Amazon is again under fire for its policies allegedly forbidding its online retailers from selling their products for lower prices on other websites and retail platforms. Critics say this has led to years of higher prices for consumers instead of allowing markets to determine fair prices.
Last year,
the District of Columbia sued Amazon for the same reason and lost in court in March 2022. But then in April, the Department of Justice
issued a statement in support of DC's case, and shortly after,
DC filed to appeal this August. Now, California attorney general Rob Bonta has piled on more pressure,
announcing a lawsuit against Amazon for allegedly blocking price competition in California, too.
Previously, an Amazon spokesperson
told Politico, regarding the DC lawsuit, that "sellers set their own prices for the products they offer in our store." The spokesperson suggested that without Amazon's commitment to highlighting competitively priced items above others, prices in the market would go up, not decrease as critics suggest.
Today, an Amazon spokesperson provided Ars with a similar statement about the new case.
"Similar to the DC Attorney General—whose complaint was dismissed by the courts—the California Attorney General has it exactly backwards," Amazon's spokesperson said. "Sellers set their own prices for the products they offer in our store. Amazon takes pride in the fact that we offer low prices across the broadest selection, and like any store we reserve the right not to highlight offers to customers that are not priced competitively. The relief the AG seeks would force Amazon to feature higher prices to customers, oddly going against core objectives of antitrust law."
Bonta disagrees with Amazon. He said in his press release that Amazon's "agreements thwart the ability of other online retailers to compete, contributing to Amazon's dominance in the online retail marketplace and harming merchants and consumers through inflated fees and higher prices."
"The reality is: Many of the products we buy online would be cheaper if market forces were left unconstrained," Bonta said. "With today's lawsuit, we're fighting back."
arstechnica.com
