Amazon has released a new way for parents to control what their teenage children are buying on the shopping website. The new controls allow teens to shop on Amazon independently but parents will have to approve all orders or set a pre-approved spending limit per order; with these extra controls, parents will be able to avoid their debit cards wandering off into their child’s room as money dwindles from their bank account.
Michael Carr, the Vice President for Amazon Households said:
“As a parent of a teen, I know how they crave independence, but at the same time that has to be balanced with the convenience and trust that parents need. We’ve listened to families and have built a great experience for both teens and parents. For teens who have a parent with a Prime membership, they can also access Prime benefits at no additional cost, including fast, free shipping, Prime Video and gaming benefits with Twitch Prime.”
Once the child finds something they want to buy on Amazon, they can place the order through the app and the parents will receive a text or email showing the item, cost, shipping address, and the payment information, along with any personalized note from the teen to give context about the purchase. By default, parents must approve every order but this can be tweaked in order to set a spending limit instead.
The parent and child each get their own Amazon account, however, the parent has the control over which payment methods and shipping addresses can be used by the child. Amazon’s dedicated page explains more about the function and how to get started.
Source: Amazon