CHECK YOUR EMAIL: Amazon is sending customers even more free credits after a legal battle with Apple
The free credits, which can be used for Amazon purchases, are funded by Apple as result of a class-action settlement over e-book pricing.
To check if you have credits, simply click this link.
Amazon sent an additional round of credits on Wednesday after paying out the first batches of credits over the past two years.
These new credits are going to people who redeemed credits that were previously sent out.
"Customers who redeemed some or all of their credits from the June 2016 distribution are eligible to receive additional credits in October 2017, as mandated by the court," according to the Amazon page. "These credits are funded by Apple."
The credits expire on April 20, 2018.
Here's an email Business Insider received about the credits:
What happened
In March 2016, the Supreme Court declined to hear a long-running case about Apple price-fixing e-books, making an earlier $400 million settlement final. For the past few years, Apple's been paying it out.
Here's how it works:
- You're eligible if you bought an e-book from a large publishing company between April 1, 2010, and May 21, 2012.
- Amazon's only giving people credits in this round who had a U.S. billing address and bought a Kindle book from a big publisher.
- Those credits will be automatically applied to the account where you bought the e-books unless you requested a paper check years ago.
Amazon has a lot more information in its FAQ. Because the settlement is for purchases that were made so long ago, make sure you check your old email address, too.
If you're wondering why Apple is paying for Amazon credits, it's a long and fascinating story. Essentially, the complaint was that Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue strong-armed major publishers into a pricing agreement that ended up causing e-book prices to spike overnight.
The judgment was handed down in 2013, and Apple started sending iTunes credits to customers in 2014.
Once again, you can check if you got any Amazon credits here.
According to Amazon, here is how you apply those credits to a purchase:
"Amazon added settlement credits to the accounts of eligible customers on October 18th, 2017. You don't have to do anything to claim your credit. We will automatically apply the credit to your purchase of any item through Amazon.com. The credit applied to your purchase will appear as a gift card in your order summary during checkout and in your account history...
"We will automatically apply your available credit the next time you purchase any product through Amazon.com, an Amazon device or an Amazon app. The credit applied to your purchase will appear as a gift card in your order summary during checkout and in your account history."