Super Cali goes ballistic, says it’s all atrocious
California’s Attorney General sued Amazon on Wednesday, claiming the internet titan illegally stifles competition by punishing vendors for selling their products at cheaper prices on other online stores.
Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit [PDF] on behalf of Golden State residents in a San Francisco Superior Court, accusing the ecommerce giant of violating California’s Unfair Competition Law and Cartwright Act. It claims Amazon bullies sellers into signing agreements that threaten to penalize them if they list their items at a lower cost on other sites.
„Amazon coerces merchants into agreements that keep prices artificially high, knowing full well that they can’t afford to say no,“ the Cali AG said in a statement.
„With other ecommerce platforms unable to compete on price, consumers turn to Amazon as a one-stop shop for all their purchases. This perpetuates Amazon’s market dominance, allowing the company to make increasingly untenable demands on its merchants and costing consumers more at checkout across California.
