Technologies

Amazon Prime Shared Free Shipping Faces Crackdown Next Month

Amazon is ending its Prime Invitee program next month. Here’s how this could affect your free deliveries.

If you’re using someone else’s Amazon Prime membership for their free shipping but you don’t live in the same household, you might need to pay another monthly cost soon. According to Amazon’s updated customer service page, the online retail giant is ending its Prime Invitee benefit-sharing program on Oct. 1.

Amazon’s Prime Invitee program is being replaced by Amazon Family, as reported earlier by The Verge, which includes many of the same benefits.

However, Amazon Family only works for up to two adults and four children living in the same «primary residential address» — a shared home. While you’ll still be able to use free shipping to send gifts elsewhere, your Prime Invitees will no longer be able to use the perk.

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Amazon isn’t the first company to prevent membership sharing between family and friends. The e-commerce giant is just the latest to follow Netflix’s account-sharing crackdown. We also saw it done with DisneyPlus and YouTube Premium. While it’s unclear whether this change will work for Amazon, Netflix gained over 200,000 subscribers following its policy change.

Read more: More Than Just Free Shipping: Here Are 19 Underrated Amazon Prime Perks

What the Amazon Prime membership crackdown means for you

If you’re the beneficiary of someone else’s Prime Invitee benefits, you have one more month to take advantage of the current program before the changes take effect.

Starting in October, you’ll have to get your own Amazon Prime subscription in order to benefit from the company’s free shipping program. First-time subscribers get a year of Prime membership for $15, but you’ll be stuck shelling out $15 a month to maintain your subscription thereafter.

Read more: Your Free Pass to Prime Day Deals (No Membership Required)

Why is Amazon ending Prime Invitee?

This move follows shortly after Reuters reported that Amazon’s Prime account signups slowed down recently despite an extended July Prime Day event. While the company reported blowout sales numbers, new Prime subscriptions didn’t meet internal expectations. In the US, they fell short of last year’s signup metrics.

According to Reuters, Amazon registered 5.4 million US signups over the 21-day run-up to the Prime Day event, around 116,000 fewer than during the same period in 2024, and 106,000 below the company’s own goal, a roughly 2% decline in both metrics.

By forcing separate households to have their own subscriptions, Amazon could be looking to attract more Prime accounts after previously failing to do so.

The new Amazon Family program (previously known as Amazon Household) offers Prime benefits to up to two adults and four children in a single home, including free shipping, Prime Video, Prime Reading, Amazon Music and more. The subscription also includes benefits for certain third-party companies, such as GrubHub.

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Hurry to Nab the Baseus Bowie MH1 Headphones for Over Half Off With This Early Black Friday Deal

This deal drops the price of this premium pair to just $47, but this discount ends soon.

High-quality noise-canceling headphones can cost a pretty penny, especially if you are after adaptive ANC, all-day comfort, and a reliable battery life. Most options with all these features sit well over $100, but we just found a way to score a premium pair for less than $50.

Amazon has a solid early Black Friday deal on the Baseus Bowie MH1 headphones. You can get them for 20% off right now, which drops the price to $80. But stack that with the $25 on-page coupon and use the promo code 8JWTGEUN at checkout, and you slash another $33 off. That brings the final price down to just $47, which is a steal considering all the features you are going to enjoy.

The headphones come with cloud-soft protein leather earcups with resilient memory foam for cloud-like comfort. The pair is capable of blocking up to 99.8% of noise with –48 dB deep noise cancellation, and it adapts to your surroundings as needed.

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The 36mm drivers and full-range LCP diaphragms give you clear, rich sound no matter what you listen to. In addition, with Baseus Immersive Spatial Acoustics, the audio surrounds you for a more natural listening experience. For clearer calls, the headphones also pack 5-mic sound sensors with AI-powered voice enhancement and wind-noise reduction. You won’t have to repeat yourself constantly.

Battery-wise, you get up to 80 hours of playtime with ANC off, and 55 hours with it on. A quick 10-minute top-up can also get you up to an additional 10 hours of playback, which is great for when you’re out and about.

HEADPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK

Beats Studio Pro Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (Black):

$200 (save $151)
Bose QuietComfort Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones:

$199 (save $150)
Apple AirPods Max ANC Wireless Headphones (USB-C Charging, Midnight):

$500 (save $50)
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones:

$329 (save $100)
Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones (Black):

$328 (save $72)

Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

Why this deal matters

High-end audio gear doesn’t come cheap. This deal takes over 50% off a powerful pair of headphones, making the upgrade easy. It won’t last long, though, so it’s best to snap it up sooner rather than later.

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