By Elizabeth Troutman |

Amazon issued a statement blasting the Democratic Arizona attorney general for a “fundamental misunderstanding and mischaracterization of how Amazon’s businesses work.” 

Under Arizona AG Kris Mayes’ leadership, the Grand Canyon state sued Amazon for “unfair and deceptive business practices under the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act and the Arizona Uniform State Antitrust Act.”

“Amazon’s anti-competitive and monopolistic practices have artificially inflated prices for Arizona consumers and harmed smaller third-party retailers that rely on its platform,” Mayes wrote.

Arizona filed two lawsuits, the first one focusing on the cancellation process for Amazon Prime, and the second targeting an Amazon algorithm that “determines which offer for a given product is made available via the ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Add to Cart’ buttons.”

“The lawsuit claims the Buy Box algorithm is actually biased toward offers that maximize Amazon’s profits, often favoring its own products or those of Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) sellers over better non-FBA options,” according to a statement from the Attorney General’s office.

The company is “surprised and disappointed” by the cases, a spokesperson for Amazon said, accusing the state’s AG of initiating the lawsuits “without reviewing a single document from Amazon.”

“Prime’s sign-up and cancellation processes are clear and simple by design, meeting a high bar for customer satisfaction well above legal requirements,” the statement says. “Customers sign up for Prime because it’s an incredible service and a great value, and they can cancel their Prime membership with a few clicks from the home page.”

“These suits would force Amazon to engage in practices that actually harm consumers and the many businesses that sell in our store—such as having to feature higher prices,” the Amazon statement continues. 

Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.