Amazon.com (AMZN -2.55%) announced today that it has raised the minimum order size for its Free Super Saver Shipping promotion from $25 to $35. The company highlighted that this was the first time in more than a decade that it had changed the minimum order requirement to qualify for free shipping.
When Super Saver Shipping was first announced in January 2002, it counted only for orders of more than $99. In June of that same year, Amazon announced that it would test free shipping on orders of $49, and then in August it lowered the test to $25. That October, it declared that the test would continue through the holidays, and finally, in January 2003, it announced that Super Saver shipping would continue year-round.
The company noted that while this is the first price raise since 2003, since then it has "expanded free shipping selection by millions of items across all 40 product categories."
Julie Law of Amazon public relations confirmed that the change to the Super Saver shipping is effective today.