What do you think of Amazon Family? Testers and non-testers can post feedback here - Amazon gift certificates up for grabs! NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the 20 Mumsnetters who were selected to test the Amazon Family programme.

If you're not a tester but have tried the Amazon Family programme, then we'd still love to hear from you. Everyone who shares their thoughts will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 Amazon gift certificate.

We'd like you to answer the following questions, but please feel free to add any other thoughts you have.

Q1. Have you ever shopped on Amazon.co.uk for baby or child-related products before this trial? If so, what items did you tend to buy?
Q 2. What is your overall opinion of Amazon Family? Is there anything in particular you like or dislike about it? This could be about the service itself or the products on offer.
Q3. Did you use the nappy subscription on offer? If so, what did you think of it?
Q 4. Did you use any of the exclusive offers? If so, which ones did you find most useful? If you didn't use any of the offers, why not?
Q 5. If it came up in conversation, would you recommend signing up to Amazon Family to a friend or family member? If so, why? If not, why not?

All testers who provide us with their feedback will be entered into a prize draw to win a £150 Amazon gift certificate.

Many thanks,

MNHQ

Non-tester here.

I need to buy pull ups for an older child, to supplement the nappies he gets on the NHS and Amazon family helps me to make considerable savings, since I spend about £30 every other month.

I was particularly pleased when they started giving the extra 10% off nappy subscriptions, though it's a shame the offer's not available on wipes, too.

I have on several occasions recommended Amazon and Amazon family to other people with kids with continence issues, since specialist sites are very expensive and not all supermarkets carry a wide range of bigger nappies, in reliable quantities, at consistently low prices.

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a Tester.

Q1. I have shopped on Amazon previsouly for baby and child related products which are all mainly toys and entertainment based.

Q 2. It was easy to sign upto and its great that Amazon are considering families when expanding their services, I do feel that this will help SOME parents who buy lots of things off amazon. I don't like that you HAVE to keep your debit details on the website, all it takes is someone to guess a password and they can easily buy whatever they want in your name. I didn't feel like there was much of a difference being a part of Amazon family than not, the exclusive deals are very specific and none were to my taste. And there isn't much in the way of products available to the S&S programme.

Q3.
I signed upto the Subscribe and Save and got an offer for a 156 Giga box of Pampers nappies. Again easy to sign upto and great that you could choose how often you want the nappies to be delivered (for free being a family/prime member). The nappies came 5 days before the expected delivery date too which was good. It said that the prices of nappies change so next month they could be more or less expensive. Im a bit funny with nappies, I don't like paying anymore than 10p per nappy. The box I got worked out at 9p per nappy after S&S which I was happy with but having keeping check on the nappies price it has already changed as the quantity in the Giga box of nappies has changed, bumping it up to 10p per nappy. I don't know if you get notified on the new price but I think in the long run, after paying for your yearly subscription you would be better off searching the net for deals unless you regularly buy of Amazon to make use of the free 1day posting.

Q 4. I havnt and will not be using any of the exclusive offers. None of the offers have appealed to me and there isn't anything that would be of interest to my children and nothing with a substantial saving to make me want to buy. Again, for the odd 10-20% discount given, you will probably find you can get this back via another site for the same products using a voucher code and/or cash back website.

Q 5. I would recommend signing up for the free Trial (particularly around christmas) as the free Prime delivery option is good and there are some good nappy deals to be had however it isn't made clear that you HAVE to join Amazon Prime to make use of the 20% off nappies offer (which is £49 per year after the free trial).

Quote:
To receive the 20% discount on nappies with Amazon Family, you need to have an active Amazon Prime membership and you need to set up a subscription for nappies using the Subscribe & Save programme.

Non-tester.

1. Frequently shop at Amazon for children's things such as sticker books, stationery, shoes such as crocs where exact fitting isn't important.
2. Haven't used Amazon family
3. I prefer to buy nappies as and when required. Also add them to online supermarket shop if I need to bump up to get free delivery.
4. Can't comment
5. No, requires you to sign up to Prime.

