Amazon shoppers could win £900m in ‘Buy Box’ claim

Amazon could end up paying UK shoppers £900m in compensation if a lawsuit against the company is successful. The case is being brought by consumer-rights campaigner Julie Hunter, who alleges that Amazon has breached competition law by promoting its own products over goods from smaller companies.

Law film Hausfeld, which is representing Ms Hunter, said that Amazon uses a “secretive and self-favouring algorithm” to place its items in the ‘Buy Box’, which contains the ‘Add to Basket’ and ‘Buy now’ buttons (pictured).

This appears at the top-right of a product page on Amazon’s website, and at the bottom of the screen in the Amazon mobile app.

More than 80 per cent of all purchases are made through listings that appear in this box. It includes items sold by other companies that Amazon delivers as the ‘fulfilment’ agent. But Ms Hunter says that it excludes independent sellers, even when they’re offering the same product for less.

Ms Hunter also claimed that Amazon manipulates customers by using design tricks that direct them to the Buy Box, which they assume are the best deals.

An Amazon official said the lawsuit was “without merit”, and that “more than half of all physical product sales on our UK store are from independent selling partners”.

The claim is open to anyone living in the UK who has made a purchase through www.amazon.co.uk or Amazon’s app since October 2016. It’s an ‘opt out’ case, which means you’ll be automatically included unless you tell Hausfeld to exclude you, and doesn’t cost you anything.

For more information and to sign up for updates, visit www.ukbuyboxclaim.com.