• by Tanya Gazdik , December 21, 2025

Instacart will pay $60 million in customer refunds to settle the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s claim it deceived U.S. shoppers.

“According to court documents filed in San Francisco on Thursday, Instacart’s offer of “free delivery” for first orders was illusory because shoppers were charged other fees, the FTC alleged,” according to Al Jezeera. “The agency also accused Instacart of failing to adequately notify shoppers that their free trials of its Instacart+ subscription service would convert to paid memberships and of misleading consumers about its refund policy.”

The FTC said Instacart advertised "free delivery" to customers on their first order, only to surprise them with a mandatory service fee to get their groceries delivered.

“These fees can add as much as 15% to the order cost, a condition that wasn't properly disclosed to customers, the agency said,” according to Tom's Guide.. “Instacart also advertised a “100% satisfaction guarantee,” implying that anyone who had a problem with their order was entitled to a full refund. In practice, however, the company didn't make this easy.”

As part of the settlement, Instacart will issue refunds to customers who were charged for Instacart Plus without their informed consent. It’s still unclear how those refunds will go out or when Instacart users can expect them. 

Separately, the FTC has begun an investigation into the company’s pricing practices, according to Reuters. 

“A study released last week showed that prices for the same products in the same supermarkets that work with Instacart can vary by around 7%, which can result in over $1,000 in extra annual costs for customers,” according to CNBC. “Instacart responded by saying that retailers determine prices listed in the app.”

When the study came out, Instacart told Engadget that the pricing variances were caused by some of its retail partners doing “limited, short-term and randomized tests” to better understand consumers. 

“Those randomized pricing tests were enabled by Instacart’s AI pricing tool called Eversight developed by a company it purchased in 2022,” notes Engadget.

Meanwhile, U.S. online grocery sales increased 29% year-over-year in November to $12.3 billion, the strongest monthly acceleration since 2022, per the latest Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopper Survey, according to Marketing Daily.