Amazon Quietly Ends Controversial Price Parity Requirement for Third-Party Sellers

Amazon is quietly ending one of its biggest controversial requirements for third-party sellers this week. Axios is reporting that the online retailer no longer stops third-party sellers from selling their products at a cheaper price on other websites.

The move comes after the company was recently criticised for anti-competitive practices.

For long, Amazon required third-party sellers to sell their products at the same price as anywhere else. That meant if you were selling something on Amazon, you couldn’t sell that exact product for cheaper on other websites like eBay.

The company required the same from third-party sellers in Europe, but that was later dropped back in 2013 after pressures from regulators in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Amazon and other big tech companies have been facing a lot of criticism over their market power. U.S. presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren said last week that she wants to break up the big companies to promote competition within the tech sector.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) previously pushed for anti-trust investigations against Amazon.

“Amazon’s wise and welcome decision comes only after aggressive advocacy and attention that compelled Amazon to abandon its abusive contract clause. I remain deeply troubled that federal regulators responsible for cracking down on anti-competitive practices seem asleep at the wheel, at great cost to American innovation and consumers.” Blumenthal said in response to Amazon’s latest changes.