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Amazon is face another competitor suit in the U.K. The late claim , which was filed Thursday , is seeking more than £ 2.7 billion in damages — or around $ 3.4 billion at current substitution rate — before the U.K. ’s Competition Appeals Tribunal .
The case is being brought by Andreas Stephan , a prof of competition constabulary at the University of East Anglia and head of its Law School , on behalf of more than 200,000 U.K. third - company sellers on Amazon .
The causa argue Amazon has abuse a prevalent position in the supplying of market services to third - political party sellers to reach customers in the U.K. in a salmagundi of ways — including by discriminate in favor of its own retail offerings instead of those of third parties ; discriminate in favor of its own logistics services ( fill by Amazon , or FBA ) ; and unfairly conditioning access to its membership product Prime on use of FBA .
The title also argues Amazon distorts inter - platform completion by pass water it hard for third - party sellers to trade cheaper on other political program .
“ As a result of these abuse , third - party sellers have suffer sales , face increased costs and paid higher fees to Amazon for its services than they would have under normal conditions of competition , ” the plaintiff write in a press release .
The accusations should be familiar as regional challenger authorisation have spend a numeral of years investigating complaints about Amazon ’s use of third - political party data and look into how it operates various element of the marketplace , including FBA and Prime . Amazon has also faced interchangeable antimonopoly charges in the U.S. in recent twelvemonth .
Since the U.K. lawsuit is an opt - out collective action , eligible vender are mechanically included unless they ask not to be included . There are no costs for marketer to be included but if the claim prevails any sellers who have not opted out will be entitled to a plowshare of any compensation or colony .
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The criteria for eligibility is any U.K.-based individual or troupe that used a professional account to sell to U.K. consumers on Amazon between June 2018 and June 2024 . More detail about the legal action — and a form to read for update — can be foundon the title site .
The lawsuit is being fund by Innsworth Capital Limited , a major litigation funder that ’s back a number of other opt - out collective legal action lawsuits against tech giants in the U.K. and Europe — includinga $ 3.1 billion rival call against Meta ; andprivacy judicial proceeding against Oracle and Salesforce .
Innsworth will pay all the price of the case and stand to advance a parcel of any compensation awarded or colony defrayment Amazon may choose to make .
Amazon was get hold of for gossip on the U.K. suit . A company spokesperson emailed this statement : “ We are surefooted that these claim are wild and that this will be exposed in the sound process . Over 100,000 small and intermediate sized line in the UK sell on Amazon ’s shop , more than one-half of all strong-arm intersection sale on our UK store are from independent selling partners , and the fact is that we only win when the businesses we work with succeed . ”
It ’s not the first course of instruction natural action - style legal action the east - DoC giant has faced in the U.K. related to competition insult claim . Earlier this month , a similar impairment case was lodge by theBritish Independent Retailers Associationon behalf of its thousands of members . In that character the suit is seeking £ 1.1 billion in recompense .
necessitate whether Stephan sees any prospect of the two collective U.K. competition abuse claims being combined , he severalise TechCrunch : “ It is too former at this stage to say whether our title will be find out as a standalone claim or whether it could be meld . What we can say is that we are convinced we have set out a compelling pillow slip on behalf of the class we are seeking to represent , we have a compelling methodological analysis and we will do everything we can to progress the matter in a timely manner . ”
As observe above , the wave of competition judicial proceeding targeting Amazon followsyears of antimonopoly scrutiny in the U.K.andEuropeover its use of third - party sellers ’ data and concern its marketplace is not a level acting discipline .
In recent years , the U.S. e - commerce giant has also been battling accusations of competition revilement on household sod . Last Septemberthe Federal Trade Commission , joined by lawyer worldwide from 17 country , file suit against Amazon alleging it has used an array of monopolistic practice session to illicitly stifle challenger .
Washington , DC ’s lawyer general also file an earlier title , back in May 2021 , accusing Amazon of stifling contention by exerting control over third - party sellers , including through damage fixing and blockade third - company sellers from selling their product for less elsewhere .
Even if there had been penalty raise by antimonopoly regulators , such fines would only O.K. the company itself . This kind of enforcement does not allow for any direct relief for victims of abusive behavior — hence there ’s an opportunity for damages claims , and judicial proceeding funders , to step in .
This report was updated with Stephan ’s answer to our question ; and with gossip from Amazon
