SAN FRANCISCO — If you’re an Amazon Prime customer, you could be getting up to $200.
Amazon started sending out its first round of automatic refunds to qualified customers in early October following a $2.5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission in September.
The FTC accused the online retail giant of enrolling millions of consumers in prime without their knowledge or consent, and making it difficult to cancel.
So, who qualifies?
You signed up between June 23, 2019 to June 23, 2025.
But you tried to cancel Amazon prime online within those dates with no success.
And, you used no more than 20 prime benefits such as Prime Video and Amazon Music Prime during a 12-month period.
Now, how do you get the refund?
You don’t need to file a claim or any paperwork.
Payments will be sent via Venmo, PayPal or a mailed check.
But be aware you only have 60 days to redeem it after the issue date.
Also, if you already received $51 from an earlier settlement, you might still get that $149 difference.
Qualified customers are expected to get the refund by April of next year.

Under the deal, Zuckerberg will get non-voting shares he can sell to potentially foot a multi-billion-dollar tax bill in the event the proposal is approved, in exchange for a commitment to ​remain a resident of California, or wherever Meta maintains its headquarters, for eight ​years, Meta said on Wednesday.
Sign up here.
Zuckerberg, the world’s sixth richest person according ⁠to Forbes, told Meta he was considering moving his primary residence outside California because ​Proposition 40, a ballot measure dubbed the “California wealth tax”, could expose him to a massive ​tax liability, potentially forcing him to sell voting shares to pay it.
Proposition 40, which asks Californians whether to impose a one-time 5% tax on the state’s billionaires, is far from certain to pass, political ​analysts say. The state is home to as many as 250 billionaires collectively worth ​upwards of $2 trillion.
Zuckerberg, who has a net worth of about $240 billion, can immediately sell 20% of ‌the Class ⁠C shares he receives, representing 10% of his overall economic stake in the company, allowing him to pay a potential tax bill without losing voting control.
The company said on Wednesday it will issue a new class of non-voting Class C common stock in January ​2027, effectively resulting in ​a two-for-one split, ⁠to fund acquisitions and retain top talent while maintaining Zuckerberg’s control.
Meta’s long-term forecasts, as described in the filing, showed it would ​need to raise “hundreds of billions of dollars” over several years, beginning ​as early ⁠as fall 2026, as it expects to need capital to finance its AI-related growth plan.
The parent of Facebook and Instagram said a special committee of its board concluded it was “critically ⁠important” ​that Zuckerberg remain in a leadership role and continue ​to manage the company from its California headquarters, particularly during what it described as “unprecedented challenge and competition in ​our industry” driven by AI.
Reporting by Carlos Méndez in Mexico City; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu

Airbnb is taking aim at checkout chore lists, telling hosts that guests generally shouldn’t have to strip beds, wash dishes or haul garbage off site before heading home.
The vacation rental platform announced the changes Tuesday as part of an overhaul of its house rules, drawing a clearer line between reasonable requests and cleaning work guests shouldn’t be expected to handle.
The new policy applies to reservations booked on or after Nov. 20, 2026. It generally bars hosts from asking guests to perform time-consuming tasks or work typically handled by a cleaner.
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Under Airbnb’s new guidelines, hosts generally shouldn’t ask guests to wash and put away dishes, strip beds or start a load of laundry before checkout. They can, however, ask guests to leave used dishes in the sink, gather towels and separate trash and recycling into designated indoor bins, the company said.
The same approach applies to amenities. Hosts shouldn’t discourage guests from using advertised features such as air conditioning, but they can ask guests to turn it off when they leave, according to Airbnb.
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“When adding a request, remember that most guests want to avoid unexpected chores,” Airbnb wrote in its announcement, warning hosts that assigning cleaning work could hurt their reviews.
Airbnb is also moving to prevent surprises after booking. All house rules and requests must appear in the designated section of the listing when guests reserve a property. Hosts cannot add new requirements afterward through messages, signs inside the home or in-person instructions, the policy states.
