For so long, many were able to maximize their Prime memberships by sharing them with four ‘family members’. This led to the possibility of sharing Prime with anyone, and Prime sub-memberships were even sold on eBay.
The ax has fallen and now Amazon no longer allows sharing with four family members.
Under the new system, you can continue to share with family members with one adult and four children as part of the Amazon Household program.
Big caveat: Both adults on the plan agree that each will have access to the others payment info and agree that they can use it. In other words, it will only work for a real family member, such as a husband and wife or something similar.
Some note that order history is NOT shared. Also noted is that in order to send a shipment to a new address, Amazon requires you to input the CVV, which the other ‘family member’ wouldn’t know without having the actual card. In any case, most people presumably won’t be comfortable with others having access to their payment info, even if technically the others may not be able to put orders on the card in practice.
One positive thing to note is that the additional members on the Prime account will now have access to the full suite of Prime benefits, including things like streaming video and Amazon Mom benefits.
As of now, existing shared Prime members retain their free 2-day shipping benefits. We have no idea how long secondary Prime members will continue under the grandfathered system. Possibly until the Prime membership is renewed, and that may be what someone was told by an Amazon rep as well.
HT: yeshu on Twitter (see also Slickdeals and also this thread)
