February 25, 2023, 3:12 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
The company Amazon operates the largest online retail platform in the world. With its services and proprietary products, the corporation ties users to itself. Those who want to break free should keep a few important things in mind.
Amazon collects a significant amount of data about users to better understand their shopping behavior. If this makes you uneasy or if you want to delete your account for another reason, you can do so quite easily. It is sufficient to request the deletion of the user account and the associated data from Amazon.
What to Consider Before Deleting Your Amazon Account
Before deleting your Amazon account, there are a few things to consider. It is not possible to remove the account for a specific country, such as “amazon.com” or “amazon.it.” The termination of the user account affects all Amazon stores, regardless of the country. Not only that: With the account, all other accesses to Amazon services disappear. These include, for example, Prime Video, Audible, Kindle, Prime Gaming, and Amazon Music. Excluded from this are, of course, accesses that run through other login data.
What Happens to Linked Devices?
All devices linked to the Amazon account will also no longer have access to Amazon services. These include, among others, Amazon Echo, Fire Tablets, and Fire TVs, as well as Kindle e-readers. In the case of Amazon Echo, a large part of the functionality is lost, as an Amazon account is necessary to use skills, alarms, and lists. On the e-reader, access to the Kindle Store is lost. The same applies to the Amazon Appstore on Fire Tablets. Fire TV devices no longer have access to Prime Video, Amazon Music, and the Appstore.
What Happens to Purchases and Credits?
Movies and series rented or purchased on Prime Video are no longer accessible after the Amazon account is deleted. The same applies to books purchased through Kindle. Audible audiobooks are also no longer available—regardless of whether they were purchased or paid for with credits. Photos and videos stored in Amazon Photos should be downloaded before closing the account. The same goes for any credits in the Amazon store, Audible, and other Amazon services. If you do not use them, they will be lost. After deletion, the account and all associated Amazon services are no longer accessible and cannot be restored. To use the Amazon store or services again, a new account is necessary.
Other services that belong to Amazon are also affected by the account deletion. This includes, for example, Comixology. All purchased comics, subscriptions, and vouchers are then no longer accessible.
Also of interest: The Secret Network of Amazon’s Own Brands
Some User Data Remains Even After Deleting the Amazon Account
However, not all data that the company has about its users disappears with the closure of the Amazon account. The corporation points out that it decides which user information remains. This includes transaction data such as customer names, ordered products, date, price, delivery address, payment method, and sales tax.
Read also: Amazon Must Simplify Prime Cancellation Under EU Pressure
How to Permanently Delete Your Amazon Account
1. Follow this link: amazon.de/privacy/data-deletion. On the page, all services from which your data will be removed by deleting the Amazon account will appear.
2. Scroll down to the note that the “account closure is permanent.”
3. If you wish, select a reason for the account deletion. Then check the box “Yes, I want to permanently close my Amazon account and delete my data.”
4. Now the button Close My Account is selectable.
5. You will then receive an email or text message to confirm the deletion. This is the last hurdle to permanently delete the Amazon account and all associated data.