Amazon Class Action Lawsuit Over $55 Billion in Overcharges

The Amazon class action lawsuit alleging roughly $55 billion in consumer overcharges is De Coster v. Amazon.com, Inc., a federal antitrust case in the Western District of Washington that a judge certified in August 2025 on behalf of an estimated 288 million U.S. shoppers. The original pricing theory, first raised in a related 2020 complaint, estimated total consumer harm at between $55 billion and $172 billion. Trial is scheduled for June 14, 2027.¹²

Who Is in the Class

On August 6, 2025, U.S. District Judge John H. Chun certified a class defined as “all persons in the United States who on or after May 26, 2017, purchased five or more new, physical goods from third-party sellers on Amazon’s marketplace.” The court estimates that description covers about 288 million people.¹

Two details matter for figuring out whether you qualify. First, the purchases must be from third-party sellers, not from Amazon itself as the seller of record. Second, five or more such purchases since May 26, 2017 is the threshold. The certification order was initially sealed and made public on September 2, 2025. Amazon asked the Ninth Circuit for permission to appeal the certification immediately; the appeals court denied that petition on September 25, 2025, so the class certification stands as the case moves toward trial.³

Class notice began going out under an order Judge Chun issued on June 1, 2026, after approving the notice plan in March 2026 over Amazon’s objection that the language was too argumentative.¹⁴ If you meet the class definition, you don’t need to file anything now to remain a member. There is no settlement, so there is nothing to claim yet.

What Amazon Is Accused of Doing

The claim is not that Amazon charged its own customers a secret markup. It’s that Amazon’s rules for third-party sellers set an artificial floor under prices across the entire retail internet, so shoppers paid more everywhere.

According to the plaintiffs, Amazon’s “fair pricing” policy — a successor to earlier “price parity” or “most favored nation” clauses — punishes third-party sellers who offer lower prices on rival sites like eBay or Walmart. When Amazon detects a cheaper price elsewhere, it can bury the seller’s listing or strip them of “Buy Box” eligibility, the featured purchase button that carries roughly 98 percent of transactions.⁵

Amazon’s own marketplace fees can consume as much as 40 percent of a product’s total price, according to filings by the D.C. Attorney General. Because sellers can’t offset those fees by charging less on cheaper platforms, they raise prices on every platform — including Amazon itself — to stay profitable.⁶ The 2020 complaint that seeded this litigation estimated the resulting overcharges at $55 billion to $172 billion across more than 600 million third-party listings.²

De Coster was filed on May 26, 2021, and covers consumers who bought on Amazon’s own marketplace. A companion case, Frame, Wilson v. Amazon.com, Inc., filed in March 2020, covers consumers who bought on rival platforms at prices the plaintiffs say were inflated by the same Amazon policies.⁷⁸ The two cases are related but separate.

Where the Case Stands

Amazon moved to dismiss De Coster in September 2021. Judge Chun denied that motion on November 19, 2024, letting the bulk of the plaintiffs’ claims proceed. In the related Frame, Wilson case, a March 2023 ruling rejected the plaintiffs’ theory that Amazon’s conduct was a per se antitrust violation but let claims for monopolization, attempted monopolization, and conspiracy to monopolize under Section 2 of the Sherman Act move forward, along with rule-of-reason claims under Section 1.⁹

Trial was originally set for October 2026 but was pushed to June 14, 2027, to avoid conflict with a separate California Attorney General enforcement case.⁴ No settlement has been reached. Discovery has been contentious: in August 2025, Judge Chun ordered Amazon to turn over documents on company-funded research by economists and scholars whose work Amazon uses in its defense, and in February 2025 the court granted in part a motion to compel documents from Amazon’s privilege logs after finding widespread reclassification of privilege claims.¹

This Case Is Not the Amazon Prime Refund

Many shoppers received emails in late 2025 or January 2026 about payments from Amazon. Those refunds — up to $51 per person — come from a completely different case: the FTC’s Prime subscription lawsuit, which Amazon settled on September 25, 2025, for $2.5 billion. That settlement targeted “dark patterns” used to sign people up for Prime and make cancellation difficult. It has nothing to do with the pricing overcharge claims in De Coster.¹⁰

The Prime settlement includes $1.5 billion in consumer refunds for roughly 35 million people who enrolled through a “challenged enrollment flow” or were unable to cancel between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025. Automatic payments went out in November and December 2025. A claims-based phase opened in late December 2025, with notices mailed in January 2026 and a claim deadline in July 2026.¹¹¹² If you’re waiting on money from Amazon right now, it’s from that case, not this one. De Coster has no fund and no claim form.

Other Amazon Antitrust Cases Running Alongside

Three government actions attack similar pricing conduct and will be decided around the same window as De Coster.

The FTC and 17 state attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, sued Amazon on September 26, 2023, in the same Seattle federal court, alleging monopoly maintenance through anti-discounting measures, forced use of Amazon’s fulfillment services, and search-result manipulation. That case is also assigned to Judge Chun, with trial set for October 13, 2026.¹³¹⁴

California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a state antitrust action in September 2022 under the Cartwright Act and California’s Unfair Competition Law. Trial is set for January 19, 2027.¹⁵

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson took a different path, reaching a consent decree with Amazon in January 2022 that shut down the “Sold by Amazon” program nationwide and required a $2.25 million payment. The state had alleged the program amounted to unlawful price-fixing.¹⁶

What to Do If You Think You’re a Class Member

If you bought five or more physical items from third-party sellers on Amazon on or after May 26, 2017, you are likely already a class member. You don’t need to sign up or file anything to preserve your rights while the case moves toward trial. Watch for the official class notice being distributed under the court’s June 2026 order; it will explain your options, including whether and how to exclude yourself if you’d rather pursue Amazon on your own. Any recovery, if the plaintiffs win at trial or reach a settlement, would come later through a court-approved distribution process. Nothing has been decided on the merits yet, and Amazon denies the allegations.

1
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro. De Coster v. Amazon.com, Inc.
2
Classaction.org. Amazon’s Pricing Policy Caused Consumers to Overpay by $55 to $172 Billion
3
Law360. De Coster v. Amazon Case Articles
4
Justia. De Coster v. Amazon.com Inc., Order on Class Notice
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Bruegel. Improving Contestability in E-Commerce: The Amazon Case
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Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. AG Racine Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Amazon
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Keller Postman. Amazon Antitrust Lawsuits
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Law360. Suit Accuses Amazon of $55B to $172B in Antitrust Damages
9
A&O Shearman. Western District of Washington Trims Some Claims, Keeps Others in Most Favored Nation
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FTC. FTC Secures Historic $2.5 Billion Settlement Against Amazon
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FTC. Amazon Refunds
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USA Today. Amazon Prime Settlement Refunds
13
FTC. FTC Sues Amazon for Illegally Maintaining Monopoly Power
14
Steptoe. Big Tech Scoreboard
15
California Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General Bonta Delivers Victory Against Amazon in Ongoing Price Case
16
Washington State Office of the Attorney General. AG Ferguson Investigation Shuts Down Amazon Price-Fixing Program Nationwide