Why is Amazon Prime's pricing model so broken?

Narj · 3 Jan 2017 at 12:52

Hope this doesn't qualify as competitor speak as this is about the streaming service.

I have Prime mostly for deliveries but got a Fire Stick and thought I'd check out some stuff last night. Having a browse through the stuff that isn't included as part of the subscription, I'm astonished at how broken some of their pricing is.

Example: Game of Thrones Season 1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Season-Epi...3447613&sr=8-1&keywords=game+of+thrones+prime

Buy season one HD for £99.99!

or for £13.49 on Blu-Ray:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Game-Thron...7760&sr=8-2&keywords=game+of+thrones+season+1

What's going on? :eek:

Surely they can't have many takers for that? No wonder Kodi with particular plugins is so popular these days! :rolleyes:

Raymond Lin · 3 Jan 2017 at 12:55

One is for 6 seasons, the other just for season 1.

n111ck · 3 Jan 2017 at 12:55

Mis-price - it should be £99.99 for all 6 seasons.

Narj · 3 Jan 2017 at 12:56

n111ck said:
Mis-price - it should be £99.99 for all 6 seasons.

Well it says ~£100 in the GUI on the FireStick. This isn't the only series that's priced this way.

Unless my FireStick is going nuts, go check out the pricing within the Prime Video GUI... Maybe someone somewhere has messed something up!

Raymond Lin · 3 Jan 2017 at 12:57

The wording is contradictory on the site.

One part it says Season 1. Then next sentence it says all 6 seasons.

This special collection presents the first six thrilling seasons of this epic series based on the book series 'A Song of Ice and Fire' by George R.R. Martin.

Game of Thrones: Seasons 1-6 Bundle
This collection contains all 60 episodes from the first 6 Seasons of Game of Thrones.

Jokester · 3 Jan 2017 at 12:57

Still, you're £70 for the complete boxset on Blu-ray

Glaucus · 3 Jan 2017 at 12:59

as stated your comparing 1 series to 6 series.

secondly it has a lot to do with licensing. amazon cant just do what ever price they want.

Raymond Lin · 3 Jan 2017 at 12:59

Jokester said:
Still, you're £70 for the complete boxset on Blu-ray

Call it the price you pay to get it in your hands right now.

There is no rule saying digital has to be cheaper or less than physical copies, although that should be logical without the material, storage, physical distribution network but the pricing model for these are not the only thing out of whack. It happens in music too.

Narj · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:02

Fair enough, it seems someone definitely needs to look at their mispricing though as I found several broken ones last night where "buy series x" was a silly amount of cash.

Prime seems to be a way to lull you into paying for content because the selection of free streaming is pretty dire. Methinks I'll watch all the GT episodes on there and cancel tbh.

Martini1991 · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:02

Raymond Lin said:
Call it the price you pay to get it in your hands right now.

There is no rule saying digital has to be cheaper or less than physical copies, although that should be logical without the material, storage, physical distribution network but the pricing model for these are not the only thing out of whack. It happens in music too.

Wasn't the argument for going digital cheaper prices

?

Digital is a wreck, there's no way I'd consider it for actual purchasing
I'll stream with Netflix and tidal, but apart from steam everything I buy is physical.

Raymond Lin · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:04

Narj said:
Fair enough, it seems someone definitely needs to look at their mispricing though as I found several broken ones last night where "buy series x" was a silly amount of cash.

Prime seems to be a way to lull you into paying for content because the selection of free streaming is pretty dire. Methinks I'll watch all the GT episodes on there and cancel tbh.

I subscribe for the delivery.

Everything else is a bonus.

Em3bbs · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:04

Narj said:
Prime seems to be a way to lull you into paying for content because the selection of free streaming is pretty dire. Methinks I'll watch all the GT episodes on there and cancel tbh.

It's HBO content and nothing to do with your Prime membership. It would cost exactly the same if you weren't a Prime member.

It's a bit like blaming Sky because you have to pay separately for BT Sport.

Glaucus · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:04

Raymond Lin said:
I subscribe for the delivery.

Everything else is a bonus.

this and the free streaming is far from dire

Narj · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:09

Em3bbs said:
It's HBO content and nothing to do with your Prime membership. It would cost exactly the same if you weren't a Prime member.

It's a bit like blaming Sky because you have to pay separately for BT Sport.

Fair enough - I suppose it's easy to feel a bit narked at having all that stuff seemingly "available" when you search for it and then discovering you have to pay for it despite a subscription. I'm probably too used to US Netflix.

Glaucus · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:11

on the website at least you can just chose see only free for prime.

Narj · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:14

Glaucus said:
on the website at least you can just chose see only free for prime.

Seems you have to look in "Your Video" to have the same effective filter. Last night was a matter of *click* "oh..." *click* "oh..where is the free stuff?" until I discovered that. :S

Quite impressed with the firestick though. Pretty snappy for such a little thing.

Glaucus · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:15

ii found the complete opposite firestick is slow and horrible. don't even search using it. just fire up the amazon/netflix app on phone then have a full keyboard. cuts search time down.

dowie · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:16

I don't watch tv much but on NY day it was frustrating to find so much paid for stuff on there while browsing with my old PS3, is there a way to get rid of the paid content when doing that or is it only on the website. ''Tis just annoying to flick through, click on something, wait a second for the screen to load, see it is paid for... click to move back... then try again with another movie etc...

TheVoice · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:28

Martini1991 said:
Wasn't the argument for going digital cheaper prices ?

Not really, that was mostly just wishful thinking. Retailers have more control over pricing for physical media because it's an actual item with value.

dowie said:
I don't watch tv much but on NY day it was frustrating to find so much paid for stuff on there while browsing with my old PS3, is there a way to get rid of the paid content when doing that or is it only on the website

Assuming the PS3 app is the same as the rest, you can press a button to filter it to Prime content only.

Hades · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:49

Glaucus said:
ii found the complete opposite firestick is slow and horrible. don't even search using it. just fire up the amazon/netflix app on phone then have a full keyboard. cuts search time down.

I still do that most of the time. But there is also a useful Amazon Fire TV app for Android (and I assume iOS) which allow you to use your phone or tablet as a keyboard for the Fire TV stick.