Amazon paid refunds to eligible Prime members as part of a $2.5 billion settlement linked to federal accusations that the company misled users into signing up for its subscription service.
The settlement, announced on 25 September 2025, resolved a 2023 lawsuit filed by the US Federal Trade Commission, which alleged that Amazon used deceptive design tactics to push customers into Prime memberships and made the cancellation process unnecessarily complicated.
Under the agreement, Amazon provided $1.5 billion in refunds to affected customers. The company did not admit wrongdoing and rejected the claims, stating at the time that “Amazon and our executives have always followed the law.”
Who received refunds?
According to the FTC, qualifying Prime members were paid automatically. Payments were made between 12 November and 24 December 2025, depending on eligibility and the customer’s payment method.
“Our settlement required Amazon to pay those people who clearly qualify without them having to do anything,” said Christopher Bissex, deputy director of public affairs at the FTC, in a statement to CBS News. “So those people are getting the automatic payments.”
How to claim if you did not receive an automatic refund
Customers who did not automatically receive a payment could file a claim from 24 December 2025. Notices with instructions were sent to eligible Prime members by 26 January 2026.
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Sources: US Federal Trade Commission, September 2025; CBS News, November 2025; Reuters, 25 September 2025
Photo: Chris Olszewski, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.