Idaho Prime Members to Receive Part of Amazon’s $2.5 Billion Settlement

Remember a few weeks ago when thousands of Idahoans “randomly” found surprise settlement payments from Facebook in their Venmo, PayPal or bank accounts? It’s about to happen again. This time, it’s Amazon’s turn. 

If you’re like most of us, you’ve probably clicked “yes” to Amazon Prime at some point without fully meaning to. When I signed up for my Amazon Prime account, I did it simply to get a safe we planned to use for a station contest to Boise by the day of the event we wanted to use it at. 

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I needed it fast, so I clicked through whatever boxes Amazon asked me to click. The safe got here on time, the contest was fun and somewhere in that process I apparently became a Prime member. Did I mean to sign up for an ongoing subscription? Not really. Did I fully understand what I was agreeing to? Also not really. I couldn’t figure out how to cancel it, so I still have that membership. Well played Amazon.

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While I can look back and laugh because now there's rarely a week that goes by that I don’t order something on Amazon, not everyone that got tricked into signing up feels the same way. 

That’s why the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took action against the online retail giant, forcing Amazon into a $2.5 billion settlement. The FTC’s lawsuit explains that Amazon not only enrolled millions of customers in Prime without their consent, but also made it difficult for them to cancel. $1.5 billion of the settlement will go back to affected customers. 

Those payments are being issued automatically and just started going out on November 12. Amazon will continue issuing those through Christmas Eve. Those payments will vary, but could be up to $51.

Thousands of Idahoans Are Eligible for an Automatic Refund

During the holidays, every dollar helps so you’d be pretty happy with $51. According to the FTC’s website, you may receive an automatic refund if you meet all three of these requirements: 

• You’re an Amazon Prime customer in the United States
• You signed up through a “challenged enrollment flow” like a single page checkout or shipping selection page between June 23, 2019 and June 23, 2025
• You used no more than three Prime benefits like Prime Video or Prime Music in any 12-month period after being tricked into signing up. 

How Do I Get My Money?

If you’re eligible, you don’t have to fill out a claim like you did for the Facebook suit. You simply need to keep an eye out for an email asking if you’d like to claim your money with PayPal or Venmo. If you don’t see the email within 15 days, Amazon will mail you a check instead. That will be sent to the default shipping address on your Prime subscription.