Amazon Makes Commitments to CMA, Aims to Level the Playing Field for Third-Party Sellers on Marketplace

Amazon.Com Inc AMZN offered to change marketplace rules to address CMA concerns following a regulatory probe. 

Amazon has promised not to use Marketplace seller data and to treat all sellers' offers equally when selecting which to feature in the 'Buy Box.'

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It vowed to allow independently negotiated rates between carriers and sellers for Prime orders that Amazon does not fulfill.

The CMA launched an investigation in July 2022 over Amazon's alleged abuse of its position as the U.K.'s leading online retail platform by giving an unfair advantage to its own retail business over competing sellers that use Amazon Marketplace or to sellers that use Amazon's own warehousing and delivery services, rather than rival logistics businesses.

Ann Pope, Senior Director for Enforcement at the CMA, said:

Amazon's commitments to the CMA will help ensure that third-party sellers on Amazon Marketplace can compete on a level-playing field against Amazon's own retail business and, ultimately, mean that customers in the U.K. get a better deal. 

The CMA is now consulting on Amazon's proposed commitments.

The company seems to have a rough time in the country. Earlier, the U.K. digital watchdog Ofcom had referred the CMA to inspect Amazon's and Microsoft Corp's MSFT abuse of duopoly position in the U.K. cloud market.

Amazon had also landed in trouble over its minimum starting pay for its employees at its U.K. operations.

Price Action: AMZN shares traded lower by 1.70% at $126.94 on the last check Wednesday.

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