Amazon Prime customers rush to receive chunk of $2,500,000,000 settlement before deadline
Topics: News, US News, Amazon, Amazon Prime
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Nathan Stirk
Topics: News, US News, Amazon, Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime has already handed payouts to millions of customers after settling a lawsuit, but there may still be a chance to get your hands on some cash before the deadline.
Amazon Prime was accused of misleading customers by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year.
The agency accused the Jeff Bezos-owned company of tricking people into signing up for Prime and then making it difficult to cancel.
Amazon insisted it didn’t break any laws but agreed to pay $2.5 billion to an estimated 35 million customers in hopes of moving on.
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In a statement from September last year, the company said: "Amazon and our executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers.
“We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership.”
However, just because you have a Prime account doesn’t mean you are eligible for a payout. In fact, the first round of payouts has already gone out.
This went out to individuals who signed up for a Prime membership between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025 in the US and only used Prime benefits three or fewer times in any year of their membership - but Amazon is not spreading the net wider.
The first round of payments were directly sent to customer’s PayPal or Venmo between November 12 and December 24. However, if they were not accepted Amazon will have sent a check to the address attached to the account.
For those set to be in the second wave of payouts this time around, it isn’t automatic and those who may be eligible will have to fill out a form.
Amazon spokesman Mark Blafkin told NBC News: “If consumers are eligible to submit a claim but were not eligible for automatic payments, they will be notified between December 24th and January 23, 2026.”
In this case, you qualify if you used Prime benefits 10 or fewer times in a year for the same time frame.
You have until July 23, 2026 to submit your claim.
Each customer qualifies for up to $51 each.
The FTC has also warned customers of not getting sucked into scams in hopes of getting the Amazon refund. The body noted that no FTC representatives will contact about a refund.
The agency’s website read: “The FTC is not contacting people about refunds in the Amazon matter.
“If you get a call from someone who claims to be from the FTC, it’s a scam.”