How to export your data from Amazon
Amazon is required to give you a copy of the data it holds about you, including records and purchase history. The request itself is free, and arrives as several .zip files, mostly CSV with some PDF and audio. Typical wait: six hours to a month, and genuinely unpredictable.
Step by step
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Open Request My Data
It sits under Account, then Data Privacy. Use the site for the country your account belongs to.
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Pick one category from the dropdown
This is the awkward part: the list is single-select. Request All Your Data is the last entry and is the one to choose unless you want something specific.
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Submit and confirm by email
Nothing is prepared until you click the link in the confirmation email.
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Wait, without assuming a pattern
One request has come back in six hours and another from the same account took nineteen days.
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Download everything before it expires
The files stay available for ninety days, and each one has its own expiry.
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Keep the archives separate
The same filename appears in more than one archive with different contents. Extract them into separate folders or one will overwrite the other.
Worth knowing
Common questions
How long does an Amazon data request take?
Amazon says up to a month. In practice it has ranged from six hours to nineteen days for the same account, so there is no reliable figure to plan around.
Why can I only pick one category at a time from Amazon?
The request form is a single-select dropdown. Request All Your Data is the last entry and is usually what you want; otherwise you have to file one request per category and they arrive at different times.
Why did my Amazon order history arrive as JSON instead of CSV?
Amazon sends either, apparently at random - the same person has requested twice days apart and received one of each. The JSON version also carries fewer fields than the CSV.
Are Alexa recordings in the Amazon data export?
Yes, as .wav files, if you have an Echo. For a household that has used one for a few years this is the overwhelming majority of the download by size.
What Muletto does with this export
Once your download arrives, open it in Muletto. The file is read in your browser, on your own machine - nothing is uploaded. You get a breakdown of what is inside, duplicate detection, and a browsable view of your photos, messages, timeline and records.