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If you have a dispute with the e-commerce giant, you’ll have to hash it out through an individual claim with a third-party arbitrator.
The language used in the Conditions of Use page states this new legal limitation outright.
“You and we agree that any dispute or claim relating in any way to your use of any Amazon service, or to any products or services sold or distributed by Amazon or through amazon.com, will be resolved by binding arbitration rather than in court,” the document reads. “There is no judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is limited. A neutral arbitrator will resolve the dispute or claim and must follow the terms of this agreement as a court would.”
A class-action waiver is also included, which prevents customers from filing requests for arbitration together. Although Amazon is allowed to resolve batches of arbitration proceedings under detailed mass arbitration rules, each dispute must be filed individually.
Amazon’s language frames the change as a positive for its customers, since the company pledges to “pay most of the cost” for customers who choose to arbitrate disputes.
A representative for Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A company spokesperson told CNET’s sibling site PCMag over email that Amazon has and will continue to “continually update our Conditions of Use to better serve our customers.”
“We determined that reinstating the arbitration clause will offer customers a fast, cost-effective way to resolve disputes while still giving them the option of going to small claims court,” the spokesperson wrote.
But at the end of the day, that arbitration clause may serve to stifle customer disputes by making it more difficult to seek financial restitution.
There are very few exceptions to Amazon’s new arbitration clause, and none of them are particularly great for customers. You can still take the company to small claims court, but the compensation you can receive is extremely limited.
Before the terms of service update, it only took one motivated individual to perform research, consult legal professionals and get the ball rolling on a class-action lawsuit. From there, other affected parties were able to sign on and receive compensation with comparatively little effort.
That’s not the case with an arbitration policy, which has a higher bar for individual effort and personal costs that may dissuade many customers from hashing out their financial disputes.
Before any arbitration proceeding can be filed, customers must submit a dispute claim to Amazon itself, giving the company 60 days to resolve it. If Amazon doesn’t respond during that two-month window, you can move on to the actual arbitration process.
Filing an official complaint with JAMS, Amazon’s chosen third-party arbitrator, requires you to pay a $250 fee upfront, which is a financial hurdle that the average class-action member likely won’t or can’t be bothered with.
