Amazon Sending $1.5 Billion in Automatic Refunds to Customers: 4 Things to Know

It’s part of a settlement to resolve claims that Amazon enrolled millions of customers into Prime subscriptions without their consent.

Amazon packages are transported by conveyor belts inside of an Amazon fulfillment center on Cyber Monday in Robbinsville, N.J., on Dec. 2, 2019. Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Amazon has started sending emails and paying out up to $1.5 billion in automatic refunds to Prime customers who may be impacted by a recent settlement, according to an update from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday.

In late September, the FTC secured a $2.5 billion settlement with Amazon to resolve the agency’s claims that the online retail giant had enrolled millions of customers into Prime subscriptions without their consent. The settlement also resolved charges that Amazon intentionally made it more difficult for people to cancel their Prime subscriptions.

1. When and How Much?

Amazon began providing automatic refunds to its Prime customers on Nov. 12 and will continue doing so until Dec. 24 of this year, the FTC said. People who are eligible to get an automatic refund should receive an email between those two dates.