Amazon normally offers its Amazon Prime subscriptions for $79/year, getting customers on board for an annual commitment in exchange for two-day shipping and, more recently, streaming movies and TV shows and Kindle book rentals at no extra charge.

But more recently some customers have been getting an offer for a monthly rate of $7.99 instead, as spotted and reported by the Hacking Netflix blog earlier today.

The timing is interesting, right before the holidays, giving people a chance to get on board for free shipping for gifts and other merchandise without ponying up for a full annual subscription. It’s also interesting because it’s the same rate as a Hulu Plus or Netflix streaming subscription.

Of course, the monthly rate adds up to more than $95 over the course of the year, so it’s better to go for the annual subscription if you’ll be on board for at least a year.

Hacking Netflix and other sites say they’ve been seeing the offer at the Amazon Prime landing page, but it’s showing $79/year for me still, with no option for a monthly membership. (I happen to be an existing Amazon Prime subscriber, so that could be a factor, although it still shows the annual rate when I’m logged out of my Amazon Prime account, as well.)

Anyone else seeing the monthly rate, and if so, is this enough to get you to try Amazon Prime?

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