A Holiday Shopping Miracle: Amazon Waives Free Shipping Minimum for US Customers

Holiday shopping is a pain. Buying gifts online can help alleviate that--people go crazy in department stores around the holidays--but it also introduces its own challenges. Do you buy everything in a single order, wait for it to arrive at your house, then mail each gift to its intended recipient? Do you make a bunch of single-item purchases and make delivery the retailer's (and perhaps your wallet's) problem? Both approaches have downsides. Amazon's simplifying things for U.S. shoppers this year. It announced today that it's waiving the minimum purchase amount for free shipping.

This should make it easier to buy a bunch of knick-knacks in separate orders and have them shipped directly to your friends and family. Normally that would require spending $25 or more, which could push some folks over budget, but even Scrooge can enjoy free shipping this holiday season.

Amazon didn't offer a specific time frame for this free shipping promotion. It merely said that "all Amazon customers can enjoy free shipping with no minimum purchase amount on orders that will arrive in time for the Christmas holiday." That could mean Amazon plans to halt the promotion before the end of the year, but there doesn't appear to be a firm end date.

This promotion might not seem immediately relevant to PC enthusiasts. After all, when you're willing to spend money on quality components and peripherals, meeting the $25 minimum on Amazon is pretty easy. But there are actually plenty of things you could buy for less than $25 that would make perfect gifts for the other enthusiasts in your life.

You can check out our gift guides for kids, gamers, makers, PC builders and stocking stuffers for inspiration picking presents this holiday season. Buying presents can be a maddening experience, but hopefully it'll be made a little easier with Amazon expanding free shipping options and the help of those gift guides.