Sharing your Amazon Prime free transport perk simply bought tougher

One in every of Amazon Prime’s most handy advantages is its quick and free transport. By the legacy Amazon Invitee program, customers may share that profit with one other grownup outdoors their family. Nevertheless, sadly, that will not be accessible for much longer.

Amazon has announced the shutdown of its Prime Invitee program, changing it with Amazon Household. The Prime Invitee program beforehand allowed customers to share their Prime subscription, together with quick and free transport, with one different grownup of their family, even when they lived at a special tackle. Whereas Amazon halted permitting new customers into the Prime Invitee program a number of years in the past, it nonetheless allowed customers who have been grandfathered into this system to proceed utilizing it (by way of The Verge).

If in case you have Prime advantages by the Prime Invitee program, you may lose entry to them on October 1, 2025. In case you dwell in a special family than the one that initially invited you, as a way to get Prime advantages again, you may want to join your individual Prime subscription. In case you do dwell in the identical family, although, Amazon Household may be of assist.

Amazon Household is not as beneficiant as its Invitee Program

Sharing outdoors your main residence is coming to an finish

On its up to date customer service page about sharing Prime advantages, Amazon states that “Amazon Household is changing the Prime Invitee Program.” In contrast to the Prime Invitee program, which allowed you to share your Prime advantages with one other grownup in your family who did not have the identical main tackle as you, Amazon Household solely permits you to share it with one different grownup in your family with the identical tackle, as much as 4 teenagers (in the event that they have been added earlier than April 7, 2025), and as much as 4 baby profiles. Amazon Household is not a brand new program, having been initially launched in 2015.

As for what Amazon considers the identical family, it states it because the “tackle you take into account to be your house and the place you spend the vast majority of your time.” The advantages you may share by Amazon Household embody quick and free transport, Prime Video (with advertisements), Prime Studying, audiobooks, eBooks, video games, and extra.

The sundown of the Prime Invitee program comes simply after Reuters recently reported that sign-ups for Prime subscriptions fell brief in comparison with final yr throughout Amazon’s latest Prime Day gross sales occasion. With Prime sign-ups reportedly down, ending the Prime Invitee program could also be a method Amazon is attempting to develop its subscriber base.

Amazon is attempting to encourage customers who’re being faraway from the Prime Invitee program to join their very own Prime membership by providing a particular promotion of a one-year Prime subscription for $15. After the yr ends, nevertheless, the value will return to Amazon Prime’s common month-to-month fee of $15 per 30 days.

This complete scenario jogs my memory lots of what Netflix and different streaming providers have carried out by ending password sharing to spice up subscriber numbers. Whether or not this can all work out for Amazon stays to be seen, however based mostly on how persons are feeling on Reddit, it could be laborious to persuade those that have been utilizing the Prime Invitee program for over a decade to join Prime. One Redditor wrote: “Been sharing for 15 years. With the elevated price and this petty cash seize we’re carried out.” Many different customers on Reddit are sharing the identical sentiment.

I personally imagine Amazon is lacking the mark with this resolution. I do know fairly a number of individuals who share their Prime subscription with others outdoors their family, and never having the ability to try this anymore reason for the Invitee program closing will likely be actually disappointing. Many have relations residing throughout the nation, so if you wish to share Prime with somebody in a special state, you may’t even try this with Amazon Household. Hopefully, Amazon updates Amazon Household to incorporate a member of the family outdoors the family, however with Prime sign-ups apparently down, I am not optimistic.