Amazon faces class-action lawsuit in UK for driving up prices
Consumer rights group the Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO) has announced plans for a class-action against retailer Amazon, which it says unfairly hiked prices.
ACSO has applied for a collective proceedings order to authorise it to bring a collective action against Amazon on behalf of more than 45 million consumers who purchased products from the online retailer between August 2019 and August 2025.
ACSO alleges that UK consumers paid higher prices when purchasing products from third-party sellers on Amazon’s UK marketplace as a result of Amazon’s pricing policies. These policies prevent third-party sellers from offering lower prices elsewhere on the internet, including via their own sales channels.
“Amazon’s pricing policies have limited the ability of other platforms to compete with Amazon and allowed Amazon to charge third-party sellers higher fees knowing that Amazon would not be undercut on price by any other online marketplace,” the group said.
“In turn, UK consumers who purchased products from third-party sellers on Amazon’s marketplace have paid higher prices, as they have passed on the inflated fees in the form of higher prices for products sold on Amazon.”
ACSO’s proposed collective proceedings follow the US Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing court proceedings against Amazon in relation to its pricing policies, which were first brought in September 2023 following a four-year investigation.
A trial is expected to take place in early 2027. The State of California also investigated Amazon’s pricing policies and filed a lawsuit against Amazon in September 2022. These proceedings are ongoing, and a trial is expected to take place in 2026.
“Millions of people in the UK make purchases on Amazon every day. Despite the company’s assurances that it is above all else ‘customer-obsessed’, we consider that there are strong grounds to argue that UK consumers have paid higher prices because of Amazon’s pricing policies,” said Matthew Maxwell-Scott (Founder and Executive Director of ACSO).
“ACSO is therefore bringing collective proceedings against Amazon to ensure that consumers can obtain redress for the considerable losses they have suffered. Collective actions such as these are an excellent way for consumers to exercise their rights and for anti-competitive corporate behaviour to be challenged.”
