Amazon US have lifted the Price Parity restriction on their sellers which has prevented them from offering lower prices for their products on competitive platforms. This means that third-party sellers trading on Amazon.com can now sell the same product on other websites for a cheaper price as a differentiating point.
A source told Reuters on Monday about Amazon’s plan without giving any insight on the basis of the change. It might be because of the increased scrutiny over the marketplace’s treatment of their sellers and the imbalance of competition in the market as a result of Amazon’s price differentiation restriction on rival websites.
In December 2018, US Senator Richard Blumenthal filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission warning that Amazon could “stifle market competition“. It’s highly possible that the trade watchdog has leant on Amazon to ease up its restrictions to make for a fairer online market.
We have contacted Amazon on this issue and waiting for their response. It remains unknown whether Amazon would grant the same allowance for sellers trading on other Amazon marketplace websites, besides of Amazon.com. Amazon’s Price Parity requirement in the UK and EU ended back in 2013.
One Response
Well, Amazon wants to refund customers that buy from 3rd party sellers for up to 6 years, as per there rule.
So they should expect people to want to charge higher prices.