The first year is cheap. The second year is the trap.

A renewal trap is the standard pricing pattern where a vendor offers a deep first-year discount, auto-renews at a substantially higher rack rate from year two, and relies on customer inertia to collect the difference. The promo price is a customer-acquisition cost the vendor recovers starting in year two. It is not illegal by default in most jurisdictions. The federal FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule (16 CFR 425) that would have required conspicuous disclosure and easy cancellation was vacated by the Eighth Circuit in July 2025; in the United States, state automatic-renewal laws, ROSCA, and the FTC Act now provide the binding protections.

Generally yes, provided the vendor disclosed the renewal terms clearly before you signed up. The federal FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule was vacated by the Eighth Circuit on 8 July 2025, so the binding US protections are state automatic-renewal laws plus ROSCA and the FTC Act. California's ARL (Bus. & Prof. Code 17600, expanded by AB 2863 from 1 July 2025) requires separate affirmative consent and same-medium cancellation. New York GBL 527-a requires a renewal reminder 15-45 days before annual renewals. The UK DMCC Act 2024 requires reminders and easy cancellation. If the disclosure was not clear and conspicuous, the renewal may be legally challengeable.

The most reliable approach is a renewal calendar: set a reminder 30 days before every subscription renewal date with a link to the cancellation page. For subscriptions you want to keep, call the retention desk 30-60 days before renewal to negotiate back toward the promo rate. For subscriptions you no longer want, cancel with at least 48 hours notice and screenshot the confirmation. Apps like Bobby (one-time purchase, no subscription) and Rocket Money help with tracking, though Rocket Money itself has a premium tier with auto-renewal mechanics.

McAfee Total Protection (single-device Basic) is typically sold at a promotional rate of $29.99 for the first year through Best Buy, Amazon, or bundled laptop sales. The rack rate from year two is $84.99 - a 2.8x increase. To address this: log into your McAfee account, navigate to Account then Auto-Renewal Settings, and toggle off auto-renewal. Alternatively, call 1-866-622-3911 and ask for a retention promo, which reliably drops the rack to $49-59 for another year. Microsoft Defender, built into Windows 11, is a genuinely adequate free alternative for most home users.

Yes. SiriusXM Platinum is typically offered at a promotional $5 per month for 12 months (dollar-sixty per year). The rack rate rose again on 24 February 2026; SiriusXM does not publish Platinum's standard figure openly, but 2026 price trackers put it around $30 per month (roughly $360 per year), up from the long-standing $24.99 - about a 6x increase, the highest multiplier among the major named offenders in our catalogue. The retention call at 1-866-635-2349 reliably offers $8-12 per month for another 6-12 months. If the retention offer is unsatisfactory, cancel, wait 30 days, and the winback email arrives with the $5 per month promo offer.

The FTC Click-to-Cancel Rule (16 CFR 425) was finalised on 15 October 2024 under FTC Chair Lina Khan, but the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated it in its entirety on 8 July 2025, days before its 14 July 2025 compliance deadline, on procedural grounds (the FTC failed to produce a required preliminary regulatory analysis). It is not in force. It would have required cancellation at least as easy as signup, annual renewal reminders, clear disclosure of material terms before billing information is collected, and affirmative consent for auto-renewal. Auto-renewal is now governed by ROSCA, Section 5 of the FTC Act, and state automatic-renewal laws (several stricter than the vacated rule). The FTC filed a draft notice to revive a negative-option rule on 30 January 2026.