Say goodbye to a major Amazon Prime benefit, but here’s what you can do instead

After nearly 16 years, Amazon is ending a major Prime benefit .

Beginning Oct. 1, Amazon Prime members will no longer be allowed to share free shipping benefits with others — a perk members have enjoyed for more than a decade.

"Prime benefit sharing through the Prime Invitee program will end on 1 October 2025," Amazon announced.

"Prime invitees will lose access to the shared Prime delivery benefit, but can use Amazon Family instead."

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Previously, Prime members had the ability to share Prime benefits and digital content with one other adult, up to four teens and up to four children in their household via Amazon Family.

Now, that model is being replaced with only the perks of Amazon Family — allowing Prime member to only share benefits with household members.

Those members include one other adult in their household, up to four teens but only if they were added before April 7, and up to four profiles for children.

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"To share benefits, you and your invitee must live together at the same primary residential address," Amazon states on its website.

"This is the address you consider to be your home and where you spend the majority of your time."

If you shared Prime benefits with people outside of the home through the Prime Invitee program, those people will need their own Prime Membership.

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The benefit decrease comes as Prime Day sign-ups in the U.S. fell short of the company's target and were down from last year's totals, Reuters reported, citing internal company data.

Amazon's Prime event ran sales from July 8 to July 11.

Benefits offered through Amazon Family include access to:

• Fast and free delivery on Prime eligible items

• Exclusive Prime events and deals

• Prime Video (with ads)

• Prime Reading

• Third-party benefits (for example, Grubhub)

• Digital content such as audio books, eBooks, games, and more

• Amazon Music Prime, which can be shared with one other adult in their Amazon Family. This sharing allows both adults to enjoy ad-free listening on shuffle mode.

Benefits offered through Walmart+:

For shoppers interested in sharing benefits with family members, without additional cost, Walmart+ offers a number of benefits for $98 a year or $12.95 a month, including free shipping. Benefits offered through Walmart+ include:

• Choice of Peacock or Paramount+ add-on.

• Free 30-day trial.

• Early access to deals.

• Ability to add family members to membership at no additional cost.

• Free next-day and two-day shipping.

• Free delivery on groceries $35 or more.

• Free pharmacy delivery.

• Free returns from home.

• Gas savings of 10 cents per gallon at Walmart, Exxon, Mobil, and Murphy stations.

Those interested in learning more about Walmart+ can find more information here .

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