Q1. Have you ever shopped on Amazon.co.uk for baby or child-related products before this trial? If so, what items did you tend to buy?

Yes. We've bought toys, rockers, bottles, storybooks (you name it!) but not via Amazon Family. The fee put us off.

Q 2. What is your overall opinion of Amazon Family? Is there anything in particular you like or dislike about it? This could be about the service itself or the products on offer.

LOVE this free delivery with prime products (but it still hasn't arrived - ordered friday morning). OH got very excited at nappy prices.

Q3. Did you use the nappy subscription on offer? If so, what did you think of it?

We didn't. I'm newly pregnant so bought a pregnancy pillow instead as this is more urgent. We will be buying some this week though (though not with the voucher).

Q 4. Did you use any of the exclusive offers? If so, which ones did you find most useful? If you didn?t use any of the offers, why not?

Not yet although I'm sure we will. Will leave more feedback then.

Q 5. If it came up in conversation, would you recommend signing up to Amazon Family to a friend or family member? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes. For the nappy deals alone. I don't know why we didn't before.

Non-tester here but have tried Amazon family.

Q1. Have you ever shopped on Amazon.co.uk for baby or child-related products before this trial? If so, what items did you tend to buy?

Yes, far too many to list! Nappies, wipes, bottles, thermometer, monitor, stairgate, safety items, toys and books spring to mind.

Q 2. What is your overall opinion of Amazon Family? Is there anything in particular you like or dislike about it? This could be about the service itself or the products on offer.

I didn't want to pay to continue my trial. I had a problem being charged when a customer service person told me I wouldn't be. I had a screenshot of the conversation and received an apology plus free voucher from Amazon but it did give me concern. The Amazon customer service is generally very good though.

I did have an offer of a discount when I spent £50 (I think) but wasn't able to use it as a lot of baby items come via third party sellers and thy were excluded. This wasn't all that clear.

Q3. Did you use the nappy subscription on offer? If so, what did you think of it?

I did for a while but actually got them cheaper via a supermarket offer so I unsubscribed.

Q 4. Did you use any of the exclusive offers? If so, which ones did you find most useful? If you didn?t use any of the offers, why not?
None that suited

Q 5. If it came up in conversation, would you recommend signing up to Amazon Family to a friend or family member? If so, why? If not, why not?
I have recommended it at a baby group for the nappy subscription but thy only work out cheaper than supermarkets when you are on the free trial. Otherwise you may as well get them delivered to the door by the supermarket!

I'm using Amazon less and less now.

I was not a tester but have been saddened by the recent postage differences on the Amazon website as so many things are no longer free delivery.

Non-tester here...

I have considered signing up to subscribe to nappies and Dolce Gusto coffee pods from Amazon in the past. I haven't actually done it before though.

One big reason is that I do most of my weekly shopping in Tesco and I use the Clubcard Boost scheme to make my clubcard points worth twice as much if I spend them on stuff from the kids / baby section and this includes nappies, so I feel like this offers better value.

Also since I am only round the corner from the supermarket I don't worry about running out whereas I would be worried about missing the postman if I was waiting on essentials being delivered from Amazon and having a long slog to central post office and a long queue to pick them up.

Non tester here.

Amazon is at its best with letterbox sized items. We have bought loads of books, presents, jigsaws, replacement rechargable battries, craft kits, party invites, bulk birthday cards, thank-you cards. I don't see the attraction of amazon prime, unless Royal Mail can get the deliveies sorted out, or it is for letter box sized items.

The care now needed in P&P - because even if you go above £10, if its from other sellers, and its not easy to spilt amazon v other sellers at a search stage, you STILL have to pay massive P&P.

It is quicker for me to WALK to the supermarket to get what I want than to drive to the sorting office and wait in the massive queue. RM won't leave in a safe place or wioth a neighbour, dispite the leaflets asying they will now do so unless you opt out. Yodel and hermes are hit and miss on what you get.

We buy up nappies when the supermarket runs a deal (usually half price). Amazon can't beat this - I have looked, but why would I pay £50 to more expensive goods, that I can pick up on my weekly shop?

