Amazon
Amazon has paid more than $845 million of a $1.5 billion consumer redress fund from its 2025 FTC Prime settlement Daniel Nyoka/Unsplash

Millions of US shoppers who assumed they'd missed their shot at an Amazon Prime refund are back in line. A federal court has approved a Federal Trade Commission plan that lifts the payout cap and automatically sends future refunds.

Why the Closed Deadline No Longer Matters

The court signed off this week on a joint motion from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Amazon to speed up and widen future refunds. The maximum any consumer can receive has jumped from $51 (£38) to $200 (£150), and more people now qualify.

Every future payment will be sent automatically, with no claims, notices or forms required. That reverses months of coverage warning that the claim window had shut. It closed on 27 July 2026, and many assumed they were out. The reversal puts newly eligible shoppers, and unpaid eligible customers, back in contention for a payout.

Earlier automatic refunds went out in November and December 2025, capped at $51 each. The new ceiling is nearly four times that. Newly eligible customers will start receiving automatic refunds on 1 October 2026 through Venmo, PayPal, or a mailed check.

Where the Settlement Money Stands

Amazon agreed to the terms as part of a $2.5 billion (£1.9 billion) settlement entered in September 2025. That figure splits into up to $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) in refunds for harmed customers and a $1 billion (£750 million) civil penalty paid to the government. The FTC has described the settlement as historic.

As of September 2026, Amazon has issued more than $845 million (£630 million) in refunds. Hundreds of millions of dollars remain to be paid to tens of millions of eligible shoppers. The revised order will "ensure more consumers who were harmed by Amazon's deceptive enrollment and cancellation practices benefit from the FTC's historic settlement," said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

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Who Qualifies and When Cash Arrives

According to the FTC, shoppers qualify if they are US Prime customers who signed up through a challenged enrollment flow, or tried and failed to cancel online, between 23 June 2019 and 23 June 2025. Earlier rounds covered people who used few Prime benefits. The expanded order now adds millions who used between 11 and 20 Prime benefits in a one-year period and were left out of earlier payments. They do not need to have filed a claim.

There's more money on the table for those already covered. If accepted payments do not reach the required threshold by February 2027, Amazon will send extra automatic payments to consumers who received earlier refunds. Shoppers who accepted a payment can receive an additional $149 (£110), bringing their total to $200, starting by April 2027.

The Case Behind the Refunds

The payouts trace back to a 2023 FTC lawsuit. Regulators alleged Amazon signed up tens of millions of customers for auto-renewing Prime without clear consent, using misleading website designs, then made the subscription difficult to cancel. The agency said the conduct broke the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, a federal law governing online sign-ups.

A US district court entered the settlement on 25 September 2025. Amazon resolved the case without admitting wrongdoing and has denied the allegations.

For eligible shoppers, the takeaway is simple. If money is owed, it should now arrive automatically, and it could be worth far more than the original cap.

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