California Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed a request for a preliminary injunction in the state’s ongoing lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the company engaged in price fixing with its vendors and competitors. The motion, submitted after a period of discovery, includes new evidence that points to numerous instances where Amazon directed vendors to raise prices on competing retail websites or remove products from those sites altogether.
According to the Attorney General’s office, these actions were intended to shield Amazon from price competition and resulted in higher prices for consumers. The office claims that vendors complied out of fear of retaliation due to Amazon’s significant bargaining power.
“Amazon doesn’t have cheap prices because of its good business sense. Amazon’s ‘cheap’ prices are the result of intimidation and illegality that drove up prices for consumers across the marketplace. My office has uncovered evidence that Amazon bullied vendors to hike up the price of their products sold at other shops, or secured the removal of these products altogether, to ensure Amazon was the cheapest place consumers could find products,” said Attorney General Bonta. “In other words, while consumers face a crisis of affordability, Amazon blatantly worked to ensure that consumers could not find cheaper products out in the marketplace, all the while raking in unlawful profits from Americans who genuinely thought they were getting the best deal. Let me be clear: In California, we welcome competition and innovation. We welcome companies that succeed by offering better prices and better service. What we have here is a greedy, behemoth corporation intentionally increasing prices in the marketplace to get richer and richer off the backs of consumers who are struggling with affordability. While most of the evidence in our filing is redacted from the public, my office is working hard to ensure it comes to light. Amazon’s scheme is neither subtle nor complex. It is price fixing, plain and simple, black and white, and we’re asking the court to immediately halt this conduct while the underlying case proceeds. California looks forward to holding Amazon accountable at our January 2027 trial. Consumers and small businesses deserve justice.”
The lawsuit outlines several schemes allegedly used by Amazon:
– When both Amazon and a competitor match each other’s lower prices through a shared vendor—creating downward pressure—one party agrees via their vendor to increase or temporarily remove product listings so both can maintain higher market prices.
– If a competitor offers discounts below Amazon’s price on certain items, it may agree (through communication with vendors) to raise its own retail price at Amazon’s request.
– Vendors sometimes remove products from rival retailers offering lower prices than those on Amazon; this enables an increase in pricing on both platforms.
The motion seeks an order stopping what it describes as explicit price-fixing activities between Amazon and its partners—including instructing vendors about other retailers’ pricing strategies—and preventing coercion where vendors act as intermediaries between competing retailers.
Amazon holds substantial influence over online retail markets nationwide with close to 200 million Prime members across America. Surveys indicate most U.S. shoppers check Amazon before making purchases elsewhere.
Merchants selling through Amazon often feel compelled due to limited alternatives despite higher costs compared with other platforms; some sellers state there are no viable substitutes for their businesses outside Amazon. According to state officials, agreements required by Amazon prevent merchants from listing lower prices on rival sites like Walmart or Target under threat of penalties such as loss of visibility or suspension.
Attorney General Bonta leads California’s chief law enforcement agency (official website). The office enforces laws statewide focused on protecting public rights including consumer protection (official website). It also advances policies related to civil rights and economic security throughout California (official website).
The trial addressing these allegations is scheduled for January 2027.
