Overview
- The Bundesgerichtshof in Karlsruhe ruled on Thursday that Amazon's 2022 clause for raising Prime fees was insufficiently clear about customers' rights and is legally ineffective for that contract term.
- Amazon told affected legacy members in an email that it will temporarily lower the annual Prime fee from €89.90 to €69.00 automatically from the next billing date for accounts opened before 15 September 2022 and left unchanged.
- Already paid overcharges will not be refunded automatically so customers must either file individual reimbursement claims, which are generally limited to the past three years, or join the Verbraucherzentrale Nordrhein‑Westfalen collective action at the Oberlandesgericht Hamm.
- More than 145,000 consumers had registered in the federal suit register to join the collective case, which seeks repayments reaching back to the original September 2022 price change and may pause statutory limitation periods for participants.
- The ruling sets a clear legal standard for subscription contracts that require firms to state plainly whether customers must object, cancel, or can keep prior terms, and it is likely to prompt fresh or strengthened suits against other streaming and subscription providers.