If you’ve been an Amazon Prime member at some point in the past several years, you have until Monday to file a claim to be included in a $2.5 billion settlement.
Eligible customers could receive up to $51 from a lawsuit brought against Amazon by the Federal Trade Commission regarding allegations the Seattle-based retail giant enrolled millions of customers in Amazon Prime subscriptions without their knowledge or consent and made it difficult to subsequently cancel their subscriptions.
As part of Amazon’s settlement with the FTC in September, the company agreed to pay the highest-ever civil penalty of $1 billion and establish a $1.5 billion fund to refund affected Prime customers.
Whether you’re a longtime Amazon Prime customer or you’ve ditched the subscription, only days remain to be included in that settlement. Here’s what you need to know to cash in.
WHO QUALIFIES FOR A PAYOUT?
If you already received a refund from Amazon for this settlement, you don’t have a further claim to make. That’s because Amazon sent refunds to eligible customers late last year.
However, as part of the settlement, Amazon also agreed to a claims process for those eligible customers who didn’t get an automatic refund. While you may have received a claim notice from the company, you can also file a claim online by providing some basic personal information and attesting to your eligibility.
You will need to satisfy the following requirements to file a claim as part of the settlement:
- You must live in the U.S.
- You unintentionally enrolled in an Amazon Prime subscription or tried to cancel and were unable to do so at some point between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025.
- You used less than 10 of the Amazon Prime benefits during any 12-month period following enrollment.
- You didn’t receive an automatic payment as part of this settlement already.
The way you signed up for an Amazon Prime membership will also matter—you must have subscribed through what’s referred to as a “challenged enrollment flow,” which includes enrolling on the shipping selection page. But Amazon will ultimately determine whether you did so.
On the claim form, the company states: “After the claim form is submitted, we will review it to determine eligibility for a settlement payment.”
HOW MUCH WILL CUSTOMERS RECEIVE?
Though the FTC settlement notice indicates that “tens of millions of customers” were enrolled in Amazon Prime subscriptions without their knowledge or consent, individual settlement amounts will vary based on how many people ultimately file a claim. The maximum customers can receive is $51, or just over one-third of the current $139 annual membership cost.
As part of the claims process, Amazon is expected to send payments to eligible customers later this year, according to the FTC. The company doesn’t yet have a specified date for when those payments will be sent, but you can elect to receive your payment via check, PayPal, or Venmo.
