Amazon and FTC to Present Opening Arguments in Prime Membership Trial

Amazon and the Federal Trade Commission are reportedly scheduled to present their opening arguments Tuesday (Sept. 23) in a case in which the FTC alleges that Amazon tricked people into signing up for its Prime membership program and made it difficult for them to cancel.

Jury selection began Monday (Sept. 22) and the case is expected to last about a month, CNBC reported Tuesday.

In its complaint, the FTC alleges that Amazon had a button on its site that told users it would complete their transaction, but didn’t tell them it would enroll them in Prime, and that set up a cancellation process in which users had to go through four web pages and 15 options, according to the report.

Amazon has argued that the processes for enrolling in and cancelling Prime were clear, simple and transparent, the report said. The company added that a popular program like Prime will inevitably have a small percentage of customers who complain.

The FTC’s suit against Amazon is part of the regulator’s larger campaign against what it said are deceptive subscription cancellation policies, Reuters reported Tuesday.

This campaign has been pursued by the regulator under administrations of both parties, according to the report. The FTC’s investigation of Amazon Prime began under the first Trump administration, and the lawsuit was filed under the Biden administration.

The FTC also filed complaints against subscription and cancellation policies of Uber’s Uber One in April and LA Fitness in August, per the report.

PYMNTS reported in June 2023 that the FTC’s suit against Amazon raised a larger debate over subscription models in general and might have seismic impacts well beyond Amazon.

When the FTC filed its lawsuit against Uber in April, the regulator alleged that the company charged consumers for the subscription service without their consent, failed to deliver promised savings and made it difficult for them to cancel the service.

An Uber spokesperson told PYMNTS at the time that the company’s processes “follow the letter and spirit of the law.”

In its complaint against LA Fitness, the FTC alleged that the company made it “exceedingly difficult” to cancel memberships.

LA Fitness parent company Fitness International said in an Aug. 20 statement that the allegations are “without merit” and that the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, which the FTC cited in its complaint, was designed to address only online transactions and does not require a specific method of cancellation.