Amazon to be investigated again over competition between its own brands and third-party sellers

According to foreign media reports, a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to the Department of Justice on Wednesday, urging it to investigate Amazon and its executives . The group believes that Amazon engaged in misleading behavior when answering lawmakers' questions about its private label practices and collection of third-party seller data . This behavior hindered the investigation of relevant agencies!

An Amazon spokesperson told CNBC in a statement : "This is without any factual basis, and we have been cooperating with the investigation and actively providing relevant supporting materials . "

In a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday, bipartisan lawmakers claimed that Amazon repeatedly misled the House Judiciary Committee during its 16-month investigation into the competitive practices of Amazon, Apple and other large technology companies .

In particular, lawmakers took aim at Amazon’s private-label practices and its collection of data on third-party sellers. The lawmakers claimed that Amazon provided false and misleading statements about its practices to the House committee and then refused to turn over evidence “to substantiate its claims or correct the record . ”

Amazon's third-party marketplace, where independent merchants list their millions of products on its e-commerce platform , is a huge part of the company's business. Amazon has said that more than half of the goods sold on its website come from third-party sellers. It also makes money by charging third-party sellers fees, bringing in tens of billions in revenue.

In testimony in July 2020, Amazon founder and then-CEO Jeff Bezos said the company had a policy to protect seller data from being accessed by employees, but he could not guarantee that the policy had never been violated.

Amazon said it investigates any allegations of violations of its policies and takes appropriate action if necessary.

As the committee continued its investigation, "Amazon attempted to cover up its lies by providing ever-changing explanations of its seller data policies," the lawmakers said . The company then "prevaricated" attempts to gather more information about Amazon's business practices.

Amazon

Private Label

Third-party sellers