Amazon now lets customers give Prime subscriptions as gifts

Amazon Prime has been around for years, so it may come as some surprise that before today customers couldn’t gift subscriptions to friends and family. But that’s finally changed. The online retailer now lets you pay the annual $79 fee on behalf of someone else, and pick a day when they’ll receive an email notification of their gifted membership. Of course, that nets the lucky recipient all the perks of Prime, including free two-day shipping, $3.99 overnight deliveries, and access to Amazon Prime Instant Video. And while it’s not the most original or thoughtful holiday gift, we doubt you’ll find many people who would complain about getting a free year of Prime. If you’ve already got someone in mind, visiting amazon.com/giftprime is all it takes to get started.