# Amazon Free Shipping: Is This Common? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 30, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-is-this-common/569574 "2011-01-30T23:38:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-is-this-common/569574/41 "2011-02-03T01:34:36Z")
Once in a great while Amazon screws up. Not often. I ordered a bunch of books from them to give to the panel at a conference, well in advance. Nothing, nothing, nothing, and when I checked my order I got an error. It turned out they had canceled it without bothering to send me an email about it. Around Christmas time they used to give you stretched out dates for free shipping, to get you to upgrade, I suppose. They always beat the estimated delivery dates. This, year, though they didn’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-is-this-common/569574/42 "2011-02-03T01:51:10Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > FYI, if you have access to a .edu email address, you can get Amazon Prime free for a year. > > I just signed up for it a few weeks ago, sent an order in, and it worked nicely. > > [Link](http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info) > mmm I’ve got the .edu address, but I’m not a student. Maybe I can take an adult-Ed class. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-is-this-common/569574/43 "2011-02-03T02:14:46Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > I’ve got the .edu address, but I’m not a student. Maybe I can take an adult-Ed class. Not that I’m _sayin’_, but… I’m just sayin’ that the .edu address is all that matters. You sign up, giving them your .edu email address (and no, you don’t need to set that email to be your Amazon account email) and they send a link to that email, which you then need to click on to activate. No need to show your class schedule or anything. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-is-this-common/569574/44 "2011-02-03T02:26:37Z")
Have you guys actually used your .edu and are non students and it works? My future MIL loves Amazon but doens’t like waiting to hit $25; if I can sign her up with her email I’m certain she’d use it more (she doesn’t like going into the SO’s Amazon account). ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-is-this-common/569574/45 "2011-02-03T03:07:22Z")
Well, I’m a grad student, so I actually DO qualify. 😃 I hunted around a bit to double check, and I guess it’d depend on if your mom would want to just try. 😉 Basically, you need to tell them the state you’re attending school in, level and major. Alumni emails won’t work (I guess some unis give yournamehere@alumni.uni.edu and those don’t work. But if you just have yournamehere@uni.edu it’s okay). So if she wants to fib, she’d _probably_ be fine (I really doubt Amazon has time to audit people) and it seems like even if they did find out, she would just have to repay the prime membership fee. So, I guess it depends on if she would want to risk it. I know some people definitely wouldn’t and others definitely would, so hey. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-is-this-common/569574/46 "2011-02-03T10:51:25Z")
I nearly always get things from Amazon within two days, unless they’re shipping from Jersey or somewhere (for some reason DVDs and CDs have been coming from Jersey for the past month or two - due to the VAT rise, I wonder?). But I’ve never waited more than five working days for something. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-is-this-common/569574/47 "2011-02-03T18:21:44Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > So if she wants to fib, she’d _probably_ be fine (I really doubt Amazon has time to audit people) and it seems like even if they did find out, she would just have to repay the prime membership fee. So, I guess it depends on if she would want to risk it. I know some people definitely wouldn’t and others definitely would, so hey. Yeah, wouldn’t wanna risk it because she wouldn’t use it enough to justify the possible $80 slam. She’s staff. Thanks for the info though! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-is-this-common/569574/48 "2011-02-03T22:52:12Z")
So? Contact them & gripe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-is-this-common/569574.md?page=2)