How to Get Your Share of These Billion Dollar Amazon Settlements

January isn't over yet, and Amazon's already set to pay more than $3 billion to U.S. customers across various settlements. If you've bought anything from Amazon recently, keep an eye out: Bezos' baby could owe you some money.

How to get Amazon's returns settlement

If you've had difficulty returning an Amazon package recently, you could have a paycheck coming your way soon. As reported by Reuters, the company has agreed to a $309 million cash settlement (in addition to "other benefits") with affected customers, alongside more than $600 million in individual refunds. According to lawyers for the plaintiffs, the settlement as a whole provides more than $1 billion in relief.

The lawsuit accused the e-commerce giant of causing "substantial unjustified monetary losses" with its return policies, which the plaintiffs say resulted in many customers returning items only to be charged for them anyway. Amazon denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, but did say it will spend more than $363 million improving its return and refund practices.

The company claims that, after an internal review last year, it "identified a small subset of returns where we issued a refund without the payment completing, or where we could not verify that the correct item had been sent to us, so no refund had been issued." However, Amazon said it had taken steps to resolve the issue, as seen in the refunds on years-old returns the company started issuing last year.

The settlement is still awaiting approval from U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead in Seattle, but as both parties support it, it'll likely come soon. The class would cover "U.S. purchasers of goods on Amazon from Sept 2017 who allegedly did not receive timely or correct refunds, or who were later charged despite returning items," writes Reuters.

It's currently unclear how class members would file a claim, or how the $309 million cash settlement and $600 million individual refunds will be divvied up. However, the plaintiffs told the court that class members should expect to recover the full amount of lost funds, plus interest.

Eligible class members are often contacted by email, so keep an eye out. In the meantime, you can also search for legal updates using the case name, "In re: Amazon Return Policy Litigation, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, No. 2:23-CV-1372-JNW."

How to get Amazon's Prime settlement

While Amazon's returns settlement is still in its early phases, it's not the biggest payout the company's had to make this year. Earlier this January, Amazon reached a $2.5 billion settlement with the FTC over accusations that it had essentially tricked people into either signing up for or staying subscribed to Prime. Claims are going out in two ways, one of which is automatic, and the other you have to sign up for.

According to the settlement website, as well as the FTC, automatic payments should have gone out already, and applied to people who meet the following requirements:

• You are a U.S. consumer who signed up for Prime between June 23, 2019 and June 23, 2025, and

• You enrolled through a Challenged Enrollment Flow, and

• You used no more than three Prime benefits in a 12-month period from June 23, 2019 and June 23, 2025.

If that doesn't sound like you, or you didn't receive a payment, you'll need to file a claim using the "File Claim" button on the settlement website. You're eligible to do this if you meet the follow requirements:

• You are a U.S. consumer who signed up for Prime, and

• You unintentionally enrolled in a Prime membership through a challenged enrollment method at issue in the FTC’s lawsuit from June 23, 2019 to June 23, 2025; or you tried to cancel your Prime membership through the online cancellation process from June 23, 2019 to June 23, 2025, but were unable to do so; and 

• You used less than ten Prime benefits (e.g., delivery, shopping, streaming, reading, and other benefits provided to Prime members) during any 12-month period of enrollment in Prime, and 

• You did not receive an automatic payment as part of this Settlement already.

Neither website is entirely clear about what constitutes "challenged enrollment," aside from saying that Amazon enrolled customers in Prime without their knowledge or consent. Luckily, you probably won't need to do any legwork to see if you're eligible.

According to the FTC, Amazon has begun sending claim notices by mail or email to eligible Prime customers who didn't already get an automatic refund. This will be your cue to sign up for your cut of the settlement, and in fact, you'll need the included Claim ID and PIN to do so. If you believe you're eligible for a share of the settlement but Amazon did not contact you, you can reach out to admin@SubscriptionMembershipSettlement.com for help.

Once you file your claim, you can choose to be paid either through check, PayPal, or Venmo. Expected payments will differ from person to person, but will cap out at $51. And there's no need to rush. The deadline to file a claim is July 27, 2026, so you've got some time to ensure you get what you're owed.

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