Amazon touches almost every part of modern life — shopping, entertainment, cloud services, smart home devices, and for many people, income. When someone dies, their Amazon account may contain real money (gift card balances), ongoing revenue streams (KDP publishing, FBA businesses), and digital content libraries worth thousands of dollars in original purchases.
Here's how to handle every aspect of a deceased person's Amazon presence.
Amazon Gift Card Balances
Amazon gift card balances are real money and should be treated as an estate asset. If the deceased person had a gift card balance, it doesn't expire and doesn't disappear when the person dies.
How to claim it: Contact Amazon customer support at 1-888-280-4331 or through the Amazon help pages. Explain that the account holder is deceased and you need to claim the gift card balance. You'll typically need:
- A death certificate
- Proof of your authority as executor (letters testamentary)
- Identification
Amazon may transfer the balance to another Amazon account or issue a check to the estate. Policies can vary, so be prepared to escalate if the first representative isn't familiar with the process.
Kindle and Audible Libraries: The Bad News
Here's something many families don't realize: you don't actually own your Kindle books or Audible audiobooks. When you "buy" a Kindle book, you're purchasing a license to read it — and that license is non-transferable.
Amazon's Terms of Service state that digital content is licensed, not sold, and the license is personal and non-transferable. This means:
- Your Kindle library cannot be transferred to another person's account
- Your Audible library cannot be transferred
- Your Amazon Video purchases cannot be transferred
- Your Amazon Music purchases cannot be transferred
In practice: If family members have access to the deceased person's Amazon account (they know the password), they can continue to access the Kindle library on registered devices. Amazon doesn't actively police this. But officially, the content dies with the account holder.
This is a significant issue for people with large digital libraries. Someone who has spent $5,000 on Kindle books over the years has an asset worth $0 at death, as far as transfer is concerned.
Workaround: If the deceased person had a Kindle Family Library set up (which shares content between two adults in the same Amazon Household), the surviving household member retains access to shared content as long as the household connection remains active.
Amazon Prime
If the deceased person had an Amazon Prime membership:
- **Cancel it** to stop the $139/annual or $14.99/monthly charge
- If the membership was recently renewed, Amazon often issues prorated refunds for unused time on annual plans
- Contact Amazon at **1-888-280-4331** to request cancellation and any applicable refund
- If other family members were benefiting from the Prime membership's sharing features (Amazon Household), they'll need to get their own Prime membership
Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) Business
If the deceased person ran an FBA business, this is a real business asset that requires immediate attention:
Inventory There may be physical inventory stored in Amazon's fulfillment centers. This inventory is a tangible asset of the estate. Options include:
- **Continue operating**: If someone in the family can manage the business, the seller account can potentially be transferred (Amazon reviews these on a case-by-case basis)
- **Sell the business**: Amazon FBA businesses are bought and sold regularly. Marketplaces like Empire Flippers, Quiet Light, and others specialize in these transactions
- **Liquidate inventory**: Request that Amazon return the inventory to you, or create removal orders to clear out the stock
- **Let Amazon dispose**: If the inventory isn't worth reclaiming, Amazon can dispose of it (though they charge for this)
Seller Account Funds Amazon seller accounts typically have a balance from recent sales. These funds are an asset of the estate. Contact Amazon Seller Support to process an estate claim for the account balance.
Ongoing Orders If there are pending orders, they need to be fulfilled or cancelled. The sooner someone takes control of the seller account, the better — unfulfilled orders lead to negative reviews and potential account suspension.
Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) Royalties
If the deceased person published books through Amazon KDP, those books continue earning royalties as long as they remain listed. This is a recurring income stream that can continue indefinitely.
To claim KDP royalties:
1. Contact KDP support through the KDP Help pages (kdp.amazon.com) 2. Provide a death certificate and proof of estate authority 3. KDP will work with you to transfer the account or redirect royalty payments to the estate
Important decisions: - Keep the books published (ongoing royalty income for the estate/heirs) - Update the bank account receiving royalties to an estate account - Consider whether to continue marketing/promoting the books
KDP royalties can be a meaningful ongoing income source. Some self-published authors earn thousands per month from their catalogs. Don't rush to close a KDP account without understanding the revenue involved.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
If the deceased person had AWS accounts — whether for personal projects, a business, or freelance work — this requires urgent attention because AWS charges based on usage. Running servers, databases, and storage continue accruing charges regardless of whether anyone is monitoring them.
Immediate steps: 1. Access the AWS account and review running services 2. Shut down or terminate any services that are no longer needed 3. If the account is being used for a business, coordinate with anyone who depends on those services 4. Contact AWS support for assistance with estate claims
Warning: AWS bills can be substantial. An unmonitored account with running EC2 instances, RDS databases, or large S3 buckets can generate hundreds or thousands of dollars in monthly charges.
Alexa and Smart Home Devices
If the deceased person used Amazon Echo devices and Alexa:
- **Voice profiles** can be removed from the Alexa app
- **Smart home routines** may need to be reconfigured if they were tied to the deceased person's account
- **Purchased Alexa skills** and subscriptions should be reviewed and cancelled if not needed
- **Amazon Echo devices** themselves are physical property and can be factory-reset and given to family members or sold
Amazon Subscribe & Save
Check for any Subscribe & Save subscriptions that will continue shipping and charging automatically. These can be cancelled through the Amazon account or by contacting customer support.
Documenting Your Amazon Life
Amazon is a prime example (no pun intended) of how a single platform can span multiple categories of digital assets — financial (gift card balance, seller account), intellectual property (KDP books), business (FBA), subscriptions (Prime), and digital content (Kindle/Audible).
Having all of this documented in your digital estate plan, through a tool like Passed Plan, means your executor knows exactly what exists and what needs attention. Without documentation, important income streams like KDP royalties can go unclaimed, and charges from AWS or FBA can accumulate unnoticed.
Add your Amazon accounts — all of them — to your digital estate plan today.
Document your accounts in Passed Plan
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