Non tester here,

Q1. I've shopped for toys on Amazon

Q2. I had a free Family subscription through another site but didn't buy a paid membership at the end of the period

Q3. No, I don't remember hearing about it to be honest

Q4. No, during the time period I had the free membership I wasn't ordering much so I didn't get the opportunity to use any of the offers.

Q5. I would suggest that they try a free membership and do the maths to see if a paid membership was worth it for the amount they order

Non tester here

I would just say that:

1. Yes, we have been buying toys, books, DVDS and music for the children since they were babies....

Q 2. What is your overall opinion of Amazon Family? Is there anything in particular you like or dislike about it? This could be about the service itself or the products on offer.

Well I think it's a bit short-sighted to assume that only those with babies/small children could be embraced by Amazon Family! I can tell you that as the children get older, they might not need nappies and baby equipment but they more than make up for it in toys/books/music/revision and text books/clothes etc....!

Think on Amazon!

Q3. Did you use the nappy subscription on offer? If so, what did you think of it?

N/A.

Q 4. Did you use any of the exclusive offers? If so, which ones did you find most useful? If you didn?t use any of the offers, why not?

N/A.

Q 5. If it came up in conversation, would you recommend signing up to Amazon Family to a friend or family member? If so, why? If not, why not?

Well from what I can see, it seems like a pretty good deal for those just starting their families and I probably would flag it up to friends/colleagues who were in this situation.

Just think Amazon that you could also attract a lot of families with older children, with possibly different offers/perks!

I'm not a tester and didn't apply because I have a toddler out of nappies.
Amazon Family seems to be a bit of a misnomer- really it's amazon baby isn't it?

It is a good offer though- the nappy subscription thing etc. We buy a lot of toys and books through Amazon but never bought groceries. If the price was right this is definitely something that we would have considered.

Non-tester here

Q1. Have you ever shopped on Amazon.co.uk for baby or child-related products before this trial? If so, what items did you tend to buy?
I'm currently nearly 34 weeks pregnant and so have been buying some stuff - mostly books on pregnancy/babies and a few bits and pieces up until these last few weeks

Q 2. What is your overall opinion of Amazon Family? Is there anything in particular you like or dislike about it? This could be about the service itself or the products on offer.
I've recently signed up to the trial three month subscription. I like the next day delivery but know that I will have to pay if I want that to continue so not sure I will do that. The offers could potentially be useful although none are at the moment

Q3. Did you use the nappy subscription on offer? If so, what did you think of it? Don't currently need nappies and I'm not sure what type we'll be using when the baby arrives so don't know if I will use it in the future.

Q 4. Did you use any of the exclusive offers? If so, which ones did you find most useful? If you didn?t use any of the offers, why not? None of the offers were useful at the moment. They may be in the future and I can see that they might be if birthdays/Christmas was approaching. I will keep checking

Q 5. If it came up in conversation, would you recommend signing up to Amazon Family to a friend or family member? If so, why? If not, why not? I might tell them about it, particularly if they were using nappies, but I don't think I would recommend it at the moment. It doesn't seem to offer much better value than supermarkets at the moment.

Non tester here, I signed up last year when there was a free prime offer.

Q1. Have you ever shopped on Amazon.co.uk for baby or child-related products before this trial? If so, what items did you tend to buy?

Yes - toys/books usually, occasionally equipment, most recently car seats

Q 2. What is your overall opinion of Amazon Family? Is there anything in particular you like or dislike about it? This could be about the service itself or the products on offer.

I thought it would be better/more useful than it was. The fact that the offers are only on v specific things and often seemed to be aimed at parents with new babies as opposed to 'families' with varying ages so weren't useful to me. The Prime service was great on the trial and if I could afford it I would definitely have continued that. The Amazon family I only seem to receive offers very occasionally and as I said they don't seem to be targeted or useful. I have a 4yo and a 1yo and expected it to be ideally suited to my family but it wasn't. In comparison with something like the tesco baby club where I get regular age appropriate mailings and vouchers/offers based on my purchases/ages of my children.

