If you’re using someone else’s Amazon Prime membership for their free shipping, but you don’t live in the same household, you might soon have to pay another month’s worth of fees. According to Amazon’s updated customer service page, the online retail giant is ending its Prime invite-only benefits sharing program on October 1.
The Amazon Prime Invitee program is being replaced by Amazon Family, as previously reported by The Verge , which includes many of the same benefits.
However, Amazon Family only works for up to two adults and four children who live at the same “primary residential address” — a shared home. While you’ll still be able to use free shipping to send gifts elsewhere, your key invitees will no longer be able to use the Perk.
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Amazon isn’t the first company to crack down on sharing memberships between family and friends. The e-commerce giant is just the latest to follow suit with a crackdown on Netflix account sharing. We’ve also seen it with Disneyplus and YouTube Premium. While it’s unclear whether this change will work for Amazon, Netflix gained over 200,000 subscribers after the policy change.
Read more: More than just free shipping: Here are 19 underrated Amazon Prime Perks
What the Amazon Prime membership crackdown means for you
If you are a recipient of someone else’s major invite-only benefits, you have one more month to take advantage of the current program before the change goes into effect.
Starting in October, you’ll need to get your Amazon Prime membership to take advantage of the company’s free shipping program. First-time subscribers get a year of Prime membership for $15, but you’ll be stuck shelling out $15 a month to keep your subscription after that.
Read more: Your free pass to Prime Day deals (no membership required)
Start your 30-day FREE trial now and you’ll be able to shop the best deals without paying for a subscription – just remember to cancel before it renews.
Why is Amazon ending Prime Invitation?
The move comes shortly after Reuters reported that Amazon Prime account signups have slowed recently despite an extended July Prime Day event. While the company reported sales numbers, new Prime memberships fell short of internal expectations. In the U.S., they lagged behind last year’s signup metrics.
According to Reuters, Amazon recorded 5.4 million U.S. signups in the 21 days leading up to the Prime Day event, down about 116,000 from the same period in 2024 and 106,000 below the company’s own target, which is down about 2% in both metrics.
By forcing individual households to get their own subscriptions, Amazon might want to attract more prime accounts after not previously doing so.
The new Amazon Family program (formerly known as Amazon Homeownership) offers key benefits for up to two adults and four children in one household, including free shipping, Prime Video, Prime Reading, Amazon Music, and more. The subscription also includes benefits for some third-party businesses, like Grubhub.
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