Amazon Won't Sell Certain Games To Non-Prime Customers

Amazon Prime has a lot of benefits that I personally enjoy. However, the $99 per year price tag can be a bit steep, and not everyone cares enough about the benefits to shell out that much money. Well it seems that if you're not interested in picking up a Prime subscription, Amazon doesn't want to sell you certain video games anymore.

Very recently, some non-Prime users have noticed that when they are browsing Amazon for their favorite games, some of them are now unavailable for purchase. In place of the "Add to Cart" button, there is a message letting them know that the product is "Exclusively for Prime Members." Amazon generously gives them the option to try Prime free for 30 days, in order to let them go ahead with the purchase.

Now it should be pointed out that you can still buy games such as GTA V (which shows as being exclusively for Prime members). The trick is that you can't buy it directly from Amazon. Since many sellers may list the same product, Amazon does show you some of the other sellers, which you can choose to purchase the game from.

Naturally, when comparing prices with the other sellers, the closes price for a new copy of the game was $10 more than Amazon's own listing. Even a used copy sells for more, when you factor in shipping.

It's not immediately clear why Amazon has chosen to stop selling some games directly to customers who don't have a Prime subscription. But I hope it's a trend that doesn't catch on within the company. I'm a big fan of Amazon, and I've been a Prime subscriber since the start. But this kind of practice is bound to have a negative response from many non-subscribing customers.

VIA: VideoGamer