Amazon to Shut its 3rd Party Seller Program

Amazon is planning to shut down its third-party seller program, “Sold by Amazon” after the company was accused of price-fixing. The announcement about the ban was made by the Washington attorney, General Bob Ferguson. He said that the company would end the program nationwide and will pay $2.25 million to settle the allegations under a legally building resolution.

The lawsuit filed against the company violated antitrust laws and unreasonably restrained competition in order to maximise the profits of its own off of third-party sales. The program ran from 2018 to 2020 and guaranteed minimum payment for product sales to third parties.

Amazon offered to do so in exchange for their agreement to stop competing with Amazon while pricing their products. Amazon claims that the program was started to give small businesses another channel to take their market to the market at a reasonable price for the consumers.