Have you been scammed into an Amazon Prime subscription? You could owe part of the $2.5 billion

If you ever click a button Amazon And you registered by mistake prime ministerOr you feel like you need a map to find the cancellation page, you’re not crazy. You’ve been played. The Federal Trade Commission just validated your frustration by hitting Amazon with a historic $2.5 billion settlement over its deceptive signup tactics.

This is not just a slap on the wrist. It’s a huge payout. A whopping $1.5 billion is set aside to refund eligible subscribers, with the rest representing a civil penalty. Amazon is now legally obligated to discontinue the games, which means they have to give you a clear, clear choice to decline Prime and make leaving the service as easy as joining.

Of course, Amazon does not acknowledge any suspicious behavior. “Amazon and our executives have always followed the law, and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers,” said Mark Plavkin, a senior director at Amazon. He said in a statement. “We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers whether to sign up or cancel their Prime membership, and to deliver great value to millions of loyal Prime members around the world.”

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Why did the FTC sue Amazon?

The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Amazon The company has been accused of using “dark patterns” to push people into Prime subscriptions and then make it extremely difficult to cancel them. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asserted that Amazon violated Section 5 of the FTC Act and Online Shopper Trust Restoration Act.

“Specifically, Amazon used manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into signing up for automatically renewing Prime subscriptions,” FTC Complaint Countries.

Who is eligible for Amazon compensation?

Amazon’s legal settlement is limited to customers who signed up for Amazon Prime between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025. It is also limited to customers who signed up for Prime using the “disputed sign-up flow” or who signed up for Prime through any method but were unsuccessful in canceling their memberships.

The FTC has called for specific registration pages, including the Prime Video registration page, the Universal Prime Decision page, the Select Shipping Option page, and the Single Page Checkout page. To qualify for damages, claimants must not have used more than 10 Benefits of Amazon Prime In any 12 month period.

Customers who sign up through those difficult processes and don’t use more than three Prime benefits in one year will automatically be paid by Amazon within 90 days. Other eligible Amazon customers will need to file a claim, and Amazon must send notifications to those people within 30 days of automatic payments being made.

Customers who did not use a contested registration process but instead were unable to cancel their memberships will also need to submit payment claims.

How big are Amazon payments?

Payments to eligible Amazon claimants will be limited to a maximum of $51. This amount may be reduced depending on the number of Amazon Prime benefits you used while subscribing to the service. These benefits include free shipping and 2-day viewing Shows or movies on Prime Video Or grocery discounts from Whole Foods.

Customers eligible for payments must receive them by December 24. Customers outside the United States are not eligible for returns.