If it seems like products are usually cheaper on Amazon than at retailers like Walmart, Home Depot, and Chewy, that's no accident. According to a bombshell filing in an ongoing antitrust lawsuit from the state of California on Monday, each of those companies was a victim of Amazon's illegal price fixing.
Amazon, which topped Walmart to become the U.S.'s largest retailer in 2025, got there in part with a pattern of bullying and colluding, the filing says. In some cases it outlines in detail, merchants such as Levi Strauss and Allergan were told by Amazon to make products (such as khaki pants and eye drops) more expensive at Walmart.
In other cases, Amazon leaned on rivals directly, as when it allegedly forced Home Depot to raise its fertilizer prices so Amazon would be cheaper. And in all cases, California appears to have brought receipts in the form of emails.
"The company is price fixing, colluding with vendors and other retailers to raise costs for Americans beyond what the market requires," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. "Amazon is illegally working to rake in the profits by making sure consumers have nowhere else to turn to for lower prices."
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Amazon denies the charges and is vigorously contesting multiple price-fixing lawsuits. In its statement, the online retailer emphasized its "pride" in having the lowest prices across a broad range of products.
But if these emails are to be believed, Amazon's pride is the pride of a mob boss with mighty companies under their thumb.
"I'm really hoping we can show this as a proof case so we can resolve issues going forward," one Levi's employee wrote meekly to an Amazon executive, according to the filing. Amazon had expressed "concern" that Walmart was selling Levi's khakis for just over $25. Levi's then allegedly persuaded Walmart to raise the pants' prices by nearly $5.
Even if true, however, the wheels of justice are grinding slow on this one. Bonta's antitrust lawsuit was filed in 2022; a trial will not take place until January 2027 at the earliest. It remains to be seen if the bad publicity from this filing will have any effect on consumers, many of whom shrug and plan their next Amazon delivery regardless of price-fixing news.