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Hosts generally cannot impose their own fines or penalties, according to Airbnb, although they can warn guests about potential fines from a homeowners association, building security or local government.
To enforce the changes, Airbnb said it will flag requests that violate the policy and email hosts with guidance on fixing them. Hosts will also have an opportunity to appeal.
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Unresolved violations could result in a notice on the listing alerting guests to cleaning requests. Persistent violations could lead to reduced visibility in Airbnb searches or other action, the company said.
Airbnb will consider exceptions based on the property and local conditions. Hosts in bear country, for example, may be allowed to ask guests to put garbage in an animal-proof container. Limits on shower time may also be reasonable in areas under drought-related water restrictions.
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Alongside the policy, Airbnb has consolidated its standard house rules into seven categories covering overnight guest limits, quiet hours, events, pets, smoking, commercial photography and locking up at checkout.
Guests must still follow those house rules, Airbnb said, while compliance with reasonable host requests is encouraged.
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Guests are required to follow house rules and encouraged to comply with host requests. Airbnb said hosts can contact the company for help and may cancel a reservation without fees or other consequences if a guest breaks a house rule during a stay or says before check-in that they intend to do so.

Higher electric bills are reaching into Americans’ grocery budgets, according to a Consumer Reports survey released Wednesday, as North Carolina regulators consider Duke Energy’s proposed rate increases.
About 1 in 5 Americans said they cut back on groceries, switched to cheaper food or considered those changes to pay an electricity bill. Among people who had lived in the same home for at least three years, 81% said their electricity bills had increased during that time.
“You can’t control the rising costs yourself,” said Sara Enright, senior director of safety and energy at Consumer Reports.
The nationally representative survey of 2,003 U.S. adults highlights the pressure on households already trying to conserve. Understanding which charges are growing can help identify potential savings, while a recently launched Triangle partnership aims to make upgrades and rebates easier to navigate.
Breaking down your power bill
According to Consumer Reports, 38% of Americans who read their electric bills said they were difficult to understand. For North Carolina customers, here’s what to check:
Electricity use: Kilowatt-hours (kWh) measure consumption. Compare average daily usage with the same period last year, accounting for weather and changes in household routines. Daily averages also account for billing periods with different numbers of days.
Fuel costs: The fuel rider adjusts what customers pay for fuel and purchased electricity. It can rise or fall separately from a general rate increase. Lawmakers changed how some of those costs are divided among customers, shifting a larger share toward households.
Other adjustments: Duke’s “Summary of Rider Adjustments” combines charges and credits for costs such as energy efficiency programs and certain clean energy purchases. A separate storm recovery charge repays bonds used to finance repairs after major storms.
Errors or unfamiliar services: Check charges for equipment on your property, too. I found an erroneous $18.80 monthly charge on my own Duke bill for a streetlight that hadn’t worked in years. After I contacted Duke, the company removed the charge and issued a refund.
Fuel charges deserve attention because customers bear those cost changes, while Duke says it earns no profit on fuel. WRAL’s reporting on a court challenge to Duke’s fuel charges explains how a 2025 law also expanded the utility’s ability to recover past expenses.
Duke says customers can use several tools to understand changes before the next bill arrives:
Bill Insights: Available in Duke’s mobile app, the AI-powered feature provides a personalized explanation of monthly costs, including weather’s impact and how usage compares over time.
Usage Alerts: Midcycle emails show electricity use so far and project the bill total, giving customers time to adjust.
Daily and hourly tracking: Customers can look for spikes in consumption and compare billing periods through Duke’s website or app.
For explanations of individual bill sections, Duke also offers a Reading Your Bill guide.
A new Triangle resource
Electrify the Triangle, launched this month, brings together local governments, community organizations and energy experts, according to Megan Anderson, Raleigh’s sustainability officer. It builds on Solarize the Triangle, which used group purchasing to reduce solar installation costs.
