Amazon is reducing the price of its annual Prime subscription for long-term members back down from 90 to 69 euros. The company is responding to a final judgment by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), which declared a 2022 price increase invalid.
Who Benefits from the Price Cut
The adjustment applies exclusively to existing customers whose Prime membership was initiated prior to September 15, 2022, and has remained continuously active ever since. Users who subscribed after this cutoff date will continue to pay the standard rate of 90 euros per year. Those who meet the criteria will save 21 euros annually, while the scope of the service remains unchanged.
According to reports by heise online, the subscription fee will be automatically adjusted on the next contractual billing date. Affected users do not need to take any action themselves to receive the legacy rate.
Federal Court Ruling and Uncertain Duration
In customer notifications, Amazon explicitly refers to the reduction as temporary. The company has left open how long the 69-euro fee will remain in place. The ruling by the BGH (case ref. III ZR 205/25) concluded legal proceedings initiated by the consumer advice center of North Rhine-Westphalia (Verbraucherzentrale NRW). Previously, the Düsseldorf Regional Court in January 2025 and the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf in October 2025 had already declared the price increase unlawful. According to the BGH, the adjustment clauses in Amazon’s terms and conditions were phrased too vaguely; customers could not clearly determine whether they had the right to reject price adjustments or merely possessed a cancellation right.
In mid-September 2022, Amazon had raised the annual fee from 69 to 90 euros and the monthly fee from 8 to 9 euros. While Amazon disagreed with the courts’ legal assessments, it is now implementing the legally binding decision for future payments.
Refunds Only via Separate Class Action
The current price adjustment applies only to upcoming billings. Amazon will not automatically refund the excess amounts paid since autumn 2022. Anyone seeking to claim back past overpayments will need to turn to separate legal proceedings.
To this end, Verbraucherzentrale NRW is pursuing a model declaratory action before the Higher Regional Court of Hamm (case ref. I-13 VKl 1/25). Depending on the membership tier and duration, consumer advocates calculate potential claims of up to 60 euros. Affected users with a Prime or Prime Student contract signed before September 15, 2022, can still register free of charge in the register of actions maintained by the Federal Office of Justice.
Sources: Heise – News
