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New Details Emerge in Amazon Ads Auction-Rigging Case

News Provided by CRWE PRESS RELEASE2026-11-05

Newly unredacted material sheds light on Amazon’s alleged scheme to manipulate auction results to meet corporate financial targets

WASHINGTON, D.C. / CRWE PRESS RELEASE / November 5, 2026 - The Federal Trade Commission and 22 states recently filed an updated version of their complaint against Amazon with unredacted details about Amazon’s alleged use of deceptive and unfair practices to secretly inflate prices in its online search advertising auction.

Details in the updated version of the complaint show substantial harm to advertisers as well as the direct statements Amazon made to mislead advertisers about the true cause of the price increases resulting from its scheme.

In August, the FTC and its state partners sued Amazon in the Western District of Washington, arguing that the online retailer harmed advertisers by covertly and substantially increasing the prices charged to them for advertising on Amazon’s platforms. The new filing makes public factual details that had previously been redacted.

The unredacted portions of the complaint allege that Amazon secretly raises advertising prices by as much as 50% above auction results on ordinary days and by as much as 250% on major shopping days like Prime Day or Black Friday.

Amazon’s efforts led to significantly higher advertising prices during high-volume shopping days. Newly unsealed portions of the complaint allege that during the 2021 holiday season, Amazon increased advertisers’ average cost-per-click by 20%, with some advertisers experiencing increases of over 200%. Similarly, during the 2022 holiday shopping season, Amazon secretly and successfully raised its surcharges to increase its revenue by $87 million worldwide.

Neither small businesses nor large and sophisticated customers were spared from the surcharges. One large food and beverage advertiser, for example, was subjected to price increases of more than 100% during Prime Day in 2023. Internally, Amazon acknowledged that its price increases led to decreases in the advertiser’s return on ad spend that were “destroying campaign performance.”

The unsealed allegations also demonstrate that Amazon used its hidden surcharges to meet revenue goals. In 2023, Amazon executives discussed the need to find an additional $40 million in revenue to meet corporate financial targets, according to the complaint. Per the complaint, the head of Amazon Ads told Amazon’s senior vice president of ad products and technology in an email that, “I’d like to pull out all of the stops (without doing unnatural acts) to close our gaps to plan. I suspect that the entire gap won’t be closed, so whatever can be done with reserves (ideally at least $40MM would be helpful).”

As alleged in the unredacted portions of the complaint, when advertisers facing prices inflated by Amazon’s hidden surcharges asked if “something has changed with respect to the second price auction process,” Amazon falsely reassured them the price increases were the result of increased competition.

In one instance, for example, after being directly asked by an advertiser whether “something has changed with respect to the second price auction process, either by design or mistake,” an Amazon account manager falsely stated, “After reaching out to the product specialist team we were informed there is not a bug, or a change in auction style, so no worries there. This year the marketplace is even more crowded than any year previous, and we are seeing the spike in CPCs [costs-per-click] as a direct reflection.”

The attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington joined in filing the now-unredacted complaint.

The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and protect and educate consumers. The FTC will never demand money, make threats, tell you to transfer money, or promise you a prize. Learn more about consumer topics at consumer.ftc.gov, or report fraud, scams, and bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Follow the FTC on social media, read consumer alerts and the business blog, and sign up to get the latest FTC news and alerts.