Amazon has agreed to a $2.5 billion settlement with the US regulator. This comes after the accusations that it misled people into joining its Prime service and made canceling harder than expected. As part of this FTC settlement, a large share of the money will go straight to the Amazon Prime customers in the form of a refund.
Who qualifies for a refund under Amazon’s FTC settlement
Under the settlement, only certain Prime customers will get money back. To be eligible, the user must have purchased the Prime subscription between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025. Moreover, the signup must have happened through one of the ads or interfaces that the FTC flagged as misleading. It includes checkout pages, delivery choices, and specific enrollment screens where the user was unable to confirm if they were committing to subscribe to Amazon Prime.
On top of this, there’s a certain usage condition as well. Customers who have barely used the service in their first year of subscription will be given priority. For the first batch, anyone who has used the Prime benefits three times or fewer in the first year will automatically receive a refund. They do not have to fill out any form. Amazon will directly send a refund of up to $51 within 90 days if they meet the criteria.
Here’s how to fill out a claim form to get your share of money back
Once the first batch have received the refunds. Amazon will send claim forms to people who signed up through the same flagged screens but used Prime more actively, up to ten times in their first year. The form will be sent to the registered email. Also, note that there’s no way to manually hit and fill out the form yet. The user will have up to 180 days to submit the claim form. Once verified, they will receive the refund within 30 days.
If both the batches have received their refunds and there is still some money left in the refund fund, the tech giant must continue expanding eligibility gradually until at least $1 billion is distributed to consumers.
Zillow continues to be an overachiever, at least with its financial performance.
The home search giant’s revenue has consistently beat expectations for the past two years, and Q3 was no different: Revenue was $676 million for the third quarter, up 16% year-over-year and above the company’s previous guidance, driven by the strength of its rentals and mortgage divisions.
Rentals revenue was up 41% year-over-year to $174 million, while mortgage revenue increased 36% to $53 million, according to Zillow’s shareholder letter. The company’s main revenue stream, residential, rose 7% to $435 million.
Zillow also turned a profit, netting $10 million during the quarter and sustaining its run of profitability for a third consecutive quarter.
What Zillow had to say
While Zillow’s financials were strong, it was also mired in litigation during the quarter, something CEO Jeremy Wacksman touched on during the earnings call.
On lawsuits: Wacksman briefly addressed some of the company’s litigation issues, particularly the lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission over Zillow’s rental agreement with Redfin.
The FTC alleges that Zillow and Redfin illegally conspired to eliminate competition in the rental listings market with a syndication agreement. Attorney generals from five states filed a similar lawsuit a day later.
Wacksman noted that they’ve had the agreement in place for about six months and have seen the benefits for both consumers and property managers.
“So to us it’s obviously pro-consumer and pro-property manager, which makes it pro-competitive,” Wacksman said. “We look forward to making that case as the process plays out.”
Wacksman said he doesn’t foresee any big impact to Zillow’s business.
“We do see maybe more noise around hidden listings and the potential to push more hidden listings onto sellers and to buyers and to harm consumers,” Wacksman said, adding that much of the industry is on board with Zillow’s private listing ban.
Consumers “don’t want to put the internet back in the box, and we expect that behavior to continue, because agents are trying to do right by their sellers and sell their homes,” Wacksman added.
Key numbers
Revenue: $676 million, up 16% year-over-year. Residential increased 7% to $435 million; mortgage revenue was up 36% to $53 million; and rentals revenue climbed 41% to $174 million.
Cash and investments: $1.4 billion at the end of September, up from $1.2 billion at the end of June.
Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization): $165 million in Q3, up from $127 million a year earlier.
Net income/loss: A gain of $10 million in Q3, up from $2 million the previous quarter, an improvement over its $20 million loss a year ago.
Traffic and visits: Traffic across all Zillow Group websites and apps totaled 250 million average monthly unique users in Q3, up 7% year-over-year, the company said. Total visits were 2.5 billion in Q3, up 4% year-over-year.
Q4 outlook: For the fourth quarter, Zillow estimates revenue will be in the $645 million to $655 million range, which would represent high single-digit year-over-year growth.
Notable moves
Zillow was busy dealing with litigation during the third quarter:
The company also had positive news to share during the quarter, noting in September that more than 50 brokerages had adopted Zillow Showcase. Newly named partners include The Agency, LPT Realty and Century 21 Masters in California.
“At The Agency, we’re always looking for ways to give our agents every advantage in showcasing their listings,” said Mauricio Umansky, CEO and founder of The Agency, adding that the partnership “allows us to maximize exposure, put homes in the best light and reach more potential buyers.”
The company also hired a new chief economist in the third quarter. Mischa Fisher, who most recently taught data science at Northwestern University, has experience analyzing housing, labor and consumer spending data. She replaces former chief economist Skylar Olsen.
Editor’s note: Story updated with details from the company’s earnings call.
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