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)
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