I contacted Amazon via chat to ask if I could get Amazon Prime Student twice. Since my Prime Student membership recently expired, I asked the Amazon customer service representative if grad school makes me eligible for Prime Student membership again. Here’s what they told me.
Can You Get Amazon Prime Student Twice?
No. According to an Amazon customer service representative, Prime Student membership is exclusively designed for a limited period of four years only. Once the four-year maximum period is reached, Amazon will not extend your student membership. Therefore, attending graduate school will not extend your Prime Student membership.
Below is the full transcript of the conversation that I had with the Amazon customer service representative. Not sure if her name was Priya or Kota. Either way, she does a good job of explaining that Prime Student is not extendable after four years.
How Long Is Amazon Student Membership?
According to Amazon Prime Student documentation
After your 6-month trial ends, your Prime Student membership makes you eligible to receive a discount on Amazon Prime, including all Prime benefits, for four years or until you graduate, whichever comes first.
Documentation also states that your eligibility for Amazon Student membership ends after you graduate. However, I am not aware of any system that Amazon has in place that enforces this eligibility. The only way Amazon checks to see if you are a college student is by sending a verification email to your .edu email address. Even if you don’t have a .edu email address, you can still enroll in Prime Student another way
Therefore, there is no penalty, that I am aware of, for using your student membership after you graduate. This, of course, is only if your membership didn’t already expire by the time you graduate.
What Can You Do?
It seems like there is no hope for getting Prime Student twice. Not only did the customer service rep say no, but the terms clearly state that Prime Student membership eligibility is only 4 years.
Although regular membership costs twice as much at $119/year, this price is still worth the numerous Prime benefits. Two day shipping, same day delivery, two hour delivery! In addition, there’s Prime Video and Music, Whole Foods savings, and so much more
As a result, we can only reminisce on the four wonderful years of our Amazon Prime Student discount. And for those of you who still have the student discount, cherish it because you will soon join the rest of us Prime members who pay full price.
If you have any questions, let me know below in the comments below. Also, check out some of my other Amazon blog posts here.
Honestly, this reads like it was written by an Amazon employee and not a graduate student. Pretty much every path to a PhD takes far longer than 4 years from beginning to end, and so this “deal” deliberately excludes any graduate student who is trying for their PhD.
Totally agree about it being a crappy deal. For the record, I’m not an Amazon employee… interviewed there twice but never got the job 🙁
See your point. However it is not a bad deal. They are clear this is for four years only. There is no indication it is for the duration of educational studies. They clearly state the length of the program. What is to stop you from claiming it for grad school then an extension to medical school and maybe you decide to get an MBA. This is a benefit they offer with a limited duration.
Why not just make a new account, and get another 4 years?
James makes the key point here.
The account is based on an email address. Different school for your graduate program than undergrad? Different email address.
Different email address -> new account -> 4 years of benefits from the start of that account. I mean yes, say your PI/mentor/advisor (whatever program you do) is a jerk and you don’t get out of there for 6 years, then you’d be on the hook at full pop for 2 years. But hey, maybe right in the middle of it all, your institution will decide they should switch from outlook to gmail… lucky you.
In theory sure you can use a new email, but once they see someone using the same exact card, same exact name (they don’t just go by email they ask for your transcripts), etc they will simply terminate your new account.
i’ve used the same name and card before and I did not get banned. There can be multiple people who have the same name and use the same card.
It’s technically possible. You can even ask your school to make a new email address for you. But that doesn’t make it right. What if you later want to work for Amazon and they found your dishonesty record? It is unlikely but could be the most expensive $60 you could save.
just make a new account!
I’m in the UK, I graduated from university in 2011. I first registered with Amazon in 2010 with ‘Student Prime’. 10 years later and I’m still paying for the same service at the discounted rate of £39 a year.
Care to explain how you pulled this off?
@Joe Bloggs How did you do that. I was using the amazon prime student for 4 years and that ran out like 2 years ago. I’m back again in education so I am trying to reinstate Prime Student to save £40 form the already paid £79 annual membership.