the Gold Coast, Gosford, Newcastle, Shepparton-Mooroopna, Toowoomba, Wagga Wagga, and a handful of others. In areas not covered by those, only five-day shipping is guaranteed by the service.
However, for international orders over $49, Prime is offering free shipping to Australian subscribers.
The service in Australia also gives punters access to the range of other benefits American users enjoy, like Prime Video and all the premium-produced series contained therein (think The Grand Tour, The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel, The Man in the High Castle, American Gods, and John Krasinski’s upcoming Jack Ryan), and premium access services for eReading, Twitch, and the bevy of exclusive offers the service boasts from time to time.
‘Course it’s all entirely limited by Amazon’s Australian marketplace, so the risk is yours to take.
If you’re keen to get around it, you can find all the vital details right here.
