1. Amazon Prime is expensive

If you pay your Amazon Prime membership annually, (which is the most cost-effective option), you’re shelling out $139 each year. If you pay monthly, you’re paying $14.99 a month, or about $180/year. At that price, you might ask yourself, how much are you really using Amazon Prime — and how much value are you gleaning from it?

“Because the membership has so many perks, one might assume that it’s worth it,” says Trae Bodge, smart shopping expert at True Trae.

Try free for 30 days Amazon Prime If you’re a new subscriber, you can try Amazon Prime free for 30 days to see if it’s the right fit for you.

“For me, because I take advantage of many of the benefits, including free two-day shipping for my frequent purchases, and enjoy the video, music and book content, I have no question that it’s worth it. But if you do not shop frequently online, or don’t use any of the many perks, it may not be.”

Not sure you’re getting your money’s worth? Check out the 35 best Amazon Prime benefits to use in 2025. There’s likely perks you don’t even know exist.

Amazon also makes it easy to track how much you’ve spent and what items you’ve purchased (a gimmick that also works to Amazon’s advantage when you want to reorder an item).

Click on “Returns & Orders” at the top of the Amazon home page after you sign in. It defaults to your orders for the last three months. On that drop-down list, you can choose yearly time frames. You can also search for an item, say pants, and you’ll see only those orders.

It’s the more frivolous items — the things you probably wouldn’t pick up in a physical store or if they hadn’t come with free shipping — that can really add up.

So here’s the question? Is having Amazon Prime causing you to spend too much at Amazon throughout the year? That’s just one key reason you might ask yourself: “Do I need Amazon Prime?”

We are excited for Prime members to discover some of Amazon’s

best deals of the summer

during

Amazon’s Prime Day event happening July 8-11

! Prime Day is returning on July 8, with four days of big deals and huge savings across more than 35 categories. But if you’re eager to start shopping now, we’ve got good news: You don’t have to wait.

Prime members

can unlock incredible savings—weeks before Prime Day begins.