Amazon Dash Buttons Launch For All Prime Members

In case you thought those Amazon Dash buttons would turn out to be an elaborate joke, Amazon has made them officially official: any Prime subscriber can now buy them for $5, and once the button arrives they can then use it to spend more money on whatever the related product is. So, essentially, you'll pay money for this so that you can more easily spend money later. Or something like that. The buttons are available for a variety of products: toilet paper, laundry detergent, macaronic and cheese. The important things in life.

The Amazon Dash button is very simple: it is a small dongle with a single button and a brand name. You fix it to a surface using a hook or adhesive, and when you're running low on a product you push the button. It orders the item you've configured it to buy, charging it to your primary payment method and shipping it to your primary shipping address.

We first saw this particular version of the Dash button on March 31, and it was dismissed by many as an April Fool's joke. It is, in fact, no joke, and Prime members can now order them for $4.99 USD each. The dongle connects to your WiFi network; you can cancel orders via the mobile app. Furthermore, a new order can't be placed right after the first, meaning you don't have to worry about your kid pressing it a bunch of times in a row and causing a truck load of toilet paper to be delivered.

Amazon's page is currently showing 18 Dash buttons: Tide, Bounty, Cottonelle, Glad, Huggies, Gatorade, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, L'Oreal, Amazon Baby Wipes, Maxwell Coffee, Gillette, Wellness Petfood, Smartwater, Gerber Formula, Olay, Izze, Larabar, and Clorox Wipes.

These are quite unlike the first Amazon Dash device.

VIA: The Verge