You've got a cart full of items, you tap checkout, and Amazon throws back "Sorry, something went wrong on our end" — or the page just won't load at all. When money and a good deal are on the line, you want a fast, clear answer: is Amazon down right now, or is the problem on my side? The difference decides whether you sit tight or run a quick fix. Here's how to check if Amazon.com is having an outage in seconds, and what to do either way.

How to check if Amazon.com is having an outage

Skip the guesswork — verify it directly:

  1. Run an instant status check. Our live Amazon status checker tests the site from our servers, on a completely different network from yours. If our server loads Amazon fine but you can't, the problem is on your side. If our server also fails, Amazon is down for everyone.
  2. Scan the outage board. Our live website status directory shows Amazon alongside 100 of the most popular sites in real time. If Amazon is red there while everything else is green, that points to a genuine, widespread outage.
  3. Check the outage history. Reviewing Amazon's recent uptime history and past outages tells you whether this is a fresh incident or something that's been flickering all day.

When two of these three agree, you have a confident answer in under a minute.

Is Amazon down for everyone or just you?

This is the key question, because it splits your next steps in two. If Amazon's servers are down, no amount of refreshing will help. But if the checkers say Amazon is up while you can't get in, the problem is local — and that's the easy kind to fix.

The quickest self-test is to try Amazon on a different device or network: open it on your phone using mobile data instead of the app on Wi-Fi. If it works on one but not the other, you've found where the fault lives. Our guide on whether a site is down for everyone or just you explains the full 60-second test.

Common signs Amazon is down

Amazon rarely fails entirely — usually one part breaks while the rest half-works, which makes an outage confusing to spot. Watch for:

  • The homepage or search won't load, or spins endlessly.
  • "Sorry, something went wrong" or a plain error page (Amazon's "dogs" page).
  • Checkout fails or your cart won't update, even though browsing works.
  • The Amazon app won't connect while the website half-loads (or vice versa).
  • Server errors like HTTP 503 Service Unavailable, which often appear during huge traffic spikes such as Prime Day.

If you see repeated 500, 502, or 503 errors, our guide on what HTTP status codes mean explains which ones signal a genuine server outage versus a temporary block.

A note on AWS outages

Here's something many people don't realize: Amazon.com runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS), the same cloud platform that powers a huge share of the internet. When a major AWS outage happens, it can knock out Amazon and countless unrelated apps and websites at the same time. So if you notice that Amazon, plus several other apps you use, all go down together, you may be witnessing an AWS-level event rather than a problem specific to Amazon's store. Our live directory makes this easy to spot — a wall of red across many services at once is the tell-tale sign.

Quick fixes if Amazon is only down for you

If the checkers say Amazon is up but you still can't get in, work through these in order — most take under a minute:

  • Reload with a hard refresh (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R) to bypass a cached, broken page.
  • Try incognito mode or a different browser to rule out extensions and corrupted cache.
  • Clear the app cache (Android: Settings → Apps → Amazon → Storage → Clear Cache), which won't log you out.
  • Flush your DNS cache. A stale DNS record can block one site while everything else works. Our step-by-step DNS flush guide covers Windows, macOS, Android and iPhone.
  • Disable your VPN or proxy, which can trip Amazon's fraud and location checks.
  • Restart your router if it's only failing on Wi-Fi.

Still stuck only on your device? Our checklist on fixing a site that's down for you but not everyone has more advanced steps to try.

What to do if Amazon is down for everyone

If you've confirmed a real outage, there's nothing to fix on your end — don't reinstall the app or reset anything.

  • Wait it out. Most Amazon outages are resolved within 30 to 60 minutes.
  • Don't panic about your order. If a purchase seemed to fail during an outage, check your orders and email before trying again — you may have been charged once even if the page errored. Avoid re-submitting repeatedly.
  • Come back shortly instead of hammering refresh.

The bottom line

The next time Amazon won't load or checkout won't go through, don't assume your account is broken. Ask the one question that matters — down for everyone, or just me? — and answer it in seconds with a quick Amazon status check. If it's a real outage (or an AWS-wide one), sit tight and wait. If it's just you, a hard refresh and a DNS flush will usually have you shopping again in minutes.