The Competition Bureau of Canada has obtained a court order to begin investigating Amazon’s ‘Fair Pricing Policy,’ which the bureau fears influences pricing online. This follows the Bureau’s investigation into Amazon’s marketing tactics from June 2024.
The retail giants’ policy allows Amazon to remove listings if it thinks a product from a third-party seller has set its price too high compared to other listings. The Bureau is working to determine if this policy allows Amazon to charge higher fees to sellers, which are passed on to shoppers.
The bureau is also worried that this policy will make it harder for third-party sellers to offer deals on their own websites, preventing competition between retailers.
The new court order allows the bureau to ask Amazon for records and other relevant information for the case. There is no notice of when the Bureau hopes to share its findings.
Either way, this is not the way Amazon likely wanted to start its Prime Day sales event in Canada, and I do wonder if the bureau put out its press release today as a small jab at the company.
Notably, Amazon is facing several antitrust lawsuits in the U.S., including one over the same Fair Pricing Policy that Canada’s Competition Bureau is targeting. A separate lawsuit from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleged Amazon used an algorithm to increase prices and of using anti-competitive practices to maintain dominance in the online retail space.
Source: The Competition Bureau of Canada
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