By Mauro Orru

German antitrust officials said tools that Amazon.com uses to highlight competitively priced goods and filter out overpriced listings in its online marketplace could be in breach of competition law, the latest salvo from a European regulator against a U.S. giant.

Amazon has a pricing mechanism in place to evaluate competing offers since its marketplace hosts countless products from multiple sellers, including Amazon itself. The company said its systems highlight offers that customers are most likely to choose based on pricing and other factors, giving them more visibility on its marketplace.

When Amazon's systems detect that prices for certain products are unusually high, its tools can downgrade listings so they don't feature prominently or remove them altogether. Amazon said each selling partner is free to set their own prices, shipping fees and return policies.

Germany's Federal Cartel Office said Monday that Amazon's pricing mechanism limits visibility of retailers' offers and interferes with sellers' freedom to set their prices, placing what it called inappropriate and objectively unjustified restrictions on third parties. The watchdog said the company could change price caps at its sole discretion, potentially hindering competition.

An Amazon spokesperson said the group strongly disagreed with the regulator's preliminary assessment, noting its store was built to ensure consumers can quickly find the best items based on pricing, availability and delivery speed.

"If Amazon is prevented from helping people find competitively priced offers, it will lead to a bad shopping experience for them, as we'd need to promote uncompetitive or even abusive pricing in our store," the spokesperson said. "This would mislead customers into thinking they're getting good value when, in reality, they're not."

Amazon has been under tighter scrutiny in Germany since the regulator said in 2022 that the company was of paramount significance for cross-border competition, a designation that in Germany means expanded surveillance aimed at preventing large companies from engaging in any anticompetitive practices.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 02, 2025 08:44 ET (12:44 GMT)

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