Sharing your Amazon Prime benefits is about to get more complicated.
The company plans to cut down on who can share the free shipping benefit on Oct. 1, according to an update posted to the Help and Customer Service section of Amazon.com.
What is happening?
Amazon is ending its Prime Invitee program at the end of September.
That means invitees who share an account with a primary subscriber will lose access to free delivery, though they can get it again through a different subscription program.
Amazon will allow subscribers to its Amazon Family program to share benefits, including free delivery, with one other adult and up to four teens and up to four children.
However, there is a catch: Amazon is going to require members to live at the same primary residence to be able to access Amazon Family benefits, another important change coming to the service.
What else do Amazon Family members get?
Along with free shipping, Amazon Family members will have access to free delivery on Prime-eligible items, access to exclusive Prime events and deals and access to third-party benefits.
They can also share Prime Video, Prime Reading, and digital content such as eBooks, audiobooks and games with family members.
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Prime members can also share Amazon Music Prime with one other adult.
Amazon says customers who are Prime Invetees can ask Prime members in their household to add them to their Amazon Family or sign up for their own Prime Membership.
Of note: members on a free trial, Student and Young Adult Prime members and Prime Video-only members are not eligible to share family benefits.
Other things to know about Prime plans
Customers who only want free shipping can subscribe to an Amazon Shipping plan.
That plan does not include digital benefits such as Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Gaming, Prime Reading, Photos, and Amazon Kids+.
They do still get access to deals at Whole Foods and can take advantage of Prime Day, Prime Exclusive deals, and more things like that.
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Entering its 21st year, Prime brought in more than $23 billion in the first half of this year according to Reuters, which also reported the most recent Prime Day resulted in about 2% fewer signups than the year before.
