Liability Limitation and $100 Cap

What it is

Amazon limits its financial liability to you to a maximum of $100 or the amount you paid Amazon in the past 12 months, and excludes liability for consequential, punitive, or incidental damages entirely.

Why it matters (compliance & governance perspective)

This clause caps the financial recovery available to consumers regardless of the actual harm suffered, including in cases involving incidental or consequential losses, and extends the exclusion to Amazon's suppliers.

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

If Amazon's services cause financial or other harm, the agreement limits the monetary recovery available to the consumer to $100 or the prior 12 months of payments to Amazon, whichever is greater. Punitive, consequential, and incidental damages are excluded. Applicable law in some jurisdictions may limit the enforceability of this cap.

Institutional analysis (Compliance & governance intelligence)

(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Liability limitation clauses interact with state consumer protection statutes (including Washington's Consumer Protection Act and California's Consumers Legal Remedies Act), which may impose minimum liability floors or restrict exclusions for willful misconduct. EU consumer law generally prohibits terms that limit liability for personal injury or death caused by negligence, and may restrict broad consequential damage exclusions in consumer contracts. The FTC may evaluate such clauses in the context of unfair or deceptive practices. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The $100 cap applies broadly to all services and all users, which may be disproportionate to actual losses in certain service categories (e.g., AWS, Amazon Pay, or high-value purchases). Courts in some jurisdictions have declined to enforce such caps where they are found to be unconscionable or contrary to public policy. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU and UK users benefit from mandatory minimum consumer protection rights that may override the cap for certain types of harm, particularly personal injury. California's CLRA may restrict enforcement of consequential damage exclusions in specific product liability contexts. Any jurisdiction that prohibits limitation of liability for gross negligence or willful misconduct creates potential unenforceability. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Enterprise customers should note that this limitation applies unless a separate commercial agreement (e.g., AWS Customer Agreement) governs the relationship. Procurement teams should verify which agreement controls in a B2B context. The extension of the limitation to Amazon's suppliers is a standard but material indemnification boundary. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams reviewing Amazon service agreements for enterprise procurement should confirm whether the $100 liability cap is superseded by service-specific agreements (e.g., AWS, Amazon Business). For consumer-facing product liability scenarios, the interaction between this cap and mandatory product liability law in the EU and UK should be assessed.

Applicable agencies

Applicable regulations

Provision details

Other risks in this policy

• Mandatory Arbitration and Class Action Waiver high
• Perpetual Royalty-Free Content License medium
• Warranty Disclaimer medium
• Electronic Communications Consent low
• Governing Law and Jurisdiction medium
• Copyright and DMCA Infringement Policy low