Amazon Prime is set to refund $2.5 billion to approximately 35 million customers. Here’s who qualifies and how to receive the refund.
The retail behemoth, owned by Jeff Bezos, faced allegations from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of misleading users. The FTC accused Amazon of deceiving users into signing up for Prime and then complicating the cancellation process.
Amazon has maintained that it did not violate any laws but has agreed to a settlement to resolve the case.
“Amazon and our executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers,” the company stated in September. “We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership.”
Unfortunately, not all Amazon customers are eligible for a refund.
Customers who signed up for a Prime membership between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025, may qualify for a refund.
Eligibility depends on whether you attempted but failed to cancel your Prime membership, or signed up via Amazon’s ‘challenged enrollment flow’ pages, such as the Universal Prime Decision Page, the Shipping Option Select Page, Prime Video enrollment flow, or the Single Page Checkout, as per the court order.
Refunds will be issued in two phases. The first phase is automatic, where refunds will be processed through PayPal or Venmo.
If the refund isn’t accepted within 15 days, Amazon will send a check by mail.
This first round of refunds applies if you used Prime benefits three or fewer times in any given year of your membership.
The refund distribution will happen between November 12 and December 24.
The second phase requires eligible customers to fill out 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.
In this scenario, eligibility extends to those who used Prime benefits 10 or fewer times in a year.
Claims for the second phase can be submitted until July 23, 2026.
Many are curious about the potential refund amount.
The refund amount is contingent upon the total paid for Prime during the membership period.
The maximum refund available is $51.
In today’s economic climate, any refund can make a difference.