Internal emails and court documents allege that Amazon pressured suppliers to raise prices on rival retail sites, according to a Guardian investigation. The California attorney general's lawsuit claims Amazon's tactics coerced suppliers into increasing prices at competitors like Walmart and Target, or pulling products from those sites entirely.
Price hikes linked to Amazon pressure
Examples cited include a leather table lamp that rose from $24.99 to $39 at Walmart, an air fryer that jumped from $84.99 to $149.99 on Newegg, and an ice-cream maker that became unavailable at Best Buy and tripled to $59.99 at Amazon. Internal emails show Amazon flagged low competitor prices as threats and cut supplier sales until prices rose.
In the ice-cream maker case, emails say Amazon temporarily removed the supplier's inventory, prompting it to pull products from Best Buy. Amazon then restored the item at a higher price. For the air fryer, Amazon suppressed sales and demanded compensation, leading the supplier to secure price increases at Target and Newegg.
Amazon's response
Amazon denies the allegations, calling them a distortion of a few emails. It says it works to lower prices for consumers and that its practices are common in retail. The company faces multiple lawsuits, including from the FTC and California, set for trial in 2027.
Employee accounts
A former Amazon vendor manager said he told suppliers raising prices with competitors could avoid compensation demands. A former customer success manager said staff were instructed to have such conversations by phone to avoid a digital trail. Amazon did not directly respond to these accounts but cited compliance instructions.
Ryan Turano of AgroThrive said he was pressured to raise prices at Home Depot, calling it a nightmare. “We were at their mercy,” he said. Amazon says its practices are pro-competitive and legally untenable.
