FAQs

Professor Andreas Stephan is bringing a UK opt-out competition damages claim on behalf of UK-domiciled third-party sellers against Amazon. The claim, estimated to be worth over £2.7 billion, focuses on multiple anti-competitive practices by Amazon that have harmed UK sellers and has been filed in the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the UK’s specialist competition court.

The claim alleges that Amazon has abused its dominant position in the market for the supply of e-commerce marketplace services to third-party sellers to reach customers in the UK by engaging in abusive behaviour that:

• unfairly advantages its own retail products, harming third-party sellers;
• unfairly advantages its own logistics/fulfilment arm, harming other logistics/fulfilment providers, and in turn, third-party sellers; and
• unfairly biases customers towards Amazon and away from rival e-commerce marketplaces, harming third-party sellers.

The claim is against Amazon and its relevant subsidiaries.

To understand if you could be automatically included in the claim, answer these questions:

1. Have you offered any products for sale in the Amazon website between 27 June 2018 and 26 June 2024?
2. Do you have a professional account as an Amazon seller?
3. Were you using the UK Version of the Amazon website?
4. Did you live in the UK, or was your business based in the UK, at any time between 27 June 2018 and 26 June 2024?

If your answer to each question is YES then you are likely to be automatically included in Professor Stephan’s claim, unless you chose to opt-out.

Funding has been secured from one of the world’s leading litigation funders, Innsworth Capital Limited. This means that they will pay for all of the legal and other costs of the claim (including the Defendants’ costs if the claim is unsuccessful). You do not need to make contribution from your own pocket.

If the claim is successful, the class representative will seek the Competition Appeal Tribunal's approval for Innsworth to be remunerated to reflect the investment it has made to help bring the claim. Innsworth’s remuneration will come out of any money that Amazon pays. 

This is an ‘opt-out’ claim which means that anyone who falls within the Class definition and is domiciled in the UK will automatically be included, unless they actively opt-out. Class members do not have to sign up to be part of the claim at the outset, and will still be entitled to their share of any damages or settlement sums received.

However, we would recommend that people who fall within the Class register to be kept directly updated at key stages of the litigation and if there are damages or settlement sums available for Class members.  

When you register your interest in this claim, you will receive updates about developments in the claim and information about any action you may be required to take. You can track the progress of the claim on this website, and via the relevant social media channels – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

The timescales for this claim are currently uncertain. Legal proceedings like this can take a long time, and a lot depends on timetabling decisions that the Competition Appeal Tribunal will make as the claim goes along. We'll keep you updated, but reaching a conclusion could take several years. A settlement could resolve it sooner.