35 Million Prime Customers Are Due Class Action Payment From Amazon - Here's How Much You Can Get

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• A caller FTC ruling intends Amazon must salary $2.5 billion.
• Amazon allegedly tricked customers into afloat Prime subscriptions.
• Customers tin person up to $51.

If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, you mightiness beryllium capable to return portion successful a caller people action suit and declare your stock of a $2.5 cardinal settlement.

The FTC announced today that not only did Amazon instrumentality millions of group into signing up for a Prime subscription done deceptive web pages, but it besides made nan cancellation process unnecessarily difficult. As a result, Amazon now has to salary a $1 cardinal punishment and supply $1.5 cardinal successful refunds to affected consumers. 

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The committee says this is nan largest ever civilian punishment successful a lawsuit involving an FTC norm violation.

In summation to nan financial penalty, nan FTC is besides requiring Amazon to do respective things, including: 

• Create a clear and conspicuous fastener for customers to diminution a afloat Prime subscription. (This intends nan fastener can't opportunity "No, I don't want Free Shipping.")
• Create disclosures astir each Prime position during nan enrollment process, including cost, date, and wave of charges; accusation astir auto-renewal; and cancellation procedures.
• Create a elemental measurement for consumers to cancel Prime utilizing nan aforesaid method utilized to motion up. The FTC adds that this process "cannot beryllium difficult, costly, aliases time-consuming."
• Pay for an independent, third-party supervisor to show Amazon's compliance pinch policies.

What Amazon allegedly did wrong

The FTC alleges that immoderate customers who were trying to motion up for a cheaper Amazon Prime Video subscription alternatively signed up for an automatically renewing, much costly Prime subscription. Prime Video is simply a portion of an Amazon Prime membership, but you tin besides motion up for nan video work unsocial for astir $6/month less.

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In an emailed statement, Mark Blafkin, an Amazon spokesperson, said, "We activity incredibly difficult to make it clear and elemental for customers to some motion up aliases cancel their Prime membership, and to connection important worth for our galore millions of loyal Prime members astir nan world," adding that "Amazon and our executives person ever followed nan law."

How overmuch will customers receive?

Millions of customers who signed up for Prime since 2019 will automatically person reimbursements of up to $51. Other Amazon users will beryllium capable to taxable claims erstwhile nan filing process begins. How overmuch each customer will person depends connected really galore Prime perks nan customer used; for example, if you took advantage of things for illustration free shipping, you'll person less.