The expanded effort includes weatherization and other clean energy improvements. Energy navigators will help residents discuss their bills, identify incentives and weigh options for their homes. The partnership also plans to help contractors handle rebate paperwork so those savings can reach customers.
“There’s a lot for them to understand. The rules change all the time,” Anderson said. “We’re trying to break down those barriers and actually become the person that will do all that work for them, so it’s easier for them to pass along those savings to residents.”
Anderson said the program aims to help residents planning improvements as well as those who need to replace broken equipment immediately.
Where to find help in North Carolina
Resources vary depending on whether you need to pay a bill now or make improvements that could lower future costs.
Find rebates and incentives: NC State University’s N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center maintains DSIRE, a searchable database of renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. Filter for North Carolina, then check individual listings for eligibility, participating utilities and current availability.
Get help with home upgrades: Energy Saver North Carolina helps qualifying homeowners and renters cover improvements such as insulation and heating equipment.
Ask about bill assistance: Contact your county Department of Social Services about the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, which provides a one-time annual payment toward eligible households’ heating expenses, or the Crisis Intervention Program for households facing a heating- or cooling-related crisis.
Contact your utility: Ask about payment arrangements and assistance funds, including Duke Energy’s Share the Light Fund. Eligibility and available funding vary.
Consumer Reports released Wednesday’s survey alongside Power Smarter, an initiative collecting utility bills to study prices and support its advocacy for lower costs. Its Bill Decoder project collects utility bills to build a national data set the organization says it plans to use to track prices, investigate what’s driving increases and advocate for fairer rates. Participants receive links to savings and assistance resources.
Consumer Reports is also campaigning against Duke’s proposed rate increase, saying even the revised request would allow excessive profits while raising household bills.
Duke spokesperson Caroline Fountain said the increase would pay for poles, wires and technology that helps prevent outages as North Carolina grows. That growth includes power-hungry data centers, which are helping drive up Duke’s forecast for electricity demand.
“We’re working to keep reliability at the lowest possible cost, and that’s why we reduced our proposed rate increase by over half,” Fountain said.
As WRAL reported in August, Duke Energy Progress reached an agreement with the state’s consumer advocates and other groups to scale back its request. The deal would also return tax credits to customers sooner and provide refunds if planned upgrades aren’t finished on time.
Attorney General Jeff Jackson refused to sign the agreement, saying customers would still be paying more than Duke needs. State regulators will decide whether to approve or change the deal. If approved as proposed, the first increase would take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Airbnb hosts are melting down over a new policy banning them from making guests complete tasks that “would typically be performed by a cleaner,” like “stripping the bed, taking trash offsite, or washing and putting away dishes.”
The change, which applies to all bookings made on or after November 20, quickly sparked outrage after it was announced in an email to Airbnb hosts on Wednesday. Many began fuming online about losing the right to make their guests clean up after themselves.
“As hosts, we have a responsibility to protect our investments, our homes, and, in many cases, our personal living spaces,” one person wrote in Airbnb’s official forum for hosts. “The problem is that Airbnb increasingly expects hosts to accept the risks while limiting our ability to protect ourselves.”
“Airbnb is like an abusive partner,” wrote one user on the Reddit community r/airbnb_hosts. “I’m alive long enough to recognize how truthful those few words are,” another person replied. “Until and unless I see substantive changes, I’m finally out.”
A different self-described host declared that going forward, the kitchens in their rentals will be “stripped down to only bare essentials.”
Many guests, meanwhile, are celebrating. For years, travelers have complained about having to pay hefty cleaning fees as part of their Airbnb bookings, only to be required to complete a list of chores before checking out.
“The guest experience has become total ass,” one person said in a subreddit for Airbnb hosts. “Clean dishes and run in the dishwasher. Strip the beds, put all linen in the laundry room. Take out all garbage, put in garbage can, take to the curb. Honestly, knock it off.”
