For more than a decade, Amazon Prime members could share their free shipping perks with people outside their household, but that option is now gone.
As of October 1st, Amazon has officially ended its Prime Invitee Program, a feature that allowed members to extend Prime benefits like free two-day shipping to friends or family who lived at a separate address.
Matt Nawrocki, a consumer from Scottsdale, Arizona, had been using a friend’s Prime membership since college, after receiving a link through the Invitee Program in 2009.
When he logged into his Amazon account earlier this month, he noticed the Prime logo was missing, and quickly found the reason on Amazon’s customer service page.
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"I'd say a lot of legacy accounts from back in the day, they're going to be disappointed that they can't share their benefits and have to pony up money," Nawrocki said.
The Invitee Program was sunset back in 2015, meaning new users could no longer join. However, those already enrolled were still grandfathered in, until now.
In its place, Amazon is promoting its Amazon Family program, which allows a Prime member to share benefits with one other adult and up to four teens or children. However, all users must reside at the same address.
“If you live with the person you were sharing benefits with, this is super easy,” Kristin McGrath, an editor for The Krazy Coupon Lady, said.
For users who lost access to Prime Invitee, Amazon is offering a one-time deal: if they sign up for their own membership by December 31st, they can get a full year of Prime for just $14.99, the price of a single month. After that, the membership will renew at the regular annual price of $139.
McGrath also reminds shoppers that you don’t need Prime to access all of Amazon’s benefits. Free shipping is still available on eligible orders over $35, and there are other creative ways to save.
“If you know someone who has Prime, you could share a login or ask them to order for you,” she said.
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Nawrocki says he’s still weighing whether the benefits of Prime are worth it based on how often he shops, but for now, he’s taking advantage of the $14.99 trail.
“It not only upgrades your Prime credit card to 5 or 6 percent cash back,” he said, “You also still can have that free shipping, which will pay for itself literally within two or three orders.."
For those who act fast, the deal could buy another year of convenience, even if the sharing days are over.
This story was reported on-air by Jane Caffrey at the Scripps News Group station in Phoenix, and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
