Amazon.com Inc.’s determination to offer shoppers the best deals is prompting merchants selling products on its marketplace to raise their prices on competing websites, a testament to the company’s growing influence over the e-commerce market.

Amazon constantly scans rivals’ prices to see if they’re lower. When it discovers a product is cheaper on, say, Walmart.com, Amazon alerts the company selling the item and then makes the product harder to find and buy on its own marketplace — effectively penalizing the merchant.

The Federal Trade Commission is scrutinizing a deal Amazon.com Inc. made with Apple Inc. to sell iPhones directly on its e-commerce site, signaling the agency has increased oversight of the tech giant.

John Bumstead, who sells refurbished Apple products, said in a Facebook post last month that about seven lawyers and an economist from the FTC interviewed him about the deal.

Amazon.com Inc is in exploratory talks with Reliance Industries Ltd-owned Reliance Retail for buying up to 26% stake in India's biggest brick-and-mortar retailer, the Economic Times (ET) reported on Thursday.

Talks began after Reliance's negotiations with China's Alibaba Group to sell a stake in the retail entity fell through due to differences over valuation, the financial daily reported citing two senior industry executives.

While Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, along with other big technology firms, faces regulatory scrutiny in the US and antitrust investigation in the European Union, the e-commerce giant has found another critic in American Treasury Secretary, who accused it of ruining the country’s retail industry. “If you look at Amazon, though there are certain benefits to it, they have destroyed the retail industry across the United States.

New Delhi: Amazon Seller Services Private Limited on Thursday moved against a Delhi High Court interim order, which had restrained e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal from advertising, displaying or offering for sale products belonging to Amway, Modicare and Oriflame without their consent.

Amazon.com Inc. should be investigated by U.S. regulators over undisclosed paid endorsements on Prime Day, a consumer advocacy group says. Washington-based Public Citizen asked the Federal Trade Commission in a letter dated Tuesday to examine the online retailer’s associates program, which is used by Amazon to build word-of-mouth sales on the platform in exchange for commissions.

While Jeff Bezos’ Amazon got under fire last week with its workers launching a global protest, the same had a zero to microscopic effect on the company even with the backing of cause-driven millennials, Eric Schiffer, CEO, US-based Patriarch Organisation told Financial Express Online. “When a reported “15” employees show for the strike, and a small number online, even critics of Amazon know it was a tactical disaster in terms of influencing Amazon,” he said,

Amazon has reached a deal with Germany’s anti-trust authority to overhaul its terms of service for third-party merchants, who had complained of unfair treatment when selling through the world’s biggest online retailer. The Federal Cartel Office said on Wednesday it was dropping a seven-month investigation after the U.S. e-commerce giant agreed to amend its Business Services Agreement that applies to merchants using its platform.

Amazon workers walked out of a main distribution center in Minnesota on Monday, protesting for improved working conditions during the e-commerce titan's major "Prime" shopping event.

Amazon workers picketed outside the facility, briefly delaying a few trucks and waving signs with messages along the lines of "We're human, not robots."

New York: Amazon.com Inc. is amazing at turning mundane corporate management decisions into global news events.

Many retailers host annual sale events. But Amazon “celebrates" Prime Day. Many chief executives write notes to their shareholders. But Jeff Bezos pens annual letters with “lessons" and “principle themes" and “important words" to behold. Many companies open satellite offices.

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