Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has blocked Amazon’s price controls on third-party sellers and demanded repayment of about €59m ($69.6m).
The FCO, or Bundeskartellamt, said it had prohibited Amazon and Amazon EU from shaping prices charged by merchants on the Amazon.de Marketplace.
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It said this is allowed only in limited circumstances such as excessive pricing and under regulatory conditions.
Amazon runs the Amazon.de platform, which the authority said represents approximately 60% of Germany’s online retail market.
The site hosts Amazon’s own retail operations alongside third-party sellers, who account for around 60% of transactions.
In its response, Amazon said: “We will vigorously challenge the FCO’s conclusion, which is based on unique German regulation and directly conflicts with EU competition law consumer standards.
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By GlobalData“As a result of this decision, Amazon would be the only retailer in Germany forced to promote uncompetitive prices to customers, which makes no sense for customers, selling partners, or competition.
“We will appeal this unprecedented regulatory outcome. In the meantime, we will continue operating our store as usual to ensure customers and selling partners experience no disruption while we prepare our legal response.”
According to the watchdog, Amazon relied on opaque pricing systems that could lead to listings being removed or sellers losing access to the Buy Box if prices were considered too high, sharply reducing sales prospects.
The regulator found that the conduct violated Section 19a(2) and Section 19 of the German Competition Act, as well as Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Section 19 of the German Competition Act covers classic dominance abuses; Section 19a, added in 2021, allows the Bundeskartellamt to intervene early against digital businesses; and Section 19a(2) targets Big Tech conduct, and EU TFEU Article 102 bans abusive dominance.
It also ordered the surrender of financial gains linked to the behaviour.
It marks the first time this authority has exercised such powers since reforms in 2023 created a presumption-based method for calculating the sums involved.
Since the infringement is continuing, the Bundeskartellamt said it had so far set only a partial figure, estimating the amount at €59m.
Bundeskartellamt president Andreas Mundt commented: “Amazon directly competes with the other Marketplace sellers on its platform. Therefore, influencing its competitors’ pricing, including through price caps, is only permissible in the most exceptional cases, such as in the event of excessive pricing.”
The authority added that it had cooperated closely with the European Commission during the probe and had aligned transparency measures with those of the Bundesnetzagentur.
Amazon has one month to challenge the ruling before the Federal Court of Justice.
