You can still claim your refund in Amazon's $2.5 billion Prime settlement – here's how

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• Amazon is paying out $2.5 billion as part of an FTC settlement.
• The suit alleges Amazon tricked people into subscribing to Prime.
• You have until July 27, 2026, to submit your claim.

If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, you might be eligible to claim your part of the e-commerce giant’s $2.5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

A lawsuit brought by the FTC alleges that Amazon used deceptive practices to get people to sign up for a Prime subscription and then made it difficult to cancel that subscription.

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Here’s a breakdown of the lawsuit and what you need to do to get your payment.

What is the Amazon FTC settlement about?

The FTC alleges that Amazon did three things specifically: 

• Took consumers’ billing information before clearly disclosing terms for Amazon Prime.
• Failed to get consumers’ express consent to sign up for Amazon Prime.
• Failed to provide a simple way for consumers to cancel Amazon Prime. 

Amazon did not admit wrongdoing, but agreed to a settlement.

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Who gets money from the Amazon FTC settlement?

Two groups of people will receive payment. 

The majority of eligible subscribers should have already received automatic payments. You’re in this group if you signed up for Prime between June 23, 2019 and June 23, 2025, you enrolled through a “Challenged Enrollment Flow” (a specific pathway on Amazon’s website where you might have unintentionally signed up for Amazon Prime like the Universal Prime Decision Page, Shipping Option Select Page, Prime Video enrollment flow, or Single Page Checkout), and you used no more than three Prime benefits in a 12-month period between June 23, 2019 and June 23, 2025.

Those three “benefits” don’t mean individual purchases, but overall programs like delivery, streaming, shopping, and reading.

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The payment deadline for this group was Dec. 24, 2025, and payment went to the email address you used to sign up for Amazon (here’s what to do if you no longer have access to that address).

The second group is people who need to file a claim. You’re in this group if you unintentionally enrolled in a Prime membership through a challenged enrollment method from June 23, 2019 to June 23, 2025, you tried to cancel your Prime membership through the online cancellation process during that same time frame but couldn’t, and you used fewer than 10 Prime benefits during any 12-month period of enrollment in Prime.

How much will each person get from the Amazon FTC settlement?

Official documents state that eligible consumers can receive a refund of up to $51 for their Amazon Prime membership fees. If you signed up for a trial membership that cost less than the regular Prime fee, though, you may receive less.

To file a claim, go to the settlement site, subscriptionmembershipsettlement.com. You have until July 27, 2026, to submit your claim, and the process is easy — you’ll confirm whether you were unintentionally enrolled in Prime and/or unsuccessfully attempted to cancel during the time period (that information will be verified).