Amazon Prime Just Announced Big Changes to Free Shipping—What It Could Mean for You

One of the biggest perks of an Amazon Prime membership is the fast, free shipping—and for a while, members were able to share this benefit. However, the retail giant has just announced that it's making changes to that policy.

The Prime Invitee Program, which enabled shoppers to share Prime shipping with others outside their household, is being phased out. Members will no longer be able to extend their free shipping perk to individuals outside their household or to those living at a different address. The changes will take effect on October 1, 2025. The program began in 2009 but stopped accepting new members in 2015.

An email notice from the company to users stated: "We are writing to inform you that the Prime Invitee Program, which allowed sharing Prime's fast, free delivery with others, will end on October 1, 2025. Your invited guests will be notified directly about this change by September 5, 2025."

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Instead, Prime members are being encouraged to join Amazon Family. Formerly known as Amazon Household, the program allows members to share their benefits with one adult, such as a spouse, family member, or roommate, up to four teens, and up to four children in their household. Benefits include access to deals, shopping events like Prime Day, Prime Video, Amazon Music, a free Grubhub+ membership, and fuel savings at Amoco.

"The Invitee program, which enabled sharing of the Prime shipping benefit only, is being phased out, and Prime members can instead share a broad range of Prime benefits with Amazon Family..." an Amazon spokesperson told decorvow.com. "Amazon Family enables Prime members to share a range of benefits with one adult—whether that is a spouse, family member, or roommate—and Prime Video and additional digital content like Kindle eBooks, audiobooks, and games, with up to four children in their household."

Those impacted who don't have a Prime membership are being offered a one-year membership for $14.99 if they sign up between September 5 and December 31.