Amazon resumes monthly Prime membership worth Rs 129 with payment restrictions

Amazon Prime memberships' monthly pack has been resumed by the e-commerce company. The monthly pack is priced at Rs 129 per month and provides subscribers with benefits such as free shipping on eligible orders, bundles music streaming and OTT services as well. However, users will not be able to opt for the monthly subscription pack of Amazon Prime services by using all electronic methods, and it can only be purchased through credit card or debit card payments. 

While Amazon discontinued the monthly Prime membership subscription in India earlier this year, the subscription pack is back. The bundled service subscription Prime's monthly pack was removed by Amazon after the Reserve Bank of India asked for implementing an additional factor of authentication for repetitive online transactions. While the RBI guidelines still hold, the pack cannot be bought using electronic payments services such as UPI. 

Users can only pay for the monthly subscription using credit/debit cards of compliant banks 

The terms and conditions page on amazon clearly mentions that Rs 129 per month membership can only be bought through credit and debit card services provided by the banks that comply with RBI's e-mandate guidelines. Additionally, the page also mentions that effective October 1, 2021, member's banks may not be able to process any requests for automated payments on their credit/debit cards unless it complies with RBI’s e-mandate guidelines. Therefore, Amazon has temporarily discontinued new member sign-ups for Amazon Prime Free Trial until further notice.

Amazon Prime membership available in three packs

Amazon now offers three Prime subscriptions that start from Rs 129 per month. The three-month plan is available at a discounted price of Rs 329, instead of Rs 387. And the yearly plan is priced at Rs 999, instead of Rs 1,548 (calculated by multiplying the cost of monthly subscriptions by twelve). While the latter two plans can be purchased with all electronic methods, including credit/debit cards and UPI, the monthly membership has some restrictions, as mentioned earlier. 

On the official Amazon Help webpage, the company says that Prime "Membership is provided on a subscription basis, and a customer is required to make periodic payments to continue to avail the services and the benefits of the Membership. The Membership may be offered under different plans for varying durations, such as monthly or annual, as may be determined by the entity offering the Membership. You may opt for any Membership plan offered, subject to the terms and conditions of the Membership."

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