Overview
- The proposed order would bar misrepresenting delivery costs or a “100% satisfaction” guarantee and require express consent before charging for auto-renewing Instacart+ memberships.
- The settlement requires court approval before refunds are issued, with details on eligibility and distribution to be announced by the FTC.
- Regulators say “free delivery” promotions still imposed mandatory service fees that could add roughly 15% to orders and that refund options were buried in self-service menus.
- The FTC alleges hundreds of thousands of consumers were billed for Instacart+ without receiving benefits or refunds.
- Instacart denies wrongdoing and says its pricing and policies are transparent, while the agency continues a separate probe into differential pricing linked to the Eversight tool that the company describes as randomized tests run by retailers.