As you know, Amazon Prime members pay $79 a year to receive free two-day shipping (among other things like streaming media). Last year, Amazon introduced a “no-rush delivery” option for Prime customers that allowed them to choose standard 5-7 day shipping, for a reward. That reward was a $1 credit to spend at the Amazon MP3 Store.

Now, Amazon has upped the ante by offering a $3 credit for movies and music on select items if you choose the no-rush delivery option.

If you’re looking to use this option, here’s what you need to know:

Prime members may also have the option to choose Free No-Rush Shipping during checkout. You may want to select No-Rush Shipping if you don’t need your items right away. Items will typically be delivered a week after you order them.

Promotional credit in either the Amazon Instant Video Store or the Amazon MP3 Store may be offered for selecting No-Rush Shipping. If so, the credit will be automatically applied to your Amazon.com account once the first package from a No-Rush Shipping-eligible order ships. We’ll send you an e-mail as soon as the credit is available for you to use. You may select No-Rush Shipping as many times as it’s offered to you, but you will not be eligible for the credit if you cancel your No-Rush Shipping order or return items from it.

Earlier this month, Amazon allowed some users to sign up for Amazon Prime on a monthly basis. The $7.99-a-month options wound up costing users more over the course of a whole year, but would have allowed people more flexibility. A few days later, Amazon confirmed that it was merely a test, and that they would be disallowing the monthly subscription option.

[via Business Insider, Image via Muhammad Saleem]

“Adding FedEx to eBay Labels gives you another reputable, reliable shipping service to offer your buyers and a convenient way to ship with this in-demand carrier,” the company said.

“We’ve been asking sellers to meet buyer expectations of free shipping and tracking,” Carl Gish, Vice President of shipping, told Bloomberg. “It’s something our sellers have been asking for for a while, given that we have USPS and UPS. FedEx, as a major player in that space, is clearly a great partner for both our buyers and sellers.”

With the feature, eBay will let you choose from a variety of FedEx service options (Priority Overnight, Standard Overnight, 2-Day, Express Saver, Ground, or Home Delivery).

You can also get free tracking info uploaded automatically, and eBay offers volume discount rates for up to 37%.

On Apple.com, shipping times for all models (16GB, 32GB, 64GB, Black & White) have slipped to 3 to 4 weeks.

The new iPhone’s shipping time slipped from the original Sept. 21st target to the 28th on Apple.com within hours of the start of pre-orders. Soon, major U.S. carriers has also pushed back their shipping estimates.

Later, we found out that the iPhone 5 had smashed first day slaes records. Apple reported that the new iPhone sold 2 million pre-orders in the first 24 hours, doubling the previous record held by the iPhone 4S. That news sent Apple stock soaring above $700, a new high for the company.

The iPhone 5 is set to hit stores on Friday, September 21st. If you want to get your hands on one before they sell out, camping out seems like a good plan.

Less that 24 hours after Apple announced the device, some models had already pushed the date back to March 19th. The most popular models, by that measure, were the white 16 GB 4G model on AT&T and the white 64 GB 4G model on AT&T.

Now, every single new iPad model at the Apple online store is delayed. Check it out for yourself:

For those of you who had the presence of mind to go ahead and pre-order your new iPad, they should arrive on your doorstep on March 16th. Today we learned that the devices have already started shipping, as pre-orderers began to receive notifications and tracking numbers.

So if you have to have the Retina display, A5X chip, and 4G LTE on Friday, March 16th, you’re going to have to go stand in line at the Apple Store. Good luck with that, however. I like my iPad very much but…..no.

“The iPad 2 is attractive, smart, and fun to be around – Just like your Valentine,” says Apple. And with that, they are offering free engraving through the Apple online store. “To my sweetheart, who loves Angry Birds almost as much as she loves me,” perhaps.

Apple has a Valentine’s Day gift guide as well that suggests iPad accessories, iPhone gifts, as well as designer gifts to compliment various Apple devices.

Apple is also offering free shipping on any item that’s on the Valentine’s Day gift guide, even if it doesn’t reach the $50 threshold usually set for Apple’s free shipping.

If you’re going to get your beau an engraved tablet for Valentine’s Day, just make sure they know to get you more than a box of chocolates.

I don’t think much more explanation is needed.

by visually via

One thing’s for sure. Time is running out.

But they did begin a helpful initiative that should coax hesitant buyers into snatching up smaller items via the online store.

Starting today, Apple is offering free shipping on everything – no matter how inexpensive. Usually, you have to hit $50 before Apple’s free shipping kicks in. This could boost online sales of smaller items like cases, chargers and other accessories.

Although Apple is not participating in the Cyber Monday deals, they did have a sale on Black Friday both online and in-store. That one-day-only sale saw discounts as small at $10 to discounts totaling $100 on larger items like MacBooks. From the initial reports, it looks like that one-day sale was a success. Apple sources have reported that the day was the biggest day in terms of retail sales in company’s history.

It’s a running joke that Apple rarely gives anyone a discount on anything – and there is some merit to it. Their Black Friday deals weren’t as ambitious as some other retailers. And they aren’t participating in any deals today, on the biggest online shopping day of the season.

