The documents detail specific interactions in which Amazon, vendors, and competing retailers including Target, Walmart, Chewy, Best Buy, and Home Depot agreed to increase prices across their platforms to protect Amazon’s profit margins.
Attorney General Bonta filed the request for the preliminary injunction in February, asking the San Francisco Superior Court to halt Amazon’s conduct while the lawsuit proceeds. The unredacted filing provides a detailed account of how Amazon allegedly coerced vendors into raising prices on rival websites.
According to the evidence, Amazon instructed vendors to increase retail prices on competitors’ sites, threatening penalties such as advertising restrictions, financial demands, or removal of products from Amazon if vendors did not comply.
The filing outlines three primary illegal schemes used to raise consumer prices. In one method, Amazon and a competitor agree through a common vendor to increase a product’s price or make it temporarily unavailable, allowing the other retailer to match the higher price.
In another scheme, a competitor offering a lower price increases its retail price at Amazon’s request, allowing Amazon to match that higher price. A third method involves the vendor removing a product from a competing retailer that offered a lower price, eliminating the lower price from the market so Amazon can raise its own.
The evidence includes specific examples of these practices. Amazon, Levi’s, and Walmart allegedly agreed to raise the price of khaki pants from approximately $26.99 to $29.99, with Amazon matching the increase.
Amazon, GlobalOne, and Chewy allegedly coordinated to raise prices on Canine Naturals pet treats, with Amazon increasing its price to prompt Chewy to follow suit. Similar coordination was alleged involving Hanes and Target, Allergan and Walmart, Agrothrive and Home Depot, and Songmic and Wayfair.
Attorney General Bonta stated that the evidence shows Amazon is working to make life more unaffordable for Americans by colluding to raise costs beyond what the market requires.
The hearing on the preliminary injunction motion is scheduled for July 23. The case is set to go to trial in January 2027.