Washington, D.C. — Today, in response to Amazon’s recent rollout of “Buy With Prime,” which allows Amazon Prime members to use Prime shipping on non-Amazon websites, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“Buy With Prime is the latest move in Amazon’s increasing control of commerce and consumer data,” said Krista Brown, Senior Policy Analyst at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Amazon has a demonstrated track record of forcing small businesses — that have little choice but to use its platform to reach customers — into restrictive agreements that ultimately jack up prices. Its expansion as a fulfillment service outside of the immediate Amazon ecosystem gives it another point of leverage and control, adding to existing barriers that potential competitors face.”

An Economic Liberties analysis last year revealed that Amazon raised fulfillment fees for sellers to 11% in January 2022, and then tacked on an additional 5% fuel and gas surcharge in April. Yet despite the price of gas falling in recent months, the gas surcharge remains. This is in addition to Amazon’s 17% price increase for Prime in February, which impacted 126 million subscribers. Despite branding itself as a beacon of low prices, evidence suggests that Amazon’s restrictive agreements are responsible for raising costs for sellers, which are then passed on to consumers and other online retail platforms.

To learn more, read “Understanding Amazon: Making the 21st-Century Gatekeeper Safe for Democracy.”

Learn more about Economic Liberties here. 

###

The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.