March 12,2019:
According to sources, Amazon.com has decided to stop telling the third-party sellers on its platform that they cannot offer lower prices on competing websites.
Amazon's decision comes in the wake of a letter from Senator Richard Blumenthal arguing that practice would “stifle the market competition and artificially inflate prices.”
December 19 letter was sent to the Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons and Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim.
Blumenthal stated that Amazon had enforced its policy in the past by threatening to remove the merchants who violated contract clause.
He argued that such policy raised antitrust concerns and should be investigated by U.S. regulators.
In November,2018, Germany’s Antitrust Authority launched an investigation into whether Amazon is exploiting its market dominance in its relations with third-party retailers in November. Germany is Amazon’s second-biggest market.
Source HT
Picture Source :
