Amazon has suffered a significant legal setback in the United Kingdom, after the Court of Appeal on February 26, 2026, refused the company permission to challenge the certification of two major antitrust collective actions. The decision clears the path for two opt out lawsuits, one on behalf of independent third party sellers and another representing tens of millions of UK consumers, to proceed to trial with combined claims estimated at potentially over £4 billion.
Two Separate Cases, One Common Allegation
At the heart of both lawsuits is Amazon‘s “Buy Box,” the prominent purchase button that appears on product listings and accounts for approximately 80% of all purchases made on the platform. The first case, led by Andreas Stephan, Professor of Competition Law at the University of East Anglia, seeks £2.7 billion on behalf of UK third party sellers who used professional selling accounts on Amazon‘s UK marketplace between June 2018…
and June 2024. The complaint alleges that Amazon abused its dominant position by unfairly favoring its own retail products and its own logistics arm, Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), in the Buy Box algorithm, pushing up costs and fees for independent sellers.
The second case, filed by consumer advocate Robert Hammond and supported by law firm Hagens Berman EMEA, seeks over £2 billion on behalf of an estimated 51.8 million eligible UK shoppers who allegedly paid inflated prices as a direct result of the same anticompetitive conduct.
Both cases were certified by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) on July 24, 2025, and proceed on an opt out basis, meaning eligible claimants are automatically included unless they actively choose to withdraw.
Amazon’s Appeal Blocked Following the CAT‘s certification, Amazon sought to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal, arguing that the economic analysis underpinning the lawsuits was fundamentally flawed…
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