Amazon Prime Price Jumps to $99 on April 17th

The premium service sees a 25 percent price bump to offset low Amazon earnings.

Amazon is officially raising the annual fee for its premium Amazon Prime service from $79 to $99 a year.

The 25 percent-ish price hike will help Amazon offset lower than expected earnings from 2013.

If your Amazon Prime subscription renews on or after April 17th, the yearly price will be $99. Those of you (myself included) who renew before April 17th get to stick with the $79 annual cost until 2015.

Amazon Prime Student is also seeing a jump from $39 a year to $49 (in other words, 50 percent off $99 instead of $79), while the $299 price tag on Amazon Fresh will not change. Prime services also remain unchanged, so free two-day shipping, Prime Instant Video, and the Kindle book borrowing are sticking around.

Are you an avid Prime user? And how will the price hike affect your relationship with Amazon? Let us know in the forum.