fluffy rambles: Prime Wardrobe: what the heck is the point?

Prime Wardrobe: what the heck is the point?

September 14, 2018 1:25 PM (5 years ago)

So, I’ve been trying to find some nice dress shoes. I have pretty big feet for someone of my height and gender, so local shoe stores never actually have anything in my size in a style that I like. So, for this I still use Amazon, since I still have Prime for the next month or so anyway. (I do not plan on renewing after this year.)

One thing that Amazon keeps on pushing is Prime Wardrobe (affiliate link), where they heavily advertise that with a Prime membership you can now try-before-you-buy and have 7 days to decide which things to keep. Which is already a bit silly because with normal Prime you already have something like 30 days to return a thing you don’t want.

But then I also noticed another thing: on many items, the Prime Wardrobe price is significantly higher than the regular Prime price. For example, on these Dansko Flats (affiliate link), the Prime price is $50 but the Prime Wardrobe price is $98, and you have to order at least three items to be eligible for this pricing. All under the auspices of it being “free.”

So you’re paying more for the privilege of having a shorter return window? How the hell does that make any sense?

The only justification I can see for this is that with Wardrobe you aren’t paying until after the 7 day period ends, but that’s basically giving you 7 days of credit. Which is… not really a selling point? Especially when the credit card you’re going to be putting it on already gives you a 30-day credit window?

How does this benefit anyone, except for Amazon’s pocket?

And for them to sell this as a new feature that’s an added bonus to Prime (presumably as part of Amazon’s justification to keep raising the price of Prime because of all these new features that nobody even uses) is just an insult.

So anyway. If you shop at Amazon, don’t assume they have your best interests at heart as a customer. They are transparently manipulating you into spending more money for literally nothing.