The Shit List / E-commerce / Amazon · full spec sheet · jump to the Wall ↓
Severity
58 / 100▼5
ACUTEremissionpeak 68ranked #11 of 42people’s rank #12 · preview
Case 011 · E-commerce · Admitted 2018
The Enshittification of Amazon
The Enshittification of AmazonAmazon raised Prime membership prices twice between 2018 and 2022 while removing bundled perks such as free Whole Foods delivery. Federal regulators sued the company over deceptive Prime enrollment and cancellation flows and over alleged degradation of search results with paid listings. In 2024 Amazon introduced ads into Prime Video by default and subsequently increased the ad load.
First symptom
Apr 2018
Symptoms on file
8
Categories
4
Prognosis
Acute
1 quality · 3 pricing · 3 ads · 1 lock-in
Alternatives
Bookshop.orgfree
Buy books online while funding independent bookstores.
eBayfree
Used and refurbished goods directly from sellers, often cheaper and less landfill.
The Paper Trail
| Date | Category | Symptom · rating · source |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-04 | pricing | Amazon raises annual Prime fee to $119Amazon announced it would raise the price of an annual U.S. Prime membership from $99 to $119, a 20 percent increase and the first since 2014, effective May 11, 2018 for new members.↳ Variety |
| 2021-08 | pricing | Whole Foods delivery loses free Prime perkAmazon began adding a $9.95 service fee to Whole Foods grocery delivery orders for Prime members, ending a previously free benefit for orders over $35. The fee was tested in several cities before rolling out nationally in late 2021.↳ Fortune |
| 2022-02 | pricing | Amazon raises Prime to $139 per yearAmazon announced it would increase the annual U.S. Prime membership price from $119 to $139 and the monthly rate from $12.99 to $14.99, citing wage and transportation costs and expanded benefits.↳ TechCrunch |
| 2023-06 | lock-in | FTC sues Amazon over Prime cancellation tacticsThe Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon, alleging the company used manipulative 'dark patterns' to enroll consumers in Prime without consent and deliberately complicated the cancellation process to deter members from quitting.↳ Federal Trade Commission |
| 2023-09 | quality | FTC antitrust suit cites degraded search resultsThe FTC and 17 state attorneys general sued Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power, alleging among other things that Amazon replaced relevant organic search results with paid advertisements and biased results toward its own products, degrading quality for shoppers.↳ Federal Trade Commission |
| 2023-11 | ads | Filings allege Bezos pushed more junk adsNewly unsealed portions of the FTC's complaint alleged that Jeff Bezos directed Amazon to increase the number of irrelevant 'defect' ads in search results, and that an internal study found sponsored products had higher median prices than neighboring organic results.↳ CNBC |
| 2024-01 | ads | Prime Video adds ads unless customers pay extraAmazon began showing advertisements in Prime Video movies and shows by default for U.S. subscribers, offering an ad-free option for an additional $2.99 per month on top of the existing Prime subscription.↳ CBS News |
| 2025-06 | ads | Prime Video ad load roughly doublesAccording to ad buyers and documents reviewed by Adweek, Prime Video's ad load increased to four to six minutes per hour, roughly double the two to three and a half minutes advertised when ads launched in 2024.↳ Adweek |
The Wall
- No complaints on file yet. Be the first to vent.
<a href="https://enshittification.xyz/amazon"><img src="https://enshittification.xyz/badge/amazon.svg" alt="Amazon on the Enshittification Index"></a>The Enshittification Index · 42 case files · no source, no entry · updated Jun 2026
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