How to give Amazon Prime as a gift – CNET

Something that is a given in my life is almost anything I could possibly need is, at most, two days away with free shipping. Sometimes those items arrive the very same day.

Once you become accustomed to it, Amazon Prime is something that’s difficult to go without. There are now so many facets to it — free two-day shipping on most items, free Kindle books, unlimited movie and TV streaming, unlimited photo storage, limited music streaming and, not to mention, exclusive deals — that its $99 annual fee almost seems paltry.

Now Playing: Watch this: Amazon Prime packs new perks, discount membership

That’s what also makes it a fantastic gift idea for your loved ones. It’s a moderately priced gift with tons of value. It’s as universal as a gift card, but it’s a gift that will keep on giving for three or 12 months.

If you’ve been considering giving the gift of Amazon Prime to a loved one this holiday season, here’s how to do it.

You may have a difficult time locating a way to gift a Prime membership by browsing around Amazon. Oddly, there are no mentions of it on the homepage. But there are three ways to get to the landing page for giving the gift of Prime:

• Go to amazon.com and search for “Gift of Prime.”
• Click this link, which will take you directly to it.
• Google search for “Give the gift of Prime” and the first few search result links should lead you to the landing page.

Once there, you have only two options: you can gift a three-month membership for $33 or 12-months for $99. Select one and click Add Prime To Cart. As you go through the checkout process, you will be prompted to enter the recipient’s email address (or your own, so you can forward the email at a later date), select a delivery date and enter a personalized message.

After the membership is redeemed by the recipient, they will be able to take advantage of all the Prime membership benefits.

If the recipient happens to already have a Prime membership, they can choose to exchange the membership for a gift card of equal value. Once expired, the gifted Prime membership will not automatically renew.