Since Amazon just announced that its Prime program will soon begin lending books to its Kindle owners, I thought now would be a good time to examine Amazon Prime’s Terms and Conditions to look for interesting or nasty provisions that you might want to know about.
1. Up to 5 Users per Prime Account. In case you weren’t aware of this, Amazon Prime members can invite up to 4 other “invitees” to use their membership benefits. This applies to either family members or business associates (depending on the type of account). However, only the original account holder can use the additional services such as instant streaming video. I assume this restriction will apply to the new Kindle book-lending service, as well, but we will have to wait and see once that is made part of the terms and conditions.
2. Geographic Limitations. Prime is limited to certain products being shipped to continental United States addresses. That means that Alaska, Hawaii, PO boxes, APO/FPO, and United States territories, possessions, and protectorates (e.g., Puerto Rico) are out. That said, members are still entitled to free Standard shipping to PO boxes in the continental United States and APO/FPO address with United States zip codes.
3. Method of Payment. Strangely, the allowable method of payment for your Amazon Prime membership is only credit card. Amazon specifically states that debit cards—even those with Visa or Mastercard logos—are not to be used for purchasing your automatically-renewing Prime membership. Presumably this is to keep the purchase from being rejected by the member’s bank, but it’s still kind of odd.
4. Prime Renewal. As I mentioned above, Amazon Prime automatically renews each year. That said, if for some reason it does not automatically renew, you can renew your membership within 30 days of its cancellation and the program will renew retroactively. In other words, the renewal date will be as if it had automatically renewed. What is not addressed is whether that retroactive renewal will provide you a rebate on shipping charges you paid between the time that the membership expired and it was renewed.
5. Refunds of Membership Fee. If you purchase Prime and cancel it before using any of its benefits, you will be refunded the full price of the membership. Excellent. But if you have used the free shipping or accessed any instant videos, you are not entitled to a refund. In addition, if Amazon makes changes to certain benefits after you have used them, or terminates your Prime membership, you will be given a prorated refund.
And that’s about it for Amazon Prime. In all, their terms and conditions are very short and readable, and there isn’t much in there that is concerning. It is much more of a contract that is used to explain the program, rather than a contract that is used to screw the consumer, like some contracts we have seen here at Pro and Contracts.
Have you used Amazon Prime? What has your experience been? Have you ever had trouble getting a refund for your membership fee? Tell us what happened in the comments.
About Graham Martin
Graham Martin is a solo practitioner focusing on Contract law (including drafting, review, and litigation). He operates Martin Legal Services, LLC in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
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Thanks, Graham! Glad I took the time to read this. Need to visit your site more often– lots of helpful stuff on here! -Julia
Thanks, Julia! I’m always happy to hear that someone is finding my analysis and information helpful.
Please let me know if there is anything you would like to see. I’m always looking for suggestions.