Amazon cuts Prime price for some long-standing customers
German subscribers who joined before September 2022 will temporarily pay the old annual rate again.
Amazon is temporarily cutting the Prime rate in Germany for some long-standing subscribers. The move follows a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof), which declared the 2022 price increase invalid because customers had not explicitly agreed to it.
According to the information available, affected customers will again pay €69 per year rather than €89.90 at their next renewal. The adjustment applies to customers who took out their subscription before 15 September 2022 and have used it continuously ever since. Amazon will apply the reduction automatically to eligible accounts.
On Thursday, Germany’s highest court ruled that Amazon should not have increased the price unilaterally in 2022. According to the court, the subscription terms were insufficiently transparent about customers’ rights. The monthly price rose at the time from €7.99 to €8.99; the annual fee was also increased.
The ruling does not automatically mean that all previously paid additional costs will be refunded immediately. The question of which amounts customers can reclaim is being dealt with in separate proceedings. German consumer organisation Verbraucherzentrale Nordrhein-Westfalen has launched a collective action for this purpose.
For Amazon, the immediate price cut is limited to a specific group of existing customers in Germany. The company has not announced that the same step will automatically apply to new customers, other countries or customers who have since changed their subscription. Amazon’s regular German rate is still listed on its own information page as €8.99 per month or €89.90 per year.
The case is relevant to digital subscriptions because price changes are often governed through general terms and conditions. The ruling does not mean that every price increase without individual consent is prohibited. Companies must, however, make clear which contractual basis they are relying on and what options customers have to object or end their subscription.
For Dutch Prime customers, the German judgment does not automatically create an entitlement to a lower rate. Contract terms, consumer law and the company concerned may differ from country to country. The new German measure is therefore primarily a concrete implementation of a court ruling, not a general European price rule.
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The prices, target group and legal reason for the temporary adjustment have been confirmed by multiple publicly available sources. The article clearly distinguishes between lower future rates and a refund that has not yet been determined.
- confirmed Amazon is temporarily reducing the annual fee for certain existing customers from €89.90 to €69. — Reported by BR24 and independent coverage of the implementation of the ruling. source
- confirmed The Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) declared the 2022 increase invalid. — BR24 and Tagesschau describe the ruling. source
- confirmed The court referred to insufficiently transparent general terms and conditions. — BR24 cites the principle of transparency as grounds for the judgment. source
- confirmed A refund of previous additional costs is still being considered separately. — The consumer organisation describes the collective action for refunds. source
Editor's note
The temporary price reduction, the target group and the ruling have been confirmed. An automatic refund of previous additional costs has not been confirmed and is therefore described as a separate legal issue.Sources
- BGH kippt Preiserhöhung bei Amazon Prime — BR24
- Erfolg für Verbraucherschützer: BGH kippt Preiserhöhung bei Amazon Prime — Tagesschau
- Preiserhöhung für Prime-Mitgliedschaften: Sammelklage gegen Amazon — Verbraucherzentrale
- Prime-Mitgliedschaft: Kosten und Leistungen — Amazon Deutschland
More on this in Dutch media
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