Amazon has rolled out their Big Spring Sale to give people another reason to buy stuff, but Kindle ereaders are mysteriously missing from the sale, as the trend of Kindles not going on sale continues.
Amazon used to put Kindles on sale all the time, but something changed last year. It started with their Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals when they only took $20 off the Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite, which was in fact the highest sales price ever for the Kindle Paperwhite at the time. Then they beat that by only taking $15 off during their December sale. The previous year, the same Paperwhite was $45 off for BF and CM, and it was $50 off for Prime Day.
So far this year none of the regular Kindles have gone on sale at all. They had the Paperwhite Kids model on sale as part of their Valentine’s Day deals, but none of the regular models were on sale during that time like they usually are.
You have to go back to October of 2023 for the last Kindle sale where the prices were as low as they used to be, and that was during Amazon’s Prime Big Deals Day event that only lasted 2 days.
The Kindle Scribe was at its lowest price ever during November and December so it’s doesn’t fit into that same box, but it was on sale half the time last year and now it’s been almost 3 months since it was last on sale too. They did run a Prime exclusive sale on it at the beginning of January but that only lasted a few days and it’s been crickets ever since.
Through April 2nd of last year, Amazon had put the Kindle, the Kindle Paperwhite, or the Kindle Scribe on sale four separate times, and the Kids models went on sale one time too, and none were Prime exclusive sales.
Apparently someone at Amazon has decided not to put Kindles on sale anymore, or at least not as frequently as they used to, and when they do the prices have been higher than usual.
What’s annoying about this current sale is they show a picture of the Kindle Paperwhite on the main sales page, with a Deals on Devices link, but then when you click it you find out that the Kindle Paperwhite isn’t actually on sale. A bunch of other Amazon devices and products are on sale, like usual, but not any of the Kindles. Fire tablets are always on sale, but something has changed with Kindles. What gives?
Update: Later in the day after posting this article, Amazon put the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition on sale, but it’s another Prime exclusive sale, and it’s only $30 off, which I think is the highest “sale” price ever for the SE (last year when it went on sale it was $45-$65 off). It’s worth noting the SE bundle packages are also on sale and they don’t require a Prime membership. Weird, huh?
What has changed is that Amazon’s devices divisions lost billions (with a b). Now, most of that was their failure to monetize the Alexa, but I suspect the belt tightening Amazon did affects Kindles…the changes in the sales started right after the changes and layoffs happened at Amazon.
Yeah, the weird thing is it didn’t seem to affect Fire tablets at all. They’re still on sale constantly.
I was hoping for a big sale on the Kindle Scribe. Will have to wait until… Black Friday?
Amazon’s Black Friday deals can’t be trusted anymore after last year when they had the highest sale prices ever for the Paperwhite. Prime Day during the summer is now the best time for Kindle sales. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have turned into a farce now that everybody expects the best sales during that time, and now that retailers have figured that out they’re just taking advantage of it so that’s just not the case at all anymore. You can find better deals in October.
The Kindle was Bezo’s own personal project basically.
“Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader will fail, Steve Jobs says, because Americans simply don’t read. From The New York Times: “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The […]” —Wired
For Prime members the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is 16% off at $159.99 along with some discounted bundles. This is under the Prime Exclusive tab.
Yeah, they added that later in the day after I posted this. Good timing! The weird thing is the SE requires a Prime membership to get the deal, but the SE bundle packages don’t.
That’s fine. They don’t even sell a Kindle device I want.
That seems to be the feeling a lot of people share these days, especially now that the Oasis is gone. Amazon is asleep at the wheel while other companies are coming out with new ereaders all the time.
They have 30% discount on Paperwhite in Germany. Too bad that I don’t like any of their current readers.
The Paperwhite 5 only became tolerable to me, after I jailbroke it. So, I can’t say I recommend it.