Amazon previously allowed people to get select clothing and accessories shipped to them before actually buying anything, mirroring how many in-person stores work. Unfortunately, this is now going away.
Amazon is set to discontinue its “Try Before You Buy” Prime program on January 31, 2025. The program, which covered select clothing, shoes, jewelry, and accessories, provided a convenient way for customers to shop for fashion online, mitigating the risk of buying items that didn’t fit or meet their expectations. It was initially launched as Prime Wardrobe in 2018, and it allowed Prime members to select up to six eligible fashion items, try them on at home, and return unwanted items within seven days without incurring charges.
Why is it being killed off? In a statement provided to CNBC, an Amazon spokesperson said that “given the combination of Try Before You Buy only scaling to a limited number of items and customers increasingly using our new AI-powered features like virtual try-on, personalized size recommendations, review highlights, and improved size charts to make sure they find the right fit, we’re phasing out the Try Before You Buy option, effective January 31, 2025.” Basically, the program could only scale up to a limited number of items, and Amazon thought AI replacements were good enough to kill this off for good.
It was an unique feature for e-commerce in general, since it can be tricky to get the right size for some items when you’re buying them online, and we’re not sure how well AI would work for things like shoes, where you might need to go a size up or a size down from your usual size depending on the actual shoe. It’s a shame, but if you need to try something, the program will be live until January 31st, so take advantage of it while you still can.
