Germany’s competition regulator, the Bundeskartellamt, just ordered Amazon to stop controlling the prices that third-party sellers charge on its platform. The watchdog found that Amazon uses several tools to monitor and influence how much other businesses charge for their products.
If Amazon thinks a seller’s price is too high, it punishes that listing. The company often removes the product from the “Buy Box”—the prominent section that lets customers purchase an item with one click. In some cases, Amazon hides the listing in hard-to-find menus like “Other Sellers” or deletes the product from the site entirely. The regulator says this kills sales for these businesses.
This practice is a problem because Amazon competes with the very people it hosts. About 60 percent of the items sold on the platform come from third-party sellers. When Amazon controls their prices, it is essentially dictating the terms for its own competitors. Cartel Office President Andreas Mundt said that Amazon should only interfere with pricing in extreme cases, such as price gouging. Otherwise, Amazon gains too much power to set price levels across the entire internet based on its own goals. He warned that these tactics could drive smaller sellers out of business if they can no longer cover their costs.
Amazon’s leadership is fighting back. Rocco Bräuniger, the company’s manager for Germany, confirmed they will appeal the decision. He argued that the ruling forces Amazon to highlight “non-competitive” prices, which he claims hurts shoppers and stops innovation in Europe. For now, Amazon plans to keep its current system in place while it challenges the order.
The German authorities are hitting Amazon with a $70 million fine as a starting point. They described this as a “partial payment” based on the profits Amazon made from these unfair practices. Since the agency believes Amazon is still breaking the law, the total fine could grow much larger. This ruling follows years of European pressure on Amazon to stop using its size to crush smaller rivals.
