Italy fines Amazon USD 1.3 billion for abusing market position

Amazon was fined USD 1.3 billion for abusing its market position by giving preferential treatment to third-party sellers that use its logistics servic e, including a higher chance of being featured on its Buy Box system . Italy's antitrust watchdog the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) accused Amazon of unfairly promoting its own logistics service, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), to the detriment of third-party sellers on its platform, including giving preferential treatment to sellers using FBA, including increasing the likelihood of FBA users being featured in the Buy Box on product pages. The Italian regulator argued that Amazon's practices created a vicious circle, compelling sellers to use FBA to remain competitive on the platform, despite potentially higher costs, thereby allowing Amazon to leverage its dominant position in the e-commerce market to rapidly expand its presence in the logistics sector. Amazon said it strongly disagreed with the decision , calling the fine and remedies "unjustified" and "disproportionate", and said it would appeal. System 🤖 Amazon Buy Box Operator: Amazon Developer: Amazon Country: Italy Sector: Retail Purpose: Determine seller Technology: Pricing algorithm; Machine learning Issue: Business model; Competition/price fixing; Tran sparency Legal, regulatory 👩🏼‍⚖️ Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (2021). Sanzione di oltre 1 miliardo e 128 milioni di euro ad Amazon per abuso di posizione dominant | Report (pdf)

Date it happened

2021-12-01

Organisation involved

Amazon

Product, system or model

Buy Box

This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.