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Amazon.comAmazon.com Inc. has been hit with a class action lawsuit accusing the company of encouraging third-party vendors to raise the prices of their products by the amount they would have charged for shipping, tricking customers into believing they were receiving free shipping.

In his class action lawsuit, plaintiff Cemal Ekin says he paid $79 per year for an Amazon Prime membership mainly for the promise of free shipping. However, he says that third-party vendors are told to raise their prices to cover shipping costs, causing Prime members to pay inflated prices for products despite Amazon’s free shipping guarantee.

According to the class action lawsuit, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service Amazon offers to third-party vendors. In return for fees paid by the vendors, Amazon warehouses products, fills orders, collects payments, ships orders, handles returns and provides customer service for goods owned by third parties that are sold on Amazon.com.

Ekin says Amazon encourages FBA vendors to list items for sale as Prime Eligible. However, “Amazon advised FBA Vendors to include the amount they would have charged for shipping in their item prices in order to maximize total revenue and profit margins,” Ekin alleges in his class action lawsuit. “Amazon disguised this price increase by giving priority to FBA Vendors, showing their items first in the results of a Prime Member’s product search.”

Ekin argues that Amazon’s practice breaches its contract with Prime members and is contrary to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines. According to the class action lawsuit, the FTC’s definition of “free” explains that “a purchaser has a right to believe that the merchant will not directly and immediately recover, in whole or in part, the cost of the free merchandise or service by marking up the price of the article which must be purchased.”

Prior to February 2011, Ekin says the sole benefit of having an Amazon Prime account was guaranteed free shipping on all orders. He filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and all U.S. residents who became Amazon Prime members at any time from Oct. 24, 2007 and Feb. 22, 2011, and paid one or more $79 annual Prime membership fees during this period.

The class action lawsuit accuses Amazon of breach of contract and violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act. Ekin is seeking compensatory damages, including a refund of all annual Amazon Prime membership fees, treble damages as provided under the Washington Consumer Protection Act, attorneys’ fees and costs, pre- and post-judgment interest, and all other relief deemed appropriate by the court.

Ekin is represented by Stephen J. Sirianni, Chris R. Youtz, Richard E. Spoonemore, Eleanor Hamburger, Charles D. Sirianni, and David M. Simmonds of Sirianni Youtz Spoonemore Hamburger.

The Amazon Prime Shipping Costs Class Action Lawsuit is Dr. A. Cemal Ekin v. Amazon Services LLC, Case No. 2:14-cv-00244, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

UPDATE: Amazon filed a motion to dismiss the Amazon Prime class action lawsuit on July 24, 2014, arguing that the plaintiffs lack standing to sue.

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59 thoughts onClass Action Lawsuit Filed Over ‘Hidden’ Amazon Prime Shipping Costs

  1. jr says:

    AMAZON PRIME MEMBERSHIP UNAUTHORIZED REMOVAL OF FUNDS PRIME amazon is going through back doors to your closed cards and other cards you removed but are still within expiration date on the card but no longer used by you or replaced. THEY ARE ON FILE AND OPEN IN AMAZON BACKUP CARDS. THESE MEMBERSHIP CHARGES ARE RUN THROUGH YOUR FINANCIAL INSTITUTION AS LONG AS THEY BELIEVE THERE ARE/WERE IN THE SYSTEM CATCHING UP TO YOUR AUTHORIZED ACCOUNT CHARGES AT THE time AND STILL UNDER THAT CARD NUMBER IF THE CARD HAS NOT EXPIRED YET. AND AMAZON PRIME HAS CHARGED YOU UNAUTHORIZED PRIME MEMBERSHIPS EVERY YEAR ON THE SAME DATE GOING BACK ON YOUR -CREDIT -DEBUT cards AS LONG AS ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO OR MORE.. >>>DO NOT IGNORE THIS<<<< THESE CHARGES YOU MOST LIKELY DO NOT KNOW ABOUT OVER JUST THE PAST (TEN) YEARS ADD UP TO $13,000.00 if you have been charged $130.00 A year ON each —– EMAIL ADDRESS ACCOUNT —–YOU DIDN'T KNOW AMAZON PRIME MEMBERSHIP REMOVED FROM YOUR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS /ALL OF THEM…… FOR EACH EMAIL ACCOUNT…. FOR Example; if you have 5 email addresses you gave to AMAZON for items (over the past 20) years) you buyAND BOUGHT under different email addresses thru AMAZON they charged you $130.00 plus for each email under YOUR (ONE) name YOURS…. YES IF YOU HAVE 5 EMAIL ADDRESSES IN amazon ..Amazon prime membership has w/o authorization chargeD YOU $650.00 A YEAR . They hit me on DEC 27, 2012 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 $6.500.00/20 years??? $13.000.00 you didn't know they took from MEGA-MILLIONS OF UNSUSPECTING PEOPLE for a PRIME MEMBERSHIP YOU THINK YOU DON'T HAVE AND NEVER JOINED OR SIGNED UP FOR …..with no authorization from me or you whatsoever. Go check

  2. Angelica Romero says:

    Add me

  3. Gina Ostermeier says:

    Please add me

  4. Gina Ostermeier says:

    Add me

  5. Jen says:

    Every single month, I buy items that are listed as free shipping if shipped by Amazon items total over $25. Every month I have to call them to refund it. It’s because they are splitting the orders to ship to different locations which is not my choice. It’s totally misleading and I can only imagine how much money them make off the people that aren’t catching it. The representatives always say that it’s “a glitch”. But it happens on every order I’ve made since opening my new business. They’re other solution is for me to call and have them look through the items before I order. I find it quicker to place the order then have them refund it. HUGE waste of time and there is NO trust in them.

  6. gary lee says:

    I too have had major problems with amazon prime. They switched to fedex and ups to deliver to the post office. I spent many hours on the phone with support to get items shipped to my home address, and they said many times they would, but never did. Amazon prime is a total and complete scam and a total waste of money if it’s being used for fast or free shipping. My 2 day shipping changed to 3-5 days without notice or any reason. I finally gave up and asked for a prime refund, which they gave after I provided proof that they are running a scam. USE ANY OTHER SELLER BUT AMAZON. Bezos should be ashamed of himself, amazon lies, cheats and steals from it’s customers. SCUM

  7. Determined says:

    You have to check the prices of everything you buy. That is common sense. Also common sense is to check the other venders of the same product and see if the price they charge with the shipping is cheaper than prime. You have a choice here folks! Most of the time Prime is the way to go and it definitely pays for itself. There are times however that it is not the cheapest price around.

  8. x says:

    Ever since last week when my student prime expired amazon has done everything to not send me merchandise. They take your money honey you put it in a free amazon account then hold the money and not send items making it seem like there is an issue…there is no way of getting your money back because you used a gift card to put into your free account. They slow down the process of sending items so you are forced to buy a prime membership. The last 5 different orders I have placed with at least two items in order totaling over 35 dollars, one item out of each different order has some sort of issue and therefore the whole shipment can not be shipped. Mind you all the items are amazon LLC items-meaning they own and sell the product which comes out of their warehouse and not a third party vender.
    Right now am still fighting them for ether product or my money back. I paid cash for that amazon gift card and they need to give me my cash back if they keep playing games.

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