Internal emails show Amazon pushed suppliers to hike rival prices
Newly unsealed US court documents reveal how Amazon pressured suppliers into raising prices on competing websites, a tactic with stark implications for European regulators policing digital monopolies.
California authorities allege Amazon systematically coerced suppliers into raising prices on competing retail websites, according to internal emails and court claims unsealed in recent months.
The records detail specific instances of forced price hikes. A "modern leather" table lamp at Walmart jumped from $24.99 to $39 after Amazon intervened. An air fryer at Newegg surged from $84.99 to $149.99, and an electric ice-cream maker more than tripled from $17.99 to $59.99 on Amazon after the manufacturer pulled the item from Best Buy.
The mechanism was straightforward. When Amazon matched lower prices at retailers like Home Depot or Walmart, it demanded suppliers compensate it for the lost revenue. To escape these financial penalties, suppliers found it easier to simply raise prices on rival platforms or remove their products entirely.
Internal records show Amazon staff had direct conversations about this arrangement. A former vendor manager recalled telling suppliers: “Hey, if you can make sure this product doesn’t continue to be sold at this lower price point, then we don’t have to keep revisiting this discussion about margin.”
To avoid leaving a paper trail, managers were instructed to handle these discussions over the phone. One 2022 internal email reminded staff to “not use email” for certain supplier conversations. “The only rule was, ‘Do not have this in writing,’” a former customer success manager said.
For European regulators and businesses, these US disclosures carry significant implications. They demonstrate how a dominant digital marketplace can structurally distort prices across the entire retail sector, not just on its own platform. As European authorities continue to police Big Tech monopolies, evidence of systematic price inflation on rival sites will likely serve as a critical reference point.
Amazon firmly denies the allegations. The company accuses California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, of “distorting a handful of emails” out of “nearly one million vendor communications” to “suggest a far-reaching conspiracy among unspecified thousands of vendors and retailers”.
Despite the legal pressure, suppliers remain acutely wary of the company's market power. Mark Friedman, a senior vice-president at Chefman, declined to discuss an air fryer price hike that resulted in a $500,000 reimbursement agreement to Amazon. “I can’t talk to you because I still do business with Amazon and I don’t want to bite the hand that feeds me,” he said.