Q3. Did you use the nappy subscription on offer? If so, what did you think of it?

No - I can get nappies cheaper/easier in tescos. Especially with club card points.

Q 4. Did you use any of the exclusive offers? If so, which ones did you find most useful? If you didn?t use any of the offers, why not?

No - see answer above, most were totally irrelevant to me and those that weren't were not very good offers or had restrictions such as min spend/number and weren't useful to me.

Q 5. If it came up in conversation, would you recommend signing up to Amazon Family to a friend or family member? If so, why? If not, why not?

Only if there was a special opening offer such as the prime trial otherwise I would say it wasn't really worth bothering with as none of the offers have been useful. I had high hopes of it as I use amazon quite a lot but it hasn't really been relevant.

Amazon is my first port of call for anything and everything. Sometimes when I'm bored I just go on and buy something small with free delivery so that I have something to look forward to arriving in the amazon box a few days later. I think I'll go get some new dummies now....lol.

Non-tester here.

Q1. I have bought toys and books on Amazon before.

Q 2. Looks like a good idea and I have had a free trial but didn't find it appealing enough to stay a member.
Q3. No
Q 4. No - none of the offers appealed. they were all for very specific products, none of which I was interested in.
Q 5. Probably not. I would suggest doing a free trial but wouldn't say to pay for it as I didn't think it was worthwhile - others do and will feel differently though.

Non tester, who has had Amazon Prime for what seems like forever, and love it. One way I use it is to help my elderly, frail parents who are always needing stuff, and I can get incontinence pads, crutches (when the hospital lost mums and said it would be weeks for new ones) and most recently microwaves after two got blown up in a month.
I know others use it this way for their older family and its a lifeline.

I used cloth nappies, so wouldn't have used a nappy or wipe subscription, but buy books etc very regularly for ds and my nephews/nieces

MNHQ - did you realise you said both £100 and £150 amounts in your OP. You might want to clarify

Non-tester.

Q1. Have you ever shopped on Amazon.co.uk for baby or child-related products before this trial? If so, what items did you tend to buy?
Have never used Amazon family but have bought games, books, toys previously from them.

Q 2. What is your overall opinion of Amazon Family? Is there anything in particular you like or dislike about it? This could be about the service itself or the products on offer.
It is definitely meant to be for smaller children - what about us parents with older children? We need discounts/offers too.

Q3. Did you use the nappy subscription on offer? If so, what did you think of it?
No, DCs are older.

Q 4. Did you use any of the exclusive offers? If so, which ones did you find most useful? If you didn't use any of the offers, why not?
No, not suitable.

Q 5. If it came up in conversation, would you recommend signing up to Amazon Family to a friend or family member? If so, why? If not, why not?
Perhaps, more offers needed for older children please

not a tester

Q1. Have you ever shopped on Amazon.co.uk for baby or child-related products before this trial? If so, what items did you tend to buy? some food stuff that we can't get in the supermarket, toys and books, toddler suncream that his sensitive skin doesn't react to.
Q 2. What is your overall opinion of Amazon Family? Is there anything in particular you like or dislike about it? This could be about the service itself or the products on offer. the offers didn't seem sufficiently appealing to make it worthwhile, we can get most stuff cheaper elsewhere
Q3. Did you use the nappy subscription on offer? If so, what did you think of it? no - because we used reusables
Q 4. Did you use any of the exclusive offers? If so, which ones did you find most useful? If you didn't use any of the offers, why not? no, none really seemed appealing
Q 5. If it came up in conversation, would you recommend signing up to Amazon Family to a friend or family member? If so, why? If not, why not? I might tell them it existed but I think it depends what you are buying from amazon whether it is really worthwhile

I'm not a tester but I joined Amazon Family last year. Had a free trial of Prime too which I loved for the free delivery but couldn't really afford to renew.

