Amazon Prime Vs. Costco Gold Star: Which Membership Is Better For Tech?

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If you're planning on buying new tech on a semi-consistent basis, it would be in your best interest to mitigate that cost with a store membership. When it comes to such hefty purchases, two major options that spring to mind are Amazon Prime and Costco Gold Star. Both of these memberships have their perks when shopping for new electronics, with Costco offering attractive bonuses for members like extended warranties, and Amazon having a generally better selection of products.

While having both memberships under your belt would likely provide you the highest degree of flexibility when shopping for new tech, not everyone can afford it. As such, you might need to weigh the perks of Costco and Amazon to determine which would provide you the greatest value. In broad terms, it comes down to whether you want the best possible deals on the widest variety of products from Amazon or Costco's post-purchase care perks to help ensure that your new purchase stays functional for as long as possible.

Gold Star is Costco's basic, cheaper membership tier, priced at $65 yearly versus the Executive tier's $130 annual cost. Unfortunately, the Gold Star tier doesn't get the most attractive perk of Costco membership, that being the annual 2% cashback reward from most purchases, but it still comes with the majority of other perks. In regards to tech, the most attractive perks are easy returns, extended warranties, and complimentary tech support. Amazon doesn't offer such generous returns or complimentary warranties, and while it technically has tech support, it's limited to select items.

Second only to the 2% cashback reward, Costco membership is well known for offering 90-day, no-questions-asked refunds. The vast majority of electronics are eligible for this feature, including TVs, computers, cameras, phones, and more. Whether it breaks completely or you just don't like it, you can bring it right back to the Costco you got it from, or ship it to them if you purchased it online for a full refund. In a similar vein, Costco offers complimentary extended warranties on certain subsets of tech, specifically TVs, projectors, and computers, adding an extra two years of coverage on top of an existing manufacturer's warranty. Finally, if you have a problem with a piece of tech you purchased at Costco and want to try to fix it, Costco offers both a database of help topics and a tech support phone line that all members can call at no charge.

Amazon Prime is a membership that needs little introduction. Amazon's sheer ubiquity has made Prime membership one of the most popular of its kind in the world. While this membership may not come with the same post-purchase perks as a Costco membership, and technically costs more than an Executive membership at $139 annually, Amazon still has an edge in terms of both competitive pricing and overall product selection. If you're buying expensive tech consistently, an Amazon Prime membership can more than pay for itself.

While Costco does offer some exclusive products and bundles, most of the tech sold at Costco can also be found on Amazon, and with a greater degree of flexibility. Say, for example, you wanted to purchase a new pair of headphones or earbuds. If you checked all of the headphones available at Costco, you would find only around 20 products, and only from a handful of major brands like Apple, Sony, and Bose. By contrast, a search for headphones on Amazon would easily yield several thousand results, including smaller, cheaper brands as well. Even when pricing is similar on specific products, such as a pair of Apple AirPods 4 retailing for $148.99 at both Costco and Amazon, an Amazon Prime membership means you also get free two-day shipping on all eligible products. The cost-benefit of a Costco membership gradually diminishes the farther away you are from a Costco warehouse, whereas Amazon Prime's benefits are near universal.