Amazon has agreed to refund $3 million to eligible Arizona consumers and make additional payments totalling $4 million as part of a settlement with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office over allegations that the company made it unnecessarily difficult for customers to cancel their Prime memberships, according to a report by Moneywise. Customers were required to navigate through at least six steps to cancel their subscriptions before changes were made in 2023, according to the complaint.
The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes in 2024, which accused the e-commerce giant of using “unfair and deceptive business practices” in its Prime cancellation process. Amazon denied any wrongdoing as part of the agreement.
In 2025, the company settled a separate lawsuit brought by the US Federal Trade Commission over allegations that consumers were enrolled in Prime without consent and faced obstacles when attempting to cancel.
The company “denies that it ever engaged in activity that violates any Arizona law,” according to the settlement cited in reports. Amazon maintained that it had not violated Arizona law While agreeing to the settlement. The Arizona case follows broader regulatory scrutiny of Amazon’s Prime subscription practices.
The state said consumers had to work through a complicated series of screens and prompts before being allowed to cancel Prime, making the process more difficult than necessary Under the consent judgment, the $3 million goes to the Attorney General’s Office to be distributed to “eligible consumers. These are people who tried to end their $139-a-year Prime membership but ran into hurdles that Mayes says were purposely designed to make cancellation difficult, according to spokesman Richie Taylor. Mayes sued in 2024. Her complaint said that until 2023, Amazon used a system that required at least six separate actions to cancel Prime online, despite advertising that customers could “cancel anytime. At one point it reduced cancellations by 14% as fewer members reached the final cancellation page, she said in legal filings. Prime members spend an average of $1,400 a year on purchases, more than double the spending of non-Prime customers, and Amazon collects $25 billion a year in Prime fees, about three-quarters of it from the US, according to her filings.
Arizona officials alleged that Amazon employed what are known as “dark patterns” – design tactics that can influence consumer behaviour through confusing interfaces, repeated prompts and misleading wording. The lawsuit claimed that the company’s cancellation process, internally referred to as “Project Iliad,” was intentionally designed to discourage users from ending their memberships. The steps were to log in to Prime Central, click “manage membership,” go to “end membership,” click “continue to cancel” twice, and then click “end now. Mayes said the system was a success for Amazon. The process was never disclosed to people signing up, she said.
Amazon will also: Amazon denies that it engaged in any activity that violates Arizona law. The state’s attorneys agreed they cannot claim that any of Amazon’s past, present or future business practices are illegal.