But free shipping on everything is helpful and it might make it easier for people to order smaller items without feeling like they are wasting money.

The free shipping period ends December 22nd.

Lex Friedman, of Macworld.com, wrote a humorous piece about how his baby woke him up in time to place his iPad 2 order, “After the 4 a.m. (Eastern) diaper change that he demanded early Friday morning, I fired up my laptop to place my online order—mere minutes after Apple began accepting such online requests.” he concludes the story, “As my bleary, sleep-deprived eyes studied the online Apple Store’s iPad selection screen, I saw that it was indicating iPads would begin shipping in 3 to 5 business days.”

There’s bound to be all sorts of crazy yarns to pile up as the iPad 2 goes on sale later today. WebProNews has already reported of a gentleman who was willing to pay $900 for a place in line, along with the added cost of actually buying the device.

At least with the online purchase, you know what you’re getting into. It might not be pleasing to wait 2-3 weeks, or have to wake up at 4 a.m. but it sure beats the onslaught of what is bound to happen at 5 p.m.

Paul Misener, Amazon VP for Global Public Policy gave a testimony at a hearing in Washington on the future of the U.S. Postal Service (hat tip to Eric Engleman). Here are some notable quotes from that (the entire statement can be read here):

"Amazon enjoys a strong and extensive relationship with the Postal Service. The USPS is an integral part of the service we provide our customers. Globally, we spent well over a billion dollars last year on outbound shipping – an increase of over 20% from 2008. In dollars, we spend nine figures annually on the USPS, with over two million shipments per average week via the Postal Service."

"While they may be willing to wait until Monday or Tuesday for a bill they don’t really want; an advertisement they didn’t ask for; or a magazine to which they subscribed long ago; they expect the items they purchased this week to be delivered as soon as possible."

Netflix takes a different view. "A well-functioning Postal Service, positioned over the long haul to meet changing customer and consumer demand, is more important than maintaining current delivery frequency," said Netflix chief service and DVD operations officer, Andrew Rendich, at that hearing. (via Bloomberg Businessweek)

While Netflix certainly accounts for a great deal of mail deliveries around the country, its interests are quite different than those of Amazon’s, so the difference in opinion isn’t that hard to believe.

For one, Netflix believes the future is in streaming when it comes to movies, and it would just as soon have customers using its streaming service more. In fact, the company is making deals with distributors to bolster their streaming catalog. Don’t be surprised if streaming becomes the main business model for the company in the future.

At the same time, it is also in Netflix’s best interest for customers to rent a lower rate of DVDs by mail. This means less shipping costs for them while they get to charge the same amount to customers. Amazon on the other hand wants to get its products to customers as quickly as possible to keep them ordering more.

What do you think about the idea of Saturday mail delivery coming to an end? Are you for it or against it? Discuss here.

"December proved to be a strong month for the retail category with Tuesday, Dec. 15 ranking as the heaviest online spending day of the year – and of all time – at $913 million," said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix.

"Holiday seasonality also fueled visitation to Shipping sites, which continually see their highest volume of traffic during the month of December."

Not surprisingly, retails sites climbed in December as Americans search the Internet for holiday deals. The top gaining retail categories were jewelry/luxury goods/accessories, sports/outdoor, and flower/gifts /greeting sites, each growing more than 20 percent compared to November.

Jewelry/luxury goods/accessories sites attracted nearly 23 million visitors during the month, representing a 30 percent increase from November. eBags led the category with 2.9 million visitors (up 28 %), followed by Coach.com with 2.2 million visitors (up 26 percent), Zale Corporation with 2.1 million (up 48 %) and Kay Jewelers with 1.7 million (up 69 %).

Sports/outdoor sites grew to nearly 39 million visitors during the month, a 25 percent increase compared to November, led by eBay Sports with 5.1 million visitors (up 21%), trailed closely by Cabelas with 5 million visitors (up 26%). Dicks Sporting Goods followed with 4.6 million visitors (up 39%) and Sports Authority with 2.9 million visitors (up 29%).

Flowers/gifts/greetings sites saw a 23-percent gain, reaching nearly 39.8 million unique visitors in December. American Greetings led the category with 13.6 million visitors (up 18 %), followed by Gifts.com with 6.8 million (up 49 %), Hallmark with 5.6 million (up 46 %) and 1-800-Flowers.com with 2.9 million (up 48 %).

Traffic to shipping sites spiked in December as Americans rushed to ensure delivery of their gift purchases in time for the holidays. The category attracted 36.6 million visitors during the month, representing a 33-percent increase in traffic. UPS sites led the category with 19.7 million visitors (up 51 %), followed by USPS.com with 15.9 million (up 40 %) and FedEx with 12.6 million (up 36 %).

The e-card category grew 29 percent to 31.7 million visitors. The most visited site was Evite with nearly 8 million visitors (up 16%), followed by AG Interactive with 6.7 million (up 46%), MyFunCards with 5.7 million, and 123Greetings with 4.3 million (up 55%).

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