Check your email: Notices sent regarding $309M Amazon returns settlement

(NEXSTAR) – If you’ve returned an item you bought via Amazon over a several-year period, you may qualify for payment in a new class action settlement.

Back in January, the online retail giant agreed to pay $309 million to settle claims that customers were wrongly denied refunds for product returns. Reuters reported that Amazon, while denying any wrongdoing, will also provide other benefits as part of the settlement.

In a statement to the outlet, an Amazon spokesperson said an internal review in 2025 uncovered “a small subset of returns where we issued a refund without the payment completing, or where we could not verify that the correct item had been sent back to us, so no refund had been issued.”

Settlement administrators announced last week that while a proposed settlement has been agreed upon, it awaits court approval. The court has also not found Amazon “liable in any way,” or that the company “engaged in any wrongdoing or misconduct of any kind.”

Some have started to receive notices (which may be in your email’s spam folder) that they qualify for payment, according to posts on Reddit .

First, you need to have started a return to Amazon or asked for a refund for a product purchased on Amazon and received in the U.S. between Sept. 5, 2017, and Feb. 12, 2026. Further, you need to have either not received a refund, even though you should have, or your refund from Amazon was “untimely or incorrect,” and/or, you received a refund only to later be charged by Amazon, incorrectly, for the product or products that you were returning.

Settlement administrators explain that Amazon implemented a process to pay refunds to the customers it found were impacted as part of the aforementioned 2025 internal review. Those payments are separate from the settlement’s common fund, which Amazon is paying $309.5 million into.

After paying other costs and expenses associated with the settlement, the fund will be divided among two subclasses of class members. Members of both are “expected to receive a full refund plus interest,” but they vary in how much proof they need to provide that they qualify.

Subclass A, which will receive more than 92% of the remaining funds, according to the settlement administrators, qualify for automatic payments. These customers were impacted by “computer and payment processing errors,” court documents explained , or Amazon records showed the return wasn’t completed, “for example, because said return was potentially lost in transit.” These members will not have to file a claim but will need to identify their preferred payment option after the court approves the settlement.

Subclass B, meanwhile, will need to submit claims that show “more likely than not” that they are entitled to payment, per court documents. These customers need also to have “experienced failed refunds or retrocharges,” but Amazon’s available records “do not establish that it is more likely than not Amazon incorrectly processed the return.”

You may fall into both subclasses, but your payouts may arrive as a single payment, administrators said.

If you qualify for the settlement, you can expect to receive notification via email of your status. This will include a Notice ID and Confirmation Code that you will use to file a claim online , if you are a member of Subclass B. Paper forms are also available, but you will need to mail them in.

The form asks you to provide your contact information as well as details about the returns that were rejected or the incorrect refunds you received through Amazon. You will also need to identify your preferred payout option.

Should your claim be verified, the available options include an Amazon gift card, a check, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, and a virtual prepaid card.

You’ll have until Dec. 1, 2026, to submit your claim.

What else should I know about this proposed settlement?

You can find more details about the settlement here .

It is still pending court approval, with a hearing scheduled for March 16, 2027. That date could move, and any appeals of the decision could delay the payout process.

Should the settlement be approved, Subclass A members will have 105 days to select their preferred payout option.