You may have received an email from Amazon this week that says “Your Credit from the Apple eBooks Antitrust Settlement Is Ready to Use” – and guess what: it’s legitimate! That credit will show up in your Amazon account as a gift card balance.
This is the culmination of the lawsuit filed against Apple in 2012, alleging that Apple conspired with publishers Harper Collins, Macmillan, Hachette, Pearson, Penguin and Simon and Schuster to raise the prices of ebooks in order to thwart Amazon.
The email is genuinely from Amazon, but nonetheless, we always advise people to never click a link in an email, even if they believe that the email is sent from a trusted source. Instead, log into your account directly (see below for how to find your credit while logged into your Amazon account).
That lawsuit ultimately led to this settlement.
Your email will read something like this:
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Your Credit from the Apple eBooks Antitrust Settlement Is Ready to Use
Dear Amazon.com Customer,
You now have a credit of $XX.XX in your Amazon account. Apple, Inc. (Apple) funded this credit to settle antitrust lawsuits brought by State Attorneys General and Class Plaintiffs about the price of electronic books (eBooks). As a result of this Settlement, qualifying eBook purchases from any retailer are eligible for a credit. You previously received an email informing you that you were eligible for this credit. The Court in charge of these cases has now approved the Apple Settlement. If you did not receive that email or for more information about your credit, please visit www.amazon.com/applebooksettlement.
You don’t have to do anything to claim your credit, we have already added it to your Amazon account. We will automatically apply your available credit to your purchase of qualifying items through Amazon, an Amazon device or an Amazon app. The credit applied to your purchase will appear as a gift card in your order summary and in your account history. In order to spend your credit, please visit the Kindle bookstore or Amazon. If your account does not reflect this credit, please contact Amazon customer service.
Your credit is valid for one year and will expire after June 24, 2017, by order of the Court. If you have not used it, we will remind you of your credit before it expires.
Thank you for being a Kindle customer.
The Amazon Kindle Team
Settlement ID Number: {deleted}
When you log in to your Amazon account, you will see the credit as a gift card balance:
Explains Amazon, on their page about the settlement which, if you are logged in to your Amazon account when you go to that page, will also include the amount of your credit:
“In November 2014, a federal court approved a Settlement of antitrust lawsuits brought against Apple, Inc. (“Apple”) by State Attorneys General and Class Plaintiffs about the price of electronic books (“eBooks”). Those settlements resulted in credits for qualifying Kindle books purchased between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. These credits are funded by Apple.
Eligible customers do not need to do anything to receive these credits. If you are eligible, we have already calculated your credit for you and added it to your Amazon account. As long as you have credit remaining we will automatically apply it to your purchase of qualifying items through Amazon.com, an Amazon device or an Amazon app. The credit applied to your purchase will appear in your order summary as a gift card during checkout and in your account history. Eligible customers should have received a notification email from Amazon on June 21, 2016. This credit will expire at 11:59pm PDT on June 24, 2017. You can learn more about the settlements at www.amazon.com/help/ApplebooksettlementFAQs. The credits are subject to these Terms and Conditions. Your Settlement Credit:
Available for use starting: June 21, 2016
Total Credit: $XX.XX
Unused Credit: $XX.X
Expiry Date: June 24, 2017”
The amount that you will receive will be dependent on how many ebooks you purchased during the time in question.
Our Amazon credit from the Apple eBooks Antitrust Settlement amounted to nearly $50! How much was yours?
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