Amazon to refund some customers part of $600M in tariff rebates

E-commerce giant Amazon announced it will automatically reimburse select customers for portions of a $600 million tariff refund it received during the second quarter. The disclosure came during Amazon’s earnings call, where Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky revealed the company had stockpiled inventory ahead of anticipated tariffs, limiting the refund’s size. Olsavsky noted that Amazon absorbed most tariff-related costs instead of passing them to consumers, saying, “In cases where we did see an increase in costs due to tariffs, we largely absorbed these costs rather than pass them on to customers.” The company will only issue refunds in a “limited set of circumstances” where it can trace that import charges were previously passed to customers. The U.S. government has begun issuing refunds to importers following a Supreme Court ruling that invalidated some of the tariffs imposed during the Trump administration. Amazon’s move follows similar actions by retailers like Walmart and Costco, which have indicated plans to use refunds to lower prices or return proceeds to customers. Amazon ranks as the top logistics company in North America and the largest global freight operator, according to Transport Topics rankings.