Is it really useful to have a membership in online shopping sites ?

Like in offline shopping, membership in online shopping sites also have lot of advantages. To put in an another way it is in online shopping sites , the membership is worthy to take.  You can save lot of money by having these memberships in online shopping sites. Let us consider the membership in two major online shopping sites in India.

1. Amazon Prime.
2. Flipkart First.

Amazon Prime.

At Rs 499 Amazon prime is a good choice for those who are staying in cities and tier 1 towns. It has same advantages for small town customers also but at the expense of few more extra days for delivery. If you are in cities you can avail the same day delivery and two day delivery option which is very luring for the fact that even if you want to buy something in offline in your city you need to go there by spending some bucks which you can actually save by Amazon at discounted price.

Keep the delivery part aside, with this Amazon prime membership you are allowed to access prime videos for a span of one year which is actually cool, Flipkart doesn't have this facility. This is where Amazon has clear upper hand. Hold on there , now Amazon is entering into Prime music services also. Also you can access  all lightning deals 30 minutes before non prime members. So no doubt it will be a tough fight between the shopping sites.But like in Flipkart first membership Amazon prime doesn't refund the membership amount on pro rota basis if you are willing to end your membership. Amazon will refund full amount only if you have not utilized their Prime benefits. If you have utilized Prime benefits then at the time of termination Amazon will withhold your Prime benefits cost from your refund.

Flipkart First.

Flipkart First membership comes at almost equal price (Rs 500/-) as that of Amazon Prime membership. Most of the features of Flipkart first are similar to that of Amazon Prime membership. You can get same day/two day delivery option on selected items in specific pin codes.  It doesn't offer any free video services like Amazon Prime Video, this is a serious drawback. Also the customer support is better in Amazon when compared to Flipkart. Only advantage of Flipkart first membership benefit over Amazon Prime membership is that termination of membership. Flipkart will refund your money on a pro rota basis. It means they will calculate your refund on the basis of how many months you have utilized their service. For example if you have utilized 5 months membership in Flipkart then your refund will be (12-5)*500/12 rupees.

Overall verdict

We prefer Amazon Prime membership over Flipkart membership, given the fact that they offer free video services, swift delivery timings and very good customer support.