Sellers on Amazon are no longer obligated to guarantee their lowest price for the e-commerce platform. This decision comes in the wake of fierce criticism from American senator Richard Blumenthal and an inquiry from the German government.
Artificially raised prices
Amazon no longer demands its sellers to offer the lowest price on its platforms, Reuters writes based on an anonymous source. Amazon may have changed the policy because it was increasingly under attack: the decision comes in the wake of a letter from American senator Richard Blumenthal to the federal trade commission, in which he argues that the practice “could stifle market competition and artificially inflate prices on consumer goods”.
Blumenthal said that Amazon has been known to threaten violators of that clause with removal from the marketplace. He claimed that such practices disturb normal competition and should be investigated by the American authorities.
German inquiry
At the same time, the German competition watchdog started an investigation in which it tries to figure out whether Amazon has been abusing its dominant market position in the way they deal with external sellers on the platform. Germany is Amazon’s second biggest market.
For all of these reasons, Amazon has reportedly decided that external sellers on the platform are allowed to offer lower prices on competing websites. Amazon has not yet responded to questions from the press on this matter.
