A month after Amazon settled with the Federal Trade Commission for $2.5 billion for allegedly duping people into signing up for Prime memberships, but then made it complicated to cancel the subscription, customers can now file for their portion of the settlement.
The allegation against Amazon came after a Business Insider investigation that showed that executives at Amazon knew that it was complicated to cancel a subscription, but did nothing to make it easier.
While the settlement was a total of $2.5 billion, over half — $1.5 billion— will go to consumers. The remaining $1 billion is a civil penalty, CNET reported.
Amazon said “it always followed the law” and worked “incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership.” Still, the company did say it would make changes to the website as part of the settlement.
The settlement will net up to $51 per person, but that is the maximum. The payout may be lower, depending on how a person qualifies, USA Today reported.
Some people will get their refund automatically by Dec. 24. They must have used their Prime benefits three times or fewer over a 12-month period.
Benefits include watching Prime Video or listening to Amazon Music, the FTC said.
The refund will be in “monetary compensation,” not credits or gift cards, USA Today reported. It will be processed by a third-party claims administrator.
For those who do not qualify for automatic payments, the claim administrator will alert them on how to make a claim by Jan. 23 and they’ll have until July 23 to submit a form for their portion of the settlement. It is likely to be less than the initial, automatic $51, Business Insider said.
To be eligible, you would have to have signed up for Prime from June 23, 2019, to June 23, 2025, and had tried to cancel the subscription or signed up through a “challenged enrollment flow” or through specific pages on the Amazon site such as "Universal Prime Decision Page, the Shipping Option Select Page, Prime Video enrollment flow, or the Single Page Checkout," USA Today explained.
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