How to Cancel Amazon Prime

It's easy to leave Amazon Prime. But you do need to be aware of a few caveats

The final step to canceling Prime membership.
The final step to canceling Amazon Prime.
by
Tom Nelson
Tom Nelson has written hundreds of articles, tutorials, and reviews for Other World Computing and About.com. He is the president of Coyote Moon, Inc.
Updated August 28, 2018

Amazon Prime seemed like a great deal when you signed up, but now you've noticed you don't use the service as much as you thought; maybe it's time to cancel.

How to Cancel Amazon Prime Membership

Canceling Amazon Prime starts at the Amazon website, but the process comes with a few quirks. However, before you can cancel your membership, you must be signed into your account.

If you're not already signed in and see Hello, Sign in above the Account & List menu, place your cursor over the Account & List menu to reveal a Sign In button. Select Sign in and follow the onscreen instructions to log in.

Amazon Account List
Select Your Prime Membership from the Account List to stat the cancelation process.

Once logged in, you're ready to cancel your Amazon Prime membership:

  1. Hover the cursor over the Account & Lists menu item till a drop-down menu appears.
  2. Select the item labeled Your Prime Membership.
    1. Note: You may be asked to log in again. If so, follow the on-screen instructions.
  3. A new page will open listing all of the Prime member benefits. In the far left sidebar near the bottom, you will find an item labeled End Membership and Benefits.
  4. Select End Membership and Benefits. Don't worry; you'll be given a chance to change your mind.
  5. Amazon will display a list of Prime benefits you will lose and provides you with a few choices including Keep My Benefits, Cancel My Benefits, and Remind Me Later. The last option will keep you enrolled in Prime but you will receive a reminder 3 days before your next Prime membership renewal.
  6. Select Cancel My Benefits to continue with the cancelation process.
    1. Note: Amazon will offer to change your payment method from yearly to monthly. You may want to consider the monthly subscription if you only need Prime for just a little while longer, maybe to complete a video series.
  1. You can select Remind Me Later, Continue to Cancel, or Keep My Membership. If you're going to cancel, select Continue to Cancel.
  2. Amazon will display a new page and once again give you the option to remind you later, change your mind and keep your membership, or to finally cancel your Prime subscription. If you wish to cancel, select the option that reads End on MM, DD, Year, where MM is the month, DD is the day and Year is the year.
  3. Once you select End On, a cancellation confirmation message will appear, along with an option to sign back up.

What to Watch Out For

There are always a few pitfalls to watch out for when canceling a subscription; Amazon does a reasonable job pointing out issues that could arise during the Prime cancelation process. Some additional stumbling blocks to watch out for include: 

  • Refunds: Once Amazon charges your credit card at the end of a free trial period, or at the normal subscription renewal time, you have three days to cancel the service and receive a refund. A full refund may be given if the Prime service wasn't used, while partial refunds are applied if you used the service at any time during the three-day cancelation window.
  • Free trial: You won’t be able to sign up for another Prime free trial for at least a year. If you decide you want to use Prime before the year is up, you'll need to sign up as a paying member.
  • Additional Subscriptions: Prime offers many services that are tied to your Prime membership. Subscriptions such as Prime video or Prime Music won't renew once your Prime account has been canceled.
  • Prime Photos: Unlimited Prime storage reverts to Amazon Drive storage and any data storage rates will be applied against the space taken up by your photos. Use Amazon Storage to review rate plans and manage your storage needs.
  • Amazon account: Canceling Prime does not affect your basic Amazon account. You'll remain an account holder who can use of all of the non-Prime Amazon services.