Big change coming this fall
If you’ve been sharing your Amazon Prime shipping benefits with your cousin across town or your best friend on the other side of the state, here’s a heads-up: that’s about to end. Starting October 1, 2025, Amazon is shutting down its Prime Invitee programme.
That programme let Prime members share free two-day shipping with people who live at different addresses. In other words, you didn’t all have to live under the same roof to enjoy the perk. But come October, that loophole closes for good.
What Amazon says
Amazon updated its customer service page to confirm the change. Instead of letting multiple households share one membership, the company is nudging invitees to get their own Prime subscription. To soften the blow, Amazon is offering a special deal: $14.99 for one full year of Prime if you sign up between now and December 31, 2025. After that, the usual price kicks in—$14.99 a month or $139 per year.
So, if you’ve been coasting on someone else’s Prime perks, this is your chance to lock in a bargain before you start paying the full price.
Read this much later:
What’s replacing the programme?
The Prime Invitee programme will be replaced by something Amazon calls Amazon Family. This setup keeps things closer to home. You can share your Prime shipping and other perks with:
- One other adult in your household (like a spouse, partner, or roommate)
- Up to four teens (but only if they were added before April 7, 2025)
- Up to four kids’ profiles for streaming and shopping supervision
That means you can still spread the Prime love—but only with people who live at your address. The days of letting a friend two states away use your membership for free shipping are over.
Why the change?
Amazon hasn’t spelt out all the reasons, but the move makes sense from a business perspective. Free shipping is one of the most expensive perks Amazon offers, and letting multiple households share it probably cuts into revenue. By limiting the benefit to one household, Amazon ensures more people sign up for their own membership.
At the same time, Amazon is spending heavily to make deliveries faster, even in smaller towns and rural areas. In July, the company announced it had rolled out faster delivery to 1,000 out of 4,000 targeted small cities and rural communities, with more expansion planned. Those investments cost money, and cracking down on free sharing is one way to help pay for them.
