They Got Me on the Upsell

One of Amazon's "early Prime Day deals" is the 4th Generation Echo Dot for $19.99.

That's a pretty good deal (60% off), but I wasn't really sure I would take it when I clicked through to have a look.

When I did click through to have a look, though, there was a little message that, as a Prime member, I got $10 off. It wasn't obvious whether that was included in the $19.99 price or whether the price was actually going to be $19.99. Oh, and there was an option for the same price, whatever that price might be, for the device and a free smart light bulb.

So I put it in my cart and yes, it was $9.99 total for the device and the bulb. So I bought it.

But then today I got a different offer.

For the last few years, I've had Amazon Music Unlimited (as opposed to plain old Amazon music or Amazon Prime Music) on the "one speaker only" (my bedroom) plan for $4.99 a month.

The offer was a two-month upgrade to the any speaker (but only one at a time) plan for the same price, after which it will be $8.99 a month.

So now everyone else in the house can stream almost any song ever recorded. For the next two months, anyway. I suspect it will be permanent, since about half the time when I hear one of the kids ask Alexa for a particular song, they get the "sorry, that's only available with Unlimited" reply.

But heck, the price savings on the speaker covers about ten months' worth of that price difference, and I'm also getting two months at the lower price before the higher price kicks in.