Q1. I've used Amazon loads for books and toys, got a potty and bath stuff too.
Q 2. I've no strong feelings either way to be honest. Don't think it's particularly amazing but would use a good offer if I saw one.
Q3. I didn't use it as we were down to nighttime nappies only, I think I would have if I'd seen it when she was newborn.
Q 4. No, didn't see anything I fancied. If there had been an offer for something I was going to buy anyway ten I would (will keep my eyes peele at Christmas!)
Q 5. Probably if it came up for the subscription services. And I'd reccomend amazon prime even though I can't afford it!

Non-tester.

Q1. Have you ever shopped on Amazon.co.uk for baby or child-related products before this trial? If so, what items did you tend to buy?
I probably do around 80% of my internet shopping on amazon. I'm a big fan! I previously enrolled in a 3 month trial of amazon family and bought a play pen/hearth guard, several toys, books and weaning aids.

Q 2. What is your overall opinion of Amazon Family? Is there anything in particular you like or dislike about it? This could be about the service itself or the products on offer.
I like the way it is bundled with prime/free delivery, especially as now you have to pay postage for smaller orders.

Q3. Did you use the nappy subscription on offer? If so, what did you think of it?
No, I use washable nappies

Q 4. Did you use any of the exclusive offers? If so, which ones did you find most useful? If you didn't use any of the offers, why not?
I didn't as I had pretty much everything I needed by the time I signed up. However I did use the £10 discount to buy an expensive hearth guard.

Q 5. If it came up in conversation, would you recommend signing up to Amazon Family to a friend or family member? If so, why? If not, why not?
I would recommend signing up to the trial period if you know you are going to be doing a lot of online shopping, particuarly around Christmas!! Also if you are expecting a baby it is a good way of getting all the bits and pieces you need at a bit of a discount.

Q1 ) no I didn't really buy baby products on amazon before joining amazon family

Q 2) I liked amazon family for the initial discount and found the amazon prime delivery to be very good but once the initial deals were used up the monthly deals are not that great. The products that the discount is on are expensive comparatively to other shops

Q3) I didn't use the nappy subscription as I found asda to be cheaper for Huggies (the brand I used when I trialled amazon family)

Q4) I used the discount on a high chair but only really used the amazon prime delivery as the discount was not on products I needed at the time

Q5) yes I would recommend amazon family as some of the discounts are good plus it is useful for people without large, local shops

Non tester.

Q1. Have you ever shopped on Amazon.co.uk for baby or child-related products before this trial? If so, what items did you tend to buy?

Yes - loads, particularly toys.

Q 2. What is your overall opinion of Amazon Family? Is there anything in particular you like or dislike about it? This could be about the service itself or the products on offer.

I get the emails but I keep meaning to unsubscribe to them as they are too frequent and not particularly interesting.

Q3. Did you use the nappy subscription on offer? If so, what did you think of it?

No, I buy nappies from either Aldi or Asda as they're cheaper and good.

Q 4. Did you use any of the exclusive offers? If so, which ones did you find most useful? If you didn't use any of the offers, why not?

I bought one item (doppler thing).

Q 5. If it came up in conversation, would you recommend signing up to Amazon Family to a friend or family member? If so, why? If not, why not?

No, it's not really very exciting imo.

I was lucky enough to be chosen.

Q1: I've used amazon for baby things before, mainly toys, books, pushchair.

Q2: I found amazon family to be good value especially nappies and wipes which I hadn't thought to look for on amazon before. The next day delivery is great if you need something fast, would have been great to have it when DD1 was invited to a party last minute.

Q3: Yes I used subscribe and save for nappies. It saved me a small fortune as I go through a lot of nappies and wipes with DD2, 2yo and DS2, 10months. The 20% off all subscriptions (except nappies as you get that anyway) when getting 5 in one month was a good saving too. Also saves lugging nappies back from the shops as I don't drive.

Q4: I didn't use any of the special offers as I didn't need/use any of the products. I would use them if they were relevant to me though.

Q5: I would definitely recommend amazon family and amazon in general as there is a wide range of products and good savings. I've also had great customer service in the past - especially when the double pushchair I bought broke after three months use, I was refunded with no problems and was able to replace it.

I'm glad I was chosen for the trial a I'd not heard of amazon family or subscribe and save before and it will save me a small fortune.