Unknown Charges From Amazon In 2023 (+ Other FAQs)

Have you ever spotted a strange, unexplained charge on your debit or credit card statement attributed to Amazon? If this has happened to you, rest assured you‘re not alone.

As an experienced Amazon seller, I regularly assist other merchants in identifying and resolving these types of mysterious fees. In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll draw from my expertise managing hundreds of seller accounts to explain common "unknown charge" scenarios and provide recommendations.

What Triggers Most Amazon Account Charges?

When analyzing an unexpected Amazon transaction, there are a few likely culprits to investigate first:

• Forgotten subscriptions – Prime, Audible, Kindle Unlimited, etc.

• Gift/surprise orders – From family and friends using your account.

• Split shipments – Partial orders appear as separate charges.

• Shared accounts – Roommates, partners, kids buying without you knowing.

• Pre-orders or backorders – Delayed item billings months later.

• Account authorization holds – Temporary bank holds from changed/cancelled orders.

• Amazon Pay – Third party purchases through Amazon Pay services.

• Digital services – Movies, music, books, apps, Alexa skills.

• Compromised account – Worst case, charges are fraudulent due to a security breach.

Let‘s explore these common situations in more detail, including steps to identify and resolve unfamiliar fees.

How To Access Your Full Amazon Order History

When you notice an unexplained charge, the first stop should be your complete Amazon account transaction history. Here you can view all your orders, payments, refunds, and account activity.

Access your account transactions on either desktop or mobile:

Desktop instructions

• Go to Amazon.com and click "Accounts & Lists"
• Select "Your Account"
• Click "Your Orders" to see order history
• Scroll down and click "See More" to load all transactions

Mobile instructions

• Open the Amazon app and tap the ≡ menu icon
• Tap "Your Account"
• Choose "Your Orders" to view order history
• Tap "See More" at the bottom to see all transactions

Here you‘ll see the full rundown of every Amazon order, including:

• Date of transaction
• Order total
• Payment method used
• Whether the order shipped or is still pending
• Where the order originated (Amazon.com, Prime, Audible, etc)

If the source of the charge is unclear, tap into that specific order to see details like items purchased, shipping address, recipient, etc. This should shed light on who made the purchase and what it was for.

I always recommend checking here first when assessing an unknown Amazon transaction. But if you still have questions, keep reading on for more clues.

Key Amazon Account Activity To Watch For

Based on my experience managing seller accounts, there are some common Amazon transactions that especially bewilder merchants and shoppers alike.

Amazon Prime Membership Renewals

Hands down, one of the most frequent sources of mysterious annual charges is from forgotten Amazon Prime membership renewals.

When you first enroll in Prime, the $139 annual fee is automatically charged yearly on your join date. Many members forget about this, so the renewal charge arrives out of the blue.

On your bank statements, Prime renewal fees are labeled as Amazon.com or Prime Membership.

To avoid surprise charges, make note of your Prime renewal date. Set calendar reminders annually so you can cancel in advance if desired. Alternately, you can switch to a monthly Prime plan instead of yearly renewals.

Below is a table outlining Prime membership options:

For many loyal Amazon shoppers, the annual Prime fee is worthwhile for perks like free shipping and content streaming. But be aware of the automatic renewals to prevent unexpected charges.

Amazon Digital Service Purchases

Seeing AMZN Digital on your bank statement refers to charges for Amazon‘s digital products and services.

This encompasses all digital content bought through Amazon, such as:

• eBooks for Kindle
• Movies and TV through Prime Video
• Music via Amazon Music
• Mobile apps and games
• Audiobooks from Audible
• Photo storage with Amazon Photos

Along with one-time digital purchases, recurring subscriptions like Kindle Unlimited ($9.99/month) and Amazon Music Unlimited ($7.99/month for Prime members) also generate AMZN Digital transactions each billing cycle.

If you share your Amazon account with family, roommates, partners etc, this is a common source of surprise charges. Someone else with account access may have rented a movie or purchased apps without informing you.

To identify the source, match the AMZN Digital charge date with your account order history. You can also check your Amazon Digital Orders for download details.

Where applicable, set expiration dates and disable auto-renewals on digital subscriptions to prevent unwanted surprises. For kids, restrict purchasing permissions or enable parental controls.

Amazon Pay Purchases From Third-Party Sites

Amazon Pay facilitates payments on other websites by allowing you to check out with your Amazon account.

Since these aren‘t direct Amazon purchases, they won‘t appear on your Amazon order history. However, the charges do show up on your bank statement prefixed with AMZN MKTP US.

For example, if you bought a $25 gift card from BestBuy.com using Amazon Pay, your statement would show something like:

AMZN MKTP US 01ABCDEFGHIJKLMN - $25

The 14-digit code after AMZN MKTP US identifies the specific transaction. To tie this charge back to an actual order, you need to lookup the code in your Amazon account payment history:

1. Go to Your Account then Your Payments
2. Under Other payment methods choose View All Transactions
3. Search for or filter for the 14-digit order number
4. You‘ll then see details like the merchant site, date, amount etc.

This will reveal what that mystery AMZN MKTP US charge was for. Since Amazon Pay makes checking out faster, it‘s easy to forget about purchases later on.

Temporary Bank Holds For Changed/Cancelled Orders

Here‘s a scenario that sometimes puzzles Amazon shoppers – an Amazon charge appears on your statement that doesn‘t correlate to an actual order in your account.

This can occur due to a temporary authorization hold placed during the order process. Here‘s how it works:

1. You place an Amazon order.
2. Amazon pings your bank to validate the payment method.
3. The bank puts a hold on the estimated order amount.
4. If the order is changed or cancelled, the hold still temporarily remains per the bank‘s policies.
5. The hold then drops off the account, typically within 1-10 days.

