Germany's antitrust regulator, Bundeskartellamt, has opened a probe into whether US online retail giant Amazon discriminated against smaller local sellers.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th November, 2018) Germany's antitrust regulator, Bundeskartellamt, has opened a probe into whether US online retail giant Amazon discriminated against smaller local sellers."The Bundeskartellamt has today initiated an abuse proceeding against Amazon to examine its terms of business and practices towards sellers on its German marketplace amazon.de," it said in a statement.
The watchdog's chief, Andreas Mundt, said his agency had received numerous complaints from sellers about Amazon's business practice in the recent past.
"Amazon functions as a kind of 'gatekeeper' for customers. Its double role as the largest retailer and largest marketplace has the potential to hinder other sellers on its platform," Mundt was quoted as saying in the statement.
The retailer will be checked for including unfair liability provisions in its terms of service, non-transparent termination of sellers' accounts and payment delays.
The German investigation doubles up on a probe into Amazon's collection and use of transaction data by the European Commission, which quizzed several hundred German retailers last summer.
