The Amazon Prime settlement refund: who gets paid, how much, and when

Short version, as of October 12, 2026: you do not need to file anything. The claim deadline of July 27, 2026 has passed, but under a revised order announced on September 17, 2026, every remaining payment is sent automatically. The maximum has also gone up, from $51 to $200 per person, and more people now qualify than before.

The one thing you do need to do is accept the payment when it arrives. Payments expire 60 days after they are issued, and an unredeemed PayPal or Venmo payment or an uncashed check is the most common way eligible people end up with nothing.

What the settlement is

In September 2025 the Federal Trade Commission settled its case against Amazon, which alleged that Amazon enrolled people in Prime without their informed consent and made the subscription deliberately hard to cancel. Amazon agreed to pay $2.5 billion: a $1 billion civil penalty, and $1.5 billion set aside to refund Prime customers.

Refunds began in November 2025. By September 2026 Amazon had paid out more than $845 million of that fund, and payments are scheduled to continue through April 2027.

Who qualifies

You are eligible if all three of these are true:

You were an Amazon Prime customer in the United States.
Between June 23, 2019 and June 23, 2025, you either signed up through one of the sign-up screens the FTC challenged — the universal Prime decision page, the shipping selection page, single-page checkout, or the Prime Video sign-up flow — or you tried to cancel Prime online and were not able to.
You used no more than 20 Prime benefits in any 12-month period after enrolling. Benefits are things like watching Prime Video or streaming Prime Music.

The benefit threshold is the part that changed. Earlier rounds only covered people who used 10 benefits or fewer; the September 2026 revision extends refunds to people who used between 11 and 20. If you were turned down or heard nothing earlier because you used Prime a moderate amount, you may qualify now.

How the payment rounds work

The settlement has paid out in stages, and which stage you fall into depends mostly on how little you used Prime:

Round 1: automatic payments (from November 2025)

People who signed up through a challenged flow and used 3 or fewer Prime benefits in any 12-month period were paid automatically, up to $51. Nothing had to be filed.

Round 2: the claims process (closed July 27, 2026)

People who used 10 or fewer benefits were sent a notice by email or post with a Claim ID and PIN, and could file a claim for up to $51. That window has closed. If you filed a claim, it is being processed; if you missed it, read on — you are not necessarily out of luck.

Round 3: the revised order (from October 1, 2026)

Announced September 17, 2026. New automatic payments begin October 1, 2026, and they include the newly eligible group who used 11 to 20 benefits. The cap rises to $200 in total per person: anyone already paid can receive up to $149 more on top of an earlier $51. Supplemental payments are due to finish by April 2027, which the FTC describes as the final phase.

No claim, form or notice is required for any of this. Payments are sent automatically to eligible customers.

How the money arrives, and the 60-day deadline

Payments come one of two ways: electronically through PayPal or Venmo, or as a mailed check.

Either way, the payment expires 60 days after it is issued. An electronic payment has to be accepted, and a check has to be cashed, within that window. This is the single most important thing on this page, because the payment is easy to miss:

Electronic payments arrive as an email you have to act on. Check the inbox for the email address on your Amazon account, including the spam and promotions folders.
Checks are mailed to the default shipping address on your Prime account. If that address is out of date, the check goes to the old one.
The emails and the settlement website do not say "Amazon" or "refund" in the address, which makes them look suspicious and easy to delete. The genuine site is SubscriptionMembershipSettlement.com.

If a check arrives with the wrong name on it, or went to an old address, the settlement administrator can reissue it — there is a reissue portal on the settlement site, and you can email admin@SubscriptionMembershipSettlement.com.

If you think you qualify but haven't been paid

Work through these in order:

Search your email — including spam — for anything from the settlement administrator or mentioning SubscriptionMembershipSettlement.com. An unaccepted electronic payment is the most common explanation.
Check your default shipping address in your Amazon account, and whether a check could have gone to a previous address.
Wait for the October 2026 round if you used between 11 and 20 Prime benefits. You were not eligible until the revised order, so there was nothing to receive before October 1.
Contact the administrator if none of that explains it: email admin@SubscriptionMembershipSettlement.com or call 1-888-999-8094.

Not every Prime member qualifies. If you signed up through a flow that was not challenged, never tried to cancel, or used Prime heavily — more than 20 benefits in every 12-month period — you are outside the settlement, and no amount of chasing will change that.

Avoiding refund scams

A large, widely reported settlement paying automatically is ideal cover for scammers. The FTC's own guidance is blunt about the rules:

The FTC is not contacting anyone about these refunds. A call from someone claiming to be from the FTC is a scam.
You never pay to receive a refund. Anyone asking for a fee, a "processing charge" or gift cards to release your money is a scammer.
You never need to give a password or bank login. Real payments go out by PayPal, Venmo or check.
Go to the site yourself by typing SubscriptionMembershipSettlement.com rather than clicking a link in a message you were not expecting.

Report anything suspicious at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The official FTC page for the case is ftc.gov/amazon-refunds.

If you still have Prime and want to cancel it

Part of the settlement required Amazon to make cancelling Prime straightforward, so it should now be a short process rather than the multi-page detour at the heart of the case.

Sign in to Amazon and open Account & Lists → Prime Membership.
Choose End Membership.
Continue past the reminder of what you will lose, and confirm.

Cancelling Prime now does not affect your eligibility for the settlement, which is based on how you signed up and used Prime between 2019 and 2025. Services bought through Amazon Channels — Paramount+, Starz and similar — are separate subscriptions and are not ended by cancelling Prime; the general cancellation guide covers those.

Common questions

Do I need to file a claim for the Amazon Prime settlement?

No. The claim deadline of July 27, 2026 has passed, and under the revised order announced on September 17, 2026, all remaining payments are sent automatically to eligible customers. There is no form to fill in.

How much is the Amazon Prime settlement payment?

Up to $200 per person in total. Earlier payments were capped at $51; the revised order raises the cap to $200, so people who already received $51 can receive up to $149 more. The exact amount depends on the Prime fees you paid.

When will I get my Amazon Prime settlement payment?

New automatic payments begin on October 1, 2026, and supplemental payments are scheduled to be completed by April 2027. Payments already went out to the earliest-eligible group starting in November 2025.

Is SubscriptionMembershipSettlement.com legitimate?

Yes. It is the official settlement administrator's site, and the FTC links to it. It does not contain the words Amazon or refund, which is why many people assume it is a scam. Type the address yourself rather than following a link from an unexpected message.

What happens if I don't accept my payment in time?

Payments expire 60 days after they are issued. If a check has a problem — the wrong name or an old address — the administrator can reissue it through the settlement site or by email at admin@SubscriptionMembershipSettlement.com. Contact them as soon as you notice rather than waiting.

I used Prime Video a lot. Do I qualify?

Possibly. The threshold is no more than 20 Prime benefits in any 12-month period after you enrolled, not in every period. The revised order extended eligibility from 10 benefits to 20, so moderate users who were excluded before may now qualify.