Amazon users are canceling their Prime memberships after discovering that shopping on the platform is cheaper without the $139 service.
A woman recently shared her experience about sending a friend an Amazon link for drill bits to determine if they were right.
'He says 'Yeah get them, they're only $12.' I'm looking on my end and it shows $16,' she said in a TikTok video.
The revelation came when she learned her friend was not a Prime member.
'He gets a discount on the products. I have to pay additional,' she continued. 'I thought my Amazon Prime membership covered the two-day shipping. But it does not. I find that to be fraudulent.'
The video, which has more than 100,000 comments, was flooded with people saying they have canceled their Prime for that reason.
'I literally have been debating about canceling my Amazon Prime this is the sign I needed,' one user commented.
While another claimed to have canceled theirs while watching the video.
Shipping Costs and User Frustrations
Amazon's website states that 'Prime members get free two-day shipping on millions of items, and free one-day shipping on more than 15 million items,' but some consumers have suggested that the shipping costs are baked into item prices.
One user commented on the video that shopping without Prime is cheaper because 'when you spend over $25, it's free shipping.'
Other Amazon members shared frustrations about their orders not arriving within the promised two-day delivery.
'Once I realized my purchases did not arrive in the time stated I canceled,' another user shared.
Legal Challenges Against Amazon
In the comments of LoveTheLawrences_ video, some suggest the pricing issue could be the next class action lawsuit against Amazon. Amazon was hit with a class action lawsuit this year that accused the e-commerce giant of failing to meet its stated 'guaranteed' delivery for some purchases. However, a Seattle judge dismissed the case in June citing that the customer had not shown how Amazon's delivery practices would violate Washington's consumer protection law.
'It is not unfair or deceptive for Amazon to fail to abide by promises it did not make,' Evanson wrote.
The FTC accused Amazon last year of using 'manipulative, coercive or deceptive user-interface designs known as "dark patterns" to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically renewing Prime subscriptions.'
Amazon has denied any wrongdoing in these lawsuits, which also name three of its senior executives as defendants. The company stated:
'The three individual defendants, whose lives have been upended by the FTC's baseless and unjust allegations, are particularly eager to see those allegations fail...'
The lawsuit is among several federal and state government actions challenging Amazon's business practices. The FTC last year accused Amazon in an antitrust lawsuit of abusing its market power, in part by curbing sellers from offering better prices on other platforms.