Amazon is getting rid of its Prime benefit-sharing program, which used to let you share free shipping with people outside your household. The company announced the change in an update to its support page, stating that the program is ending on October 1, 2025.
If you were one of the lucky invitees who didn’t live with the main account holder, you’re going to have to sign up for your own Prime account. To be fair, Amazon is offering a one-year discounted rate of $15 total, and after that, it goes to the normal $15 per month. $15 for a whole year is a great deal and one I wish I could participate in. It’s a hard incentive to pass up, because it’s just like getting 11 months for free.
The goal here is likely to get more people to subscribe to Prime. This assumption feels more validated when you take into account that Reuters reported that Amazon didn’t meet its Prime sign-up goals in the U.S. during the extended Prime Day event back in July. However, the company did claim record sign-ups in the 25 days surrounding the event.
In place of the old benefit-sharing program, Amazon is pushing its Amazon Family program, which it says is the new way to share Prime perks. The big catch here is that everyone in the “Family” has to live at the same “primary residential address”. Before you try to find a loophole, Amazon defines this as “the address you consider to be your home and where you spend the majority of your time.”
The new Amazon Family program still lets you share a lot of the same perks you’re used to. You can share fast and free shipping on eligible items, access to exclusive Prime events and deals, and Prime Video with ads. It also includes Prime Reading, access to third-party benefits like Grubhub, and digital content like audiobooks, eBooks, and games. You can also share Amazon Music Prime.
You can only add one other adult you live with to your account, along with up to four teens and four child profiles if you add them before April 7, 2025. So if you have an adult roommate and a spouse, you’ll have to leave one out of your family account.
To create an Amazon Family with another adult, you have to agree to share payment methods, and Amazon will notify you if the other person moves one of your cards to their wallet. This is a good security measure, to be fair, but it would make me uncomfortable to share cards with someone who is not my wife.
A member can also leave and rejoin your family at any time, but they have to wait 12 months before they can join a different Amazon Family. This is a very strict waiting period, especially if you have a teen who is moving somewhere else and wants to join a roommate’s plan. In that case, Amazon forces them to get their own account for at least a year before sharing in another family plan, which is also likely a way to push Amazon Prime subscriptions.
Source: Amazon, The Verge