Arizonans should be able to cancel a subscription as easily as they signed up for it, without jumping through endless hoops.
Amazon has agreed to pay $3 million to eligible customers in Arizona after the state's attorney general accused the company of making Prime membership cancellation unnecessarily difficult. According to the Arizona Daily Star, the money will go to the Attorney General's Office for distribution among eligible consumers. The company will also pay $1.5 million into a fund for investigating consumer fraud and educating residents, and a further $1.5 million towards the state's legal expenses. It has additionally agreed to donate $1 million to charities chosen by Attorney General Kris Mayes, all of which work on providing food to people in need.
The lawsuit, filed by Mayes in 2024 under Arizona's consumer fraud laws, centred on the online cancellation process. The state alleged that customers had to navigate at least six separate steps to end a subscription, despite advertising promising that members could cancel anytime. The filings set out the sequence: logging in to Prime Central, clicking 'Manage membership', selecting 'End membership', clicking 'Continue to cancel', selecting 'Continue to cancel' again, and finally clicking 'End now'. Mayes argued that the design discouraged cancellations and retained members who might otherwise have left, and claimed the system had at one point helped Amazon cut cancellations by 14 per cent. The state also argued that customers were not told about these hurdles when they signed up.
The financial context in the filings was pointed. Prime costs $139 a year in the US, members reportedly spend an average of $1,400 annually on Amazon purchases — more than twice the figure for non-members — and Prime subscription revenue was cited at roughly $25 billion a year, around three-quarters of it from American subscribers. The settlement follows a separate agreement with the Federal Trade Commission last year requiring changes to cancellation practices, including a $1 billion civil penalty and $1.5 billion in customer refunds. Mayes pursued her own case on the argument that the federal deal might not cover everyone affected or compensate them for all their costs.
Amazon has denied violating Arizona law. Under the consent judgment the company admits no wrongdoing, and state attorneys have agreed not to claim that its past, present or future business practices are illegal. A spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office, Richie Taylor, said the aim was to recover as much money as possible for affected consumers. Mayes said: "Arizonans should be able to cancel a subscription as easily as they signed up for it, without jumping through endless hoops."
The settlement does not end the state's scrutiny of Amazon. Mayes is separately pursuing a 2024 lawsuit, pending before Maricopa County Superior Court, over how products and sellers are displayed on the site. It challenges the Buy Box feature, alleging the algorithm favours Amazon's own goods or sellers in its Fulfillment by Amazon programme, and claims nearly 98 per cent of purchases go through the Buy Box. Amazon says the case was filed without reviewing a single company document and misunderstands its business. No hearing date has been set. The terms of the refund distribution, including who qualifies and when payments will be made, have not been disclosed.
