Amazon Prime is set to refund $2.5 billion to approximately 35 million customers. Find out if you qualify and how to receive your payment.
The retail behemoth, founded by Jeff Bezos, faced accusations from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of misleading consumers. According to the FTC, Amazon allegedly manipulated people into enrolling in Prime and subsequently made the cancellation process cumbersome.
Although Amazon denies any illegal conduct, the company decided to settle the case to concentrate on future innovations.
“Amazon and our executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers,” Amazon stated in a release this past September. “We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership.”
However, not all Amazon customers are eligible for a refund, which may be disappointing for some.
Eligibility extends to those who subscribed to a Prime membership between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025.
Eligible customers are those who either attempted but failed to cancel their membership or signed up through specific Amazon pages such as the Universal Prime Decision Page, the Shipping Option Select Page, Prime Video enrollment flow, or the Single Page Checkout, as outlined in the court order.
Refunds will be issued in two phases. The first phase is automatic, allowing eligible customers to receive refunds directly via PayPal or Venmo.
If the refund is not accepted within 15 days, a check will be mailed to the customer.
This first phase is applicable to those who utilized Prime benefits three or fewer times in any given year of their membership.
These payments are scheduled to be distributed between November 12 and December 24.
The second phase requires eligible customers to complete a claim form.
“If consumers are eligible to submit a claim but were not eligible for automatic payments, they will be notified between December 24th and January 23, 2026,” Amazon spokesman Mark Blafkin informed NBC News.
For this phase, eligibility extends to those who used Prime benefits 10 or fewer times annually.
The deadline for submitting a claim is July 23, 2026.
Many are curious about the potential refund amount.
The reimbursement sum depends on the total Prime fees paid during your membership.
The maximum refund available is $51.
In today’s economic climate, that amount is nothing to scoff at!