Amazon has rejected a claim from the Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO) that its pricing policies have led to higher prices for consumers purchasing goods from third-party sellers on its UK marketplace.
ACSO launched opt-out collective proceedings against the ecommerce giant yesterday on behalf of millions of UK consumers.
The association claimed that Amazon’s pricing policies prevented third-party sellers from offering lower prices for their goods elsewhere on the internet.
The membership organisation alleged that these policies protected Amazon from healthy price competition from other e-commerce platforms, enabling it to charge sellers higher fees, which UK consumers ended up paying for in the form of higher prices on Amazon.
However, an Amazon spokesman said: “This claim is without merit and we’re confident that will become clear through the legal process.
“Amazon features offers that provide customers with low prices and fast delivery. In fact, according to independent analysis by Profitero, Amazon has maintained its position as the lowest-priced online retailer in the UK for the fifth consecutive year.”
He continued: “We remain committed to supporting the 100,000 independent businesses that sell their products on our UK store, which generate billions of pounds in export sales every year.”
Amazon’s pricing policies were investigated by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (formerly the Office of Fair Trading) in 2012, the German Federal Cartel Office in 2013 and the Japan Fair Trade Commission in 2016.
Following each of these investigations, Amazon committed to ending its anti-competitive conduct.
Despite this, ACSO alleged that the retailer circumvented those commitments by launching its current pricing policies, which remain in place today.
ACSO founder and executive director Matthew Maxwell-Scott said: “Millions of people in the UK make purchases on Amazon every day.
“Despite the company’s assurances that it is above all else ‘customer-obsessed’, we consider there are strong grounds to argue that UK consumers have paid higher prices because of Amazon’s pricing policies.”
He added: “ACSO is therefore bringing collective proceedings against Amazon to ensure that consumers can obtain redress for the considerable losses they have suffered.”