The membership changed. Most guides didn't. Ads arrived on Prime Video. The annual price went up. Seven services the first edition of this book described have since been shut down - and Amazon has added more than it removed, most of it never switched on by the members already paying for it.
This is the 2026 Revised Edition : rewritten from scratch, not reprinted with a new date on the cover. Every price, threshold and rule was checked against Amazon's own pages, and confirmed on a live account wherever those pages disagreed with each other.
Answers to the questions people actually ask
Why am I being charged - and why am I still billed after I cancelled?
Which of the four plans should I be on, and do I qualify for a cheaper one?
How do I share Prime with my husband, and what doesn't get shared?
How do I find the free books I can borrow - and sort them by author or series?
What happens to my photos if I cancel?
Is Prime still worth it for someone who shops the way I do What's inside - 17 chapters, 18 screenshots, 46 step-by-step walkthroughs
Your membership: all four plans, billing, free trials, and cancelling without losing your refund
Amazon Household: one other adult, four child profiles, and the sharing rules that changed in 2025
Delivery: every speed, Amazon Day, No-Rush rewards, and why a promised date sometimes slips
Groceries: Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh and Same-Day, with every fee and threshold in one table
Deals: Prime Day and Big Deal Days, Lightning Deals, Subscribe & Save, coupons, and how to spot a raised list price
Prime Video: the ad tiers, watching on your TV, downloads, profiles and parental controls
Also included: Amazon Music, Prime Reading and First Reads, Prime Gaming, Amazon Photos, and Alexa+
Money benefits most members never switch on: fuel savings, food delivery, the Prime credit card, pharmacy savings
When something goes wrong: wrong charges, missing packages, a channel you can't find to cancel, and how to reach a human
Prime outside the United States: what differs in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, India and Japan Written in plain English, with numbered click-by-click steps and screenshots of the actual screens. Useful whether you joined last week, or have been paying for Prime for a decade and suspect you are using a fraction of it. Covers amazon.com (United States); prices are in US dollars. Chapter 16 is for readers elsewhere. An unofficial guide. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon.com, Inc.
