Can Amazon Prime household members see each others purchases?

Under a new program called Amazon Households, Amazon Prime members can share with one adult family member and four children the free two-day shipping benefit, plus Kindle Owners' Lending Library, Amazon's video streaming service and early access to Prime sales.

Amazon Prime members pay $99 a year or $49 if you're a student for free two-day shipping.

Prime customers could previously share their shipping perk with up to four household members, but not the other features. The website gives customers who are presently sharing their membership the option to only share with one adult family member the shipping benefit and the other Amazon services.

"Because we want you to be able to share the very best of Prime, we are introducing the Amazon Household Program," Amazon.com states to some Prime customers when they log into their accounts.

"With Amazon Household, in addition to sharing your access to the Prime FREE Two-Day shipping that you love, you and one other adult family member and four children will be able to share Prime Instant Video, Prime Early Access, and the Kindle Owners' Lending Library," the website states. "Additionally, Prime members with Amazon Mom can share their 20% diaper and 15% Baby Registry discounts. Create a family library to share books, apps, and games with your Household members across all of their Amazon devices and media apps. Both Household adults can manage parental controls with Amazon FreeTime for children in the Amazon Household. Create your Amazon Households to share your Prime benefits here."

If you remove an Amazon Prime shared member, you cannot add them back, complained some users on Slickdeals.net, an unrelated deals saving online community that posted about the change in Amazon's policy on Friday.

"This is an example of the man trying to bring us down," one user commented.

The thread with the subject, "Heads up!!! Changes to amazon prime terms and conditions that went into effect July 31, 2015," has elicited about 370 comments.

Regina Conway, a consumer expert with Slickdeals, told ABC News: "With the change, the two sharing the account will have access to one another's credit card info. The change is essentially making it more difficult for people to share their membership with non-family members, and also presumes that the users won't mind making credit card info available to the other person on the account."

A spokeswoman for Amazon noted that Amazon Household account holders cannot see each other's purchase history or order information, though there is a "shared digital wallet, which allows for easy purchasing of books, shows and other products." The program also offers parental controls over Amazon FreeTime, which is a monthly subscription for children's content.

The spokeswoman said in a statement to ABC News, "We are excited to allow Prime members to share more benefits within their household. This was always our intention, and the new Amazon Households Program allows a family unlimited access to Prime Instant Video so they can share access to videos included with Prime. It also allows households to create a shared library of ebooks, audiobooks, apps and games across all of Amazon devices and media apps, in addition to sharing shipping benefits and more."

While it can be easy to make your Amazon Prime membership feel worthwhile with its myriad benefits, there's no need for everyone in your family to have their own separate Prime subscriptions. When you add everyone into the same Amazon Household, everyone gets the benefit of fast and free Prime shipping, along with many of the extras that come with a Prime membership, and it doesn't cost a dime to do. Supporting up to two adults, four teens, and four preteens, it's more than large enough for most families and a great way to get even more value out of your Prime membership.

ANDROIDPOLICE VIDEO OF THE DAY

How to add members to your Amazon Prime account

Building out your Amazon family takes just a few steps for each member, each of which is simple and can be done right on your phone. On your account page, scroll down to the tab labeled Manage your Household. From there, you can choose either Add Adult, Add a Teen, or Add a Child.

3 Images

Close

Once you pick what kind of account you're adding, enter their name and the email associated with their Amazon account. You're prompted to share your wallet with everyone else in the Amazon Household (this does not put your credit cards into their wallet, but it does allow them to add it to their wallet). You can also choose what digital goods you want to share with the household (such as apps, audio, and e-book purchases).

3 Images

Close

Next, you'll verify the name and email address, and they'll have two weeks to accept the invitation. You get an email confirming the invite was sent and another letting you know they were successfully added.

4 Images

Close

Everyone you invite receives an email that looks like this. All they do is press the button that says Get Prime benefits, click Continue on the page informing them that they can cancel any Prime membership they may have, agree to the same wallet sharing agreement you did earlier, and opt-in to share any digital purchases. Then, that person's enrollment is done. Repeat with any other family members you need to add, and your Amazon Household is complete.

4 Images

Close

The only major limitation on this is that everyone in a Prime household must live in the same country or region and use the same marketplace. You can't share the same Prime if you're across the border from your family. But, if you live in a different state, you're good to go.

All the Amazon Prime benefits you can share

The free two-day shipping that Prime comes with is one of the most apparent draws. Adults get that with no restrictions, and teens get that, but with a text verification to the account holder to complete checkout any time they make a purchase. This benefit also extends to Prime Now and Amazon Fresh.

Household members also have access to the benefits of Prime that don't ship, like Prime Video streaming. If you're concerned about your youngest ones seeing things you don't want them to, once preteens are enrolled into the Amazon Household, you'll be able to set watch restrictions based on rating. Prime Video isn't the only shared digital benefit; there's also Prime Reading, Amazon First Reads, and Amazon Photos cloud storage.

Your household will also have access to all the discounts and exclusives you have, like Prime Early Access, subscribe and save discounts, Amazon Family discounts on baby food and diapers, and the same discount your Prime membership gets you at Whole Foods. While it won't give anyone access to your Amazon Music Unlimited plan, anyone in the household still gets the limited free version as well as the Prime member pricing to go unlimited. That member-discounted pricing also applies to the Amazon FreeTime Unlimited plan for Kindle.

If you're familiar with all the freebies that come with Prime Gaming, there's a bit of a catch. So, while having an Amazon Household still entitles you to Prime Gaming benefits, those freebies are limited to one per Prime membership. While this means you can get your Fall Guys skins every month, your partner can snag an Overwatch legendary loot box, and your kids can get their respective Apex and Roblox goodies, there's only one of each to go around. Make sure everyone knows that they're all first-come-first-served.

Some Amazon Prime benefits can't be shared

Along with all those Prime Gaming freebies being limited to only one per prime account, that's the case with Twitch Prime subs, though only the Prime account holder has access to that, so it's not even a first-come-first-served situation. Similarly, if you already have Amazon Music Unlimited bundled into your Prime account, only you will have access to that. At least there's a family plan option for that, and it's good for up to six people.

How to remove someone from your Amazon Prime account

If you need to remove someone from your Prime Household, go to your account page, scroll down to the tab labeled Manage your Household, select Manage Your Household Members, and from there you can easily click Remove for any adults, teens, or children enrolled in your Prime Household.

4 Images

Close

Search from every room in your home

Once you've set up Amazon Household for your entire family, you'll want to check out our favorite smart speakers. The Echo Dot is a perfect speaker for every room in your house, and you can even set up different user profiles in Alexa app.

Can my spouse see my Amazon purchases?

How do I hide purchases on Amazon household?