The Federal Trade Commission has filed an antitrust case against Amazon for coercing third-party sellers and restricting their ability to offer lower prices on other platforms. This allowed Amazon to artificially inflate prices and extract higher fees from merchants, benefiting its own retail sales. The filing provides extensive evidence of Amazon punishing merchants who undercut its prices. However, defining the relevant market narrowly as online superstores could be challenged since consumers also shop at physical and other online retailers. Additionally, pursuing monopoly claims may be difficult given Amazon’s relatively small share of overall retail sales. While not pursuing straightforward price fixing leaves a weaker legal case, redacted documents suggest more serious anti-competitive practices are involved in Project Nessie.

Overall, the case highlights Amazon’s strong-arm tactics with merchants but faces challenges in court.