California is process Amazon , the state ’s attorney general announced Wednesday ina press dismissal . The focus ofthe lawsuit , filed in the state ’s Superior Court in San Francisco County , is on how Amazon allegedly mash competition and inflates toll through restrictive agreement with its third - party sellers .
contract between Amazon and its sellers effectively prevent the platform ’s merchants from offering low Price elsewhere — even though Amazon is a relatively expensive site for vendor to practice , the courting say .
“ These agreement thwart the ability of other online retailers to compete , contributing to Amazon ’s control in the online retail market and harming merchandiser and consumers through inflated fee and high-pitched prices , ” AG Rob Bonta ’s announcement claimed .
California has different consumer protection laws on the books from Washington, D.C., which could lead AG Rob Bonta’s new lawsuit to be more successful than the one dismissed earlier this year in D.C. court.Photo:Sundry Photography(Shutterstock)
In other words : if a third - party merchant offers a merchandise on , say , their own web site ( where there are no associated fee to betray ) at a cheaper rate than on Amazon ’s website , the massive e - tailer can revenge , per these agreements . Some of those retaliatory practices have allegedly included removing the “ Buy Now ” or “ Add to Cart ” buttons from a merchandiser ’s varlet , which can end up coerce sellers to either drop their Price on Amazon or raise them everywhere else .
This results in a “ fell anticompetitive cycle in which Amazon wins and its third - party seller , its wholesale supplier , consumer , and competition misplace , ” read the sound complaint .
And for online sellers , abandoning Amazon to avoid the costs and boost prices is nigh impossible . “ We have nowhere else to go and Amazon know it , ” says the complaint , cite an unknown retailer .
Amazon has around 25 million customers in California , consist nearly 16 % of the society ’s customer Prime penis fundament nationwide , according to the AG ’s closet dismission . If successful , the province ’s effectual fighting could localize a nationwide common law , as California litigation andlegislationhas in the past .
The California ill is only the latest in a string of recent action andcritiquesaccusing Amazon of anticompetitive policies . The Federal Trade Commissionhas investigatedAmazon ’s practicesmultiple timesin recent years , fin the society $ 61.7 million in Feb. 2021 .
Congress has called on the Justice Department toinvestigate the companyfor allegedly obstructing one of those federal antitrust probes . And the party faced a years - foresightful probe in the European Union , which itrecently attempted to settlewith a list of concessions .
In reply to some of the criticism and probes , Amazon has agreed toscale back its private - labelproducts for cut-rate sale on the political program . However , the company has alsofunneled nearly $ 1 milliontowards lobbying efforts in the hopes of squash aim U.S. antitrust legislating .
Internal text file leak in October 2021 showed how Amazon was purposelyusing its own brandsto undercut other seller . And an earlier written report from the Wall Street Journaldemonstrated relatedpractices .
A suit with a nearly identical premise to the new California case was file in D.C. courtand dismissedearlier this year . Yet Bonta ’s office is affirmative that the lawsuit , which is the result oftwo years of investigation , will lead to a different resultant , accord toa reportfrom The New York Times : “ An official in Mr. Bonta ’s office state the California attorney general expected to deliver the goods where D.C. has stumbled by provide far more detail on how Amazon was hurting consumers , and because California state law provides firm consumer protections . ”
In a reaction to Gizmodo ’s request for gossip , an Amazon spokesperson sent the be statement in an electronic mail : “ exchangeable to the D.C. Attorney General — whose complaint was dismissed by the courts — the California Attorney General has it on the dot backwards . vender define their own prices for the products they offer in our store … The sculptural relief the AG seek would force Amazon to feature higher price to customers , funnily die against core objectives of antitrust constabulary . We hope that the California court of law will pass the same conclusion as the D.C. tourist court and displace this lawsuit quickly . ”
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