Authorization holds are perfectly standard and happen across many retailers. The held amount itself does not get charged.

But the temporary hold can still appear on your statement, even if the actual transaction was cancelled. The charge will disappear in a few days once your bank clears it.

If you find a charge that seems tied to a non-existent Amazon order, an authorization hold is likely the reason. Reach out to your bank if the hold lingers for too long without dropping off.

Shared Amazon Household Accounts

Here‘s a very common situation I encounter – surprise charges stemming from shared Amazon accounts within a household.

For instance, couples or roommates who shop under the same Amazon account. Or parents whose kids have the password and buy apps unknowingly.

In these cases, it becomes really easy to accidentally purchase stuff on someone else‘s saved payment method without realizing. For teens and younger kids especially, they may not understand it‘s not their account.

If you suspect this is happening, your options are:

• Implement Amazon Household Accounts to share Prime benefits but keep finances separate.

• Remove shared payment methods and save your own individually.

• Set up Parental Controls to restrict purchasing.

• Require login approval before purchases as an added friction/awareness point.

Separating permissions and payment details helps minimize surprises from shared account use.

Fraudulent Activity From Account Takeover

In worst case scenarios, unknown charges arise due to actual fraudulent activity from a compromised account. Some signs of potential fraud:

• Password reset emails you didn‘t initiate
• Purchases shipped to an unfamiliar address
• Missing packages from your real orders
• Logins from new devices/locations

If your account was possibly compromised:

• Immediately change your Amazon password and enable two-factor authentication.

• Check all saved addresses and payment methods for anything unfamiliar.

• Contact Amazon to report unauthorized charges and freeze the account.

• Call your bank to block affected cards and dispute the fraudulent transactions.

• Monitor your credit and other account statements closely for further misuse.

• Never click suspicious links, even emails that seem to be from Amazon. Update passwords across sites if re-used.

Fraud is uncommon, but protecting your accounts is vital. Leverage security best practices and contact Amazon/your bank if anything seems amiss.

How To Report Truly Unauthorized Amazon Charges

If you‘ve determined unknown charges are genuinely unauthorized and fraudulent, here are tips for getting the issue resolved:

Step 1: Notify Your Bank

• Report fraudulent transactions to your bank‘s fraud department. They can block affected cards, reverse charges, and monitor for future misuse.

• For debit cards, you typically have 60 days to dispute unauthorized charges. For credit cards, it‘s 120 days from the statement close date.

• Provide details on which charges are fraudulent and why. For instance, items shipped to an unfamiliar location.

Step 2: Contact Amazon

• Email Amazon Customer Service from your account. Explain which charges/orders are unauthorized and request they be removed.

• If email is compromised, call Amazon billing support directly to explain the situation.

• Ask that your account is frozen and submit an Affidavit of Unauthorized use to dispute the activity.

• Push for credits or refunds to your Amazon account balance. Escalate to a supervisor if needed.

Step 3: Lock Down Account Security

• Change your password immediately – Don‘t reuse old passwords. Make it long, complex, and unique.

• Enable two-factor authentication – Add an extra login step like an authentication code or prompt on your mobile. Critical for account security.

• Remove unfamiliar payment methods, addresses, and logins – Only keep personal devices and locations you actually use for shopping.

• List account as compromised – Further restricts access on the backend through enhanced security monitoring. Prevents re-use.

• Set up transaction alerts – Many banks offer notices when charges exceed a threshold, signaling atypical use.

The above steps help dispute damages and prevent against further unauthorized charges if your account was compromised. While less common on Amazon versus smaller merchants, fraud still occurs so it pays to be cautious.

Preventing Amazon Account Charge Surprises

As we‘ve covered, occasional unknown charges from Amazon are par for the course with an active shopping account. But you‘re not helpless against unpleasant surprises.

Here are some proactive ways I recommend merchants and frequent Amazon buyers safeguard their accounts:

• Carefully monitor order history – Periodically review transactions to spot anything amiss quickly.

• Manage subscriptions wisely – Cancel auto-renewals for any subscriptions you won‘t actually use regularly. Amazon makes this easy to toggle on and off.

• Use unique complex passwords – Avoid account sharing risks and the potential for compromise. Enable two-factor authentication for added security.

• Remove old payment details – Don‘t let expired or unused cards accumulate to minimize misuse risks.

• Review household account structures – Separate logins and payment methods between family/roommates to contain use.

• Set spending notifications – Many banks let you customize alerts for transaction amounts over a threshold or other use patterns signaling potential trouble.

• Pay with virtual numbers – For temporary orders, consider virtual credit card numbers or gift cards to limit exposure.

Staying vigilant, minimizing account sharing, and using secure practices greatly reduces the odds of unpleasant Amazon charge surprises. But honest mistakes still happen, so keep a watchful eye.

Final Thoughts on Amazon Account Charges

As one of the world‘s largest retailers, Amazon sees millions of transactions daily. So it‘s no surprise many shoppers encounter weird, unrecognized charges from time to time.

Based on my years as an Amazon seller, I hope this guide provided helpful context around these "mystery" fees as well as recommendations to resolve them.

Often, surprising Amazon charges have logical origins like a forgotten Audible subscription or gift purchase from a relative. Other times, it may take some deeper digging into your account history and bank policies to identify the source.

Rarely is the culprit actual fraudulent activity, but it‘s wise to leverage Amazon security settings just in case. And if any charge truly seems bogus and unauthorized, act swiftly to have it reversed and prevent future damages.

With knowledge, tools, and a proactive approach, you can minimize the confusion from unexplained Amazon account charges. Don‘t hesitate to reach out to customer service for help investigating as well.

Here‘s hoping this overview gives you confidence to handle those pesky mystery transaction fees that inevitably pop up from time to time!