A widespread outage briefly disrupted Amazon this week, leaving thousands of online shoppers unable to complete purchases or access parts of the company’s website and app. The problem began at around 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT on March 5, 2026, when users across the United States reported issues with Amazon’s platform. So, what caused Amazon’s outages?
According to the outage-tracking platform Downdetector, reports quickly increased into the tens of thousands as customers complained about checkout failures, product pricing errors and problems accessing order histories.
This wasn’t the first time that the popular system has experienced a shutdown. The last time Amazon Web Services (AWS) experienced a major issue was in October 2025.
Here’s what we know about Amazon’s March 2026 outages.
Tens of thousands of shoppers are reporting widespread problems using Amazon’swebsite, according to reports from outage tracker Downdetector.
As of 3:45 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 5, reports of outages are hovering at around 20,000. Reports first peaked at around 2:30 p.m.— Katherine Swidan (@KatherineS168) March 5, 2026
How Long Did Amazon Have an Outage?
The March 2026 Amazon outage lasted for about five or six hours for most customers. The company acknowledged the problem in a message that popped up for shoppers. It read, “We’re sorry if you’re experiencing issues while placing an order. We’re working to fix this as quickly as possible. Please try again later, or visit this Customer Service home for more help.”
Amazon managed to resolve the problem at around 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT that evening.
While the recent outage lasted only several hours, it accentuated how reliant millions of consumers and businesses are on Amazon’s infrastructure. No matter how short the disruption might be, a system-wide failure can impact shopping, streaming and a range of other internet services that depend on Amazon’s technology.
Why Did Amazon Experience Outages?
Amazon attributed the system-wide outages to a “software code deployment,” according to a statement obtained by Reuters.
“We’re sorry that some customers may have temporarily experienced issues while shopping,” a spokesperson for the company said. “We have resolved the issue, which was related to a software code deployment, and (the) website and app are now running smoothly.”
Was Amazon Prime Video Down Too?
For some users, yes, Amazon Prime Video also had a system failure.
