Amazon revealed this week that it received a $600 million tariff refund, and says some of that money is headed back to customers.
Amazon’s Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky shared the news during the company’s second-quarter earnings call, explaining that Amazon “largely absorbed” the added costs itself rather than passing them on to shoppers. Still, the company acknowledged there are exceptions.
Olsavsky said Amazon identified a “limited set of circumstances” where it can trace specific import charges directly to what customers paid. In those cases, Amazon says it will reach out to affected shoppers directly and issue refunds automatically, with no action required on the customer’s end.
For everyone else, Amazon says the money will go toward keeping prices low across the site rather than issuing individual refunds.
The company hasn’t shared a timeline for when refunds will go out, nor has it specified which products or purchase windows might qualify. Olsavsky also didn’t offer an estimate of how much affected customers could expect to receive.
Amazon’s refund is smaller than some competitors’, and Olsavsky offered an explanation for that. He said the company stocked up on inventory ahead of time, which limited how many products were directly affected. He also noted Amazon isn’t the importer of record for most items sold through its site, since more than 60% of Amazon’s marketplace sales come from third-party sellers who import their own goods.
Not every company facing similar refunds is taking the same approach. Nintendo recently pushed back on a request to share its own refund with shoppers, with the company’s legal team arguing that customers who didn’t like the price had the option to simply not buy the product.
For now, Amazon shoppers who believe they overpaid due to import costs will need to wait and see whether they’re contacted, as the company says the process will be automatic rather than something customers can apply for.
