Prime Cut: How to Get Your Share of Amazon's $1.5 Billion FTC Settlement

Amazon Prime is delivering something new with $1.5 billion in refunds to millions of Prime members the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, says were trapped in hard-to-cancel subscriptions.

The FTC accused Amazon in 2023 of enrolling tens of millions of customers into Prime through what its chairman called “sophisticated subscription traps designed to manipulate consumers into enrolling in Prime” and then made it difficult to cancel once signed up. Although Amazon has denied any wrongdoing, it agreed to pay $1 billion in fines plus $1.5 billion in customer refunds — and to simplify its cancellation policy.

The payout marks the FTC’s largest settlement ever and the second-largest consumer refund in history. (The largest was the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's distribution of $1.8 billion to consumers harmed by credit repair companies.)

So who’s getting paid, how much could you see and when will refunds arrive? Here’s what you need to know.

Who's eligible for the Amazon Prime settlement?

To qualify for a refund, you must have signed up for Amazon Prime in the U.S. between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025. You may also be eligible if you attempted — but were unable — to cancel your Prime subscription during that window.

In other words, both enrollment and any failed cancellation attempts must have occurred within that same time period.

How much money will I get?

Most eligible customers will receive up to $51 in refunds. Automatic payments will be issued in the first 90 days of the FTC’s order and will first go to those who used three or fewer Prime benefits within a year of signing up through certain Amazon pages, according to the FTC’s official ruling.

Customers who submit a valid claim after automatic payments are issued may also receive up to $51. Those who were unintentionally enrolled or unable to cancel their subscriptions will be refunded next, based on the total membership fees they paid, up to $51.

If the total settlement funds aren’t enough to refund all affected Prime customers, Amazon will distribute refunds on a pro rata basis. This means some customers may receive less than the maximum $51 — aka less than what they originally paid.

How do I claim money from the Amazon Prime settlement?

You don’t need to take any action at the moment, according to the FTC.

Amazon must automatically refund eligible Prime customers by Dec. 25. Once this wave of automatic payments are complete, the settlement says anyone still eligible to submit a claim will receive notification by email and mail.

When is the deadline to file a claim?

If you don’t receive an automatic refund, you will be notified within 30 days after Amazon completes its automatic payments.

Once you’ve received the claims form, you’ll have up to 180 days to submit it to Amazon — either by email, prepaid snail mail or through the settlement website (which is not yet live).

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