Arizona joins Federal Trade Commission, 21 other states in lawsuit against Amazon

Arizona joined 21 other states and the Federal Trade Commission in filing a lawsuit Monday accusing Amazon of artificially inflating the prices it charges advertisers who bid for prominent display spots.

“For years, Amazon told advertisers they were bidding in a fair, second-price auction, while secretly adding hidden surcharges that drove prices higher,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a news release Tuesday. “Many of these increased costs were passed on to Arizonans. Companies that engage in such deceptive practices must be held accountable.”

The complaint alleges that Amazon defrauded 1.2 million sellers on its platform by saying it was offering them competitive prices on several ad products when it was actually inflating auction prices.

The e-commerce giant posted a lengthy rebuttal Monday denying the allegations.

“After reviewing approximately 1.5 million pages spanning six years, the FTC leans on a handful of simplified communications to allege a companywide effort to deceive. That is patently false,” the company said in the post.

Additionally, Amazon said the FTC is implying that the case is about consumer prices when it is not.

“The FTC’s own complaint cites no evidence of consumer price increases, and consumers are only mentioned a handful of times in over 150 pages,” the company said.

In addition to Arizona and the FTC, the following states are plaintiffs in the Amazon lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Washington:

• Alaska
• California
• Colorado
• Florida
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Nebraska
• New Jersey
• New York
• North Carolina
• Oklahoma
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• Vermont
• Washington

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