Amazon Prime: Users can register for class action lawsuit against price increase

The consumer protection agency NRW files a class action lawsuit against what it considers an impermissible price increase for Amazon Prime. Sign up now.

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Jan 13, 2026 at 1:14 pm CET

3 min. read

By

Daniel Herbig

Long-time users of Amazon Prime can now register for a class action lawsuit filed by the consumer protection agency of North Rhine-Westphalia. This concerns a price increase from 2022, which consumer advocates consider invalid. Participants in the class action lawsuit can currently hope to receive up to 60 Euros back.

Amazon had increased the prices for its subscription service Prime in 2022 without asking users for explicit consent beforehand, consumer advocates accuse the online retailer. At the beginning of 2025, the Regional Court of Düsseldorf agreed with the consumer advocates: Amazon had increased prices based on a price increase clause in the terms and conditions, which was not lawful. The price increase was therefore invalid.

Following this, the consumer protection agency NRW filed a remedial lawsuit (File No. I-13 VKl 1/25) with the Higher Regional Court of Hamm, which users can now join. A prerequisite for participation is, among other things, that the Prime subscription was concluded before 07/26/2022. You can check whether you qualify for participation with a tool from the consumer protection agencies.

Sum could still grow

“The unilateral price increase without explicit consent from customers was unlawful,” says Wolfgang Schuldzinski from the consumer protection agency NRW. “However, going to court is tedious for individuals, which is why we offer those affected a simple way to assert their rights easily and free of charge through the class action lawsuit.”

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Amazon had increased the price from 7.99 Euros to 8.99 Euros on September 15, 2022, for monthly payments, and from 69 to 89.90 Euros for annual payments. In the student subscription, the price increased by 50 cents for monthly and 10.90 Euros for annual payments. The consumer protection agency wants to reclaim the amounts paid since then beyond the old subscription amount for all users participating in the lawsuit. “Depending on the subscription model, this would currently be up to approx. 60 Euros,” says Schuldzinski. “This sum will increase depending on the duration of the proceedings.”

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This is one of several class action lawsuits that consumer protection agencies are currently pursuing against Amazon. The consumer protection agency Saxony is filing a parallel lawsuit against the introduction of advertising on Prime Video. The lawsuit register for this class action lawsuit has been open since May 2025.