Amazon disputes FTC claims over Sponsored Ads auction practices
AMZN•Amazon rejects FTC’s allegations on Sponsored Products auctions
Amazon faces an FTC lawsuit challenging its Sponsored Products ad-auction practices, including the use of reserve prices in generalized second-price auctions.
Amazon disputes consumer harm, citing no FTC evidence of price increases in the complaint’s more than 150 pages.
Amazon cites ad-market data: inflation-adjusted average cost-per-click flat from 2019-2024; average winning bids down 50% from 2019-2025.
The company argues advertisers benefited, estimating more than USD 8 billion in savings from 2021-2025 from relevance-weighted ranking versus bid-only selection.
Amazon says it updated advertiser disclosures in 2018 to state bids are maximum charges; later revised help content to explicitly describe reserve prices.
