Amazon is refunding $1.5 billion to customers over allegations that it signed up millions of people for Amazon Prime without their knowledge.
Amazon reached the record-breaking settlement in September 2025 after its practices were scrutinized by the Federal Trade Commission following a 2022 Business Insider investigation. Amazon settled without acknowledging wrongdoing.
While some people received automatic refunds at the end of last year, Amazon has now started sending notices to other eligible customers.
If you’re eligible for a refund, you could get up to $51.
You need to meet three requirements to be able to get a refund:
- You are an Amazon Prime customer in the US.
- You signed up for an Amazon Prime subscription through a “challenged enrollment flow,” or you tried to cancel through the online cancellation flow, but were unable to do so, between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025.
- You used no more than three Amazon Prime Benefits — such as Prime Music or Prime Video products offered for free to Prime subscribers — in any 12-month period following your Amazon Prime enrollment.
The FTC says that the “challenged enrollment flow” refers to a universal Prime decision page, shipping selection page, single-page checkout, or the Prime Video enrollment flow.
However, you don’t need to work out if you signed up through one of these methods, as Amazon will do that as part of the process.
You can choose to receive the money by check, PayPal, or Venmo. Amazon expects to send the payments late this year, the FTC said.
The FTC is also warning people about scams: Neither it nor Amazon will ever ask you for money in exchange for a refund.
Amazon settled with the FTC last September for a total of $2.5 billion, which comprises a $1 billion civil penalty, and the rest for refunds to customers.
It came after a 2022 Business Insider investigation, based on internal documents, that showed the company had known since 2017 that its website design misled customers into joining Prime.
The settlement is the largest civil penalty in a case involving an FTC rule violation, the regulator said when it announced the deal.
“Amazon and our executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers,” Amazon said in a statement at the time.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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