Airbnb noted in its Wednesday announcement that hosts can’t get around the new policy by listing cleaning tasks in the “Requests” section of their listings instead. Airbnb spokesperson Simon Letouze tells WIRED that hosts can still make “reasonable” requests, such as asking guests to put dirty dishes in the sink. Other examples Airbnb cites includes asking guests to take short showers in areas with drought-related water restrictions, or telling them to place trash in bear-proof containers.
In a Facebook group for Airbnb hosts, one person posted what they claimed was a screenshot of their failed attempt to edit their property’s “Requests” section. They tried to ask guests to wash and air-dry dishes, put dirty towels in the laundry room, and take trash to a dumpster at an RV park they could find using a map on the refrigerator. But they realized they couldn’t hit save. Airbnb’s interface had underlined and highlighted the requests in red and displayed a pop-up that read “Guests shouldn’t be asked to do this task.”
Hosts also can’t circumvent the new policy by giving guests a printed list of rules and asking them to sign it when they check in. On November 20, Airbnb is also banning hosts from requiring guests to sign separate contracts, with limited exceptions for local legal requirements, longer stays, or accessing “an optional amenity” like a “golf cart rental.”
If one of these situations applies, hosts have to mention it in the dedicated section of their listing. Airbnb adds that it “doesn’t help enforce the terms of these contracts.” Hosts who violate either policy, Airbnb warns, may receive warnings, or in severe situations, have their listings removed, or be banned from the platform entirely.
In a Facebook group for Airbnb hosts, one person posted a letter they claimed to have sent to company executives, demanding the ability to set their own “common-sense expectations” for guests. They encouraged others to send their own versions. Another asked if they should raise their prices, while a third called for hosts to organize a platform-wide strike.
“Even if we all unlist our properties for just a day or two, we can send a powerful message,” they wrote. “Airbnb built its empire on OUR properties. It’s time we reminded them who actually holds the power.”
Some hosts haven’t given up on finding a way to ignore or get around the changes. On Reddit, one person said they would simply move their rules to other sections of their listing, like “Guest Access.”(Airbnb did not immediately respond to WIRED’s inquiry about whether this would work.) Another person said they would give the guests a “house manual,” require the guest to read it, and provide a “codeword” as proof. (Several pointed out that this is not only unenforceable, but against current Airbnb policy.)
“First sentence of my requests section will now state ‘Here are my house rules!’” another person said, though it’s unclear whether Airbnb’s interface will allow this. They named “not smoking” as an example of one of their house rules, but Airbnb has said it enforces host-imposed smoking bans.
Unwanted smoking and other serious scenarios—like letting dirty dishes become “health hazards,” leaving “permanent stains on sheets,” and creating “mountains of rotting garbage” —were invoked by several hosts. But these policy adjustments, seemingly, will not change how any of these things are treated.
Airbnb already has its own ground rules that all guests must agree to. The general credo is to “treat your host’s home like your own,” which translates to things like putting trash in the trash can, and not leaving moldy dishes.
If a host finds anything was damaged or went missing during a stay, guests are expected to pay a “reasonable” amount to repair or replace it. Hosts are also protected through the platform’s protection program, AirCover, which will reimburse up to $3 million for certain property damage caused by guests, including furniture, cars, and other belongings.
Additional cleaning costs, such as performing “smoke odor removal” or handling “pet accidents” are also covered by AirCover. Airbnb notes that the cleaning fees hosts are allowed to set are only meant to cover standard guest turnover tasks like laundry and vacuuming. Hosts can’t “charge guest fees for failing to perform specific cleaning or checkout tasks,” though they can still leave guest reviews “based on cleanliness.”
In the Airbnb Hosts subreddit, a few lurking guests were quick to bring up the cleaning fees, which are famously the subject of their ire. One self-described “mostly guest” said they’re not opposed to running the dishwasher or stripping the bed. “Just don’t charge me a cleaning fee over $100 then,” they said.
“Truth nuke,” another person replied. “Why would I have to pre-game the cleaners?”