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California Seeks Court Order to Halt Amazon’s Alleged Price Practices

By  |  February 24, 2026
California Seeks Court Order to Halt Amazon’s Alleged Price Practices

California officials asked a state court on Tuesday to block Amazon.com from what they describe as a long-running effort to keep retail prices artificially high by pressuring merchants not to offer goods more cheaply on competing platforms.

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    According to Reuters, Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a request in California Superior Court in San Francisco seeking a preliminary injunction in the state’s antitrust case against the Seattle-based retailer. The lawsuit, first brought roughly three and a half years ago, also aims to recover what the state characterizes as unlawfully obtained profits.

    In a heavily redacted court filing, Bonta alleged that the company’s strategy was designed to shield itself from competitive pricing pressures. “Amazon’s goal is to insulate itself from price competition by preventing lower retail prices in the market,” Bonta said in the filing. “Amazon tells vendors what prices it wants to see to maintain its own profitability.”

    Per Reuters, the attorney general’s office claims to have identified numerous instances in which Amazon, competing retailers and third-party sellers reached understandings to keep prices from dipping below those listed on Amazon’s platform. The filing alleges that sellers and rival marketplaces at times agreed to increase prices or temporarily remove products from sale, which the state says reduced the need for Amazon to match lower prices elsewhere.

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    The complaint also focuses on Amazon’s “Buy Box,” the prominent feature that allows customers to quickly add items to their carts. Bonta contends that sellers who declined to follow Amazon’s pricing expectations risked losing access to the Buy Box, which accounts for most transactions on the site. According to Reuters, the state argues that limiting access to that feature effectively penalized merchants who sought to offer lower prices on other websites such as eBay, Target and Walmart.

    “We welcome companies that succeed by offering better prices and better service,” Bonta said in a statement. “What we have here is a greedy, behemoth corporation intentionally increasing prices in the marketplace to get richer and richer off the backs of consumers.”

    The requested injunction would prohibit Amazon from continuing the alleged conduct while the case moves forward. It would also place the company under the supervision of an independent monitor to ensure compliance, per Reuters.

    Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters. In previous court filings, however, the company has maintained that its agreements with sellers are lawful and promote competition. Amazon has described the arrangements as “procompetitive,” arguing they are standard industry practice and help ensure a wide selection of products, proper inventory levels and competitive pricing for consumers.

    A trial in the case is currently scheduled for January 2027.

    Source: Reuters