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Germany’s antitrust authority has launched an investigation into Amazon’s relationship with third-party merchants promoting on its website, its head was quoted as saying on Sunday.
“We are currently investigating whether and how Amazon influences how traders set prices on the market-place,” Andreas Mundt, President of the Federal Cartel Office, informed the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung day by day.
Germany is Amazon’s second-biggest market after the United States.
During the primary few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many shops have been closed and consumers flocked on-line, Mundt stated there had been complaints that Amazon had blocked some merchants due to allegedly overly excessive costs.
“Amazon must not be a controller of prices,” he stated, including that Amazon had responded to his workplace’s requests for data and people statements have been being evaluated.
The cartel workplace was not instantly accessible to remark.
An Amazon spokeswoman stated the corporate’s insurance policies have been designed to verify its companions set aggressive costs.
“Amazon selling partners set their own product prices in our store,” the spokeswoman stated. “Our systems are designed to take action against price gouging,” she stated, including that those that had issues ought to contact its assist group for its retailers.
Up till 2013, Amazon had prevented merchants from providing their merchandise by way of different on-line websites at a lower cost than on its market place, a coverage Germany’s antitrust watchdog compelled it to desert.
Last yr, Amazon reached a cope with the German authority to overtake its phrases of service for third-party retailers, prompting the workplace to drop a earlier seven-month investigation.
© Thomson Reuters 2020
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