Why Amazon Is Issuing Refunds

The refund program stems from a federal lawsuit that accused Amazon of using confusing sign-up methods to enroll customers in Amazon Prime and making the cancellation process unnecessarily difficult.

According to the FTC, some customers were signed up for Prime during checkout or while using Prime Video without clearly realizing they were committing to a paid subscription. Others found themselves stuck in complicated cancellation flows that discouraged them from leaving the service.

To resolve these claims, Amazon agreed to a massive settlement that includes:

• $1.5 billion dedicated to customer refunds
• $1 billion in civil penalties paid to the government

Although Amazon did not admit wrongdoing, the agreement ensures that customers affected by these practices can get money back.