If your kid made some big in-app purchases on your Fire tablet, you could be in for a refund.
A federal court has ruled that Amazon is liable for those purchases in a case brought by the Federal Trade Commission in 2014.
Amazon’s in-app purchasing system has evolved over the years, but before the FTC suit, there were times when no password was required at all for in-app purchases. Amazon added a $20 limit to the system, but small purchases still went through without a password.
Then, in 2013, the company started requiring passwords for all purchases, except those made within 15 minutes of last making a purchase, meaning your kid could make plenty of purchases as soon as you hand a device back to them after approving a single purchase.
That last move wasn’t properly disclosed to users, drawing the FTC suit. The FTC also noted that Amazon’s refund process wasn’t clear enough, with suggestions that refunds weren’t possible at times.
However, since Amazon has altered the in-app purchase system since the FTC suit in a manner that prevents the accidental purchases, the court said that Amazon did not have to submit to further monitoring.
The FTC isn’t just picking on Amazon though; Apple and Google together paid out more than $50 million in refunds after settlements back in 2014, with nearly identical circumstances to Amazon’s case ruled on this week.
While Amazon will have to pay out some refunds, the exact monetary value of those refunds have yet to be determined. FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez said they plan to make a case “for full refunds to consumers as a result of Amazon’s actions.”
Updated to add that Amazon won’t need further monitoring.
