Amazon’s Log Out Button

Posted on 12/16/10 by David Sharek 1 Comment

As you can see in the above screenshot, Amazon has left out the Log Out button from their header and main page. It took me way too long to locate a place where I could log out of my account. Turns out you have to click on the Your Account link at the right. It will then take you to your account page:

At the right of this page is a little box that tells you that your are signed in. Below this message is a little Sign out link; it seems like this link is the only way to log out of Amazon.

Considering it’s Amazon, I have to assume that this is intentional, but I can not understand why they made this decision. Do they want me to always remain logged in? Why would they want that? What about security issues if this was a shared computer? Chance are good that if people can’t locate the log out button easily, they will not log out.

This is a poor usability decision and hopefully Amazon will remedy this soon. Perhaps I shall send a strongly worded letter. :)

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