How to Cancel an Amazon Account After a Death

What's at Stake With an Active Amazon Account

An Amazon account often has more going on than people realize: Prime membership billing monthly or annually, Subscribe & Save orders shipping every few weeks, Kindle Unlimited, Audible subscriptions, Amazon Music, stored credit card information, outstanding gift card balances, and a full purchase history that the estate may need for tax or inventory purposes.

Left unattended, Prime and other subscriptions can continue billing. Subscribe & Save items may continue shipping and charging. Alexa devices connected to the account remain active.

How to Close the Account

Step 1: Contact Amazon customer service. The fastest route is calling 1-888-280-4331. You can also reach them through the "Contact Us" page, but phone is faster for deceased-user requests because the standard website options don't include an account-holder-death category.

Step 2: Tell the representative that the account holder has passed away and you need to close the account. They'll transfer you to a specialized team or provide an email address for the deceased-user process.

Step 3: Amazon will ask you to email the following:

• The deceased's full name and email address associated with the account
• A certified copy of the death certificate
• Proof of your authority (Letters Testamentary, proof of relationship, or power of attorney — though note that power of attorney expires at death)

Step 4: Amazon reviews the documentation and closes the account. This process typically takes 1–3 weeks.

Before Closing: Recover What You Can

Gift card balance: If the account has an unredeemed gift card balance, ask Amazon whether it can be transferred to the estate. Policies vary, but some representatives will issue a check for the remaining balance with proper estate documentation.

Digital purchases: Kindle books, Audible audiobooks, Amazon Video purchases, and Amazon Music downloads are licensed to the account holder under Amazon's terms of service — they are not transferable. When the account closes, access to these digital purchases is lost. If family members want to keep specific Kindle books or audiobooks, note the titles and purchase separately.

Purchase history: The purchase history may contain records the estate needs — electronics, furniture, or items of value. Screenshot or export the order history before requesting closure.

Subscribe & Save: Cancel all Subscribe & Save subscriptions before closing the account to prevent shipments that are already queued from processing. Go to Your Account → Subscribe & Save Subscriptions to see active items.

Pending orders: Check for any pending orders. Cancel unshipped orders. For orders that have already shipped, you may need to process returns through the standard Amazon return process.

Handling Amazon Prime

If the deceased's Prime membership is shared with family members through Amazon Household, closing the account removes the shared benefits for everyone. Before closing:

1. Check if anyone in the household relies on the Prime shipping, video, or music benefits.
2. Those family members should set up their own Prime memberships before the account is closed.
3. Request a prorated refund for unused Prime membership time. Amazon typically grants this for deceased account holders.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

If the deceased used AWS for hosting, cloud computing, or business services, this requires separate attention. AWS resources (servers, databases, storage) continue billing based on usage. An unmonitored AWS account can generate charges indefinitely.

Contact AWS support directly with estate documentation. They can help identify active resources, provide billing details, and close the account. This is separate from the consumer Amazon account closure process.

Connected Devices

Alexa devices, Fire TV sticks, and Kindle readers linked to the account will lose functionality when it's closed. If family members want to keep using these devices, they'll need to reset them and register them to a different Amazon account.

Ring doorbells and security cameras linked to the deceased's Amazon account also need to be transferred to a new account or they'll stop recording.

The Digital Estate Toolkit covers Amazon alongside dozens of other platforms, with step-by-step instructions, required documentation checklists, and templates for each service's specific process.