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Hausfeld & Co LLP: Amazon faces £900m demand to compensate tens of millions of UK customers, as Lawsuit accuses E-Commerce giant of unlawfully favouring its own product offers

October 20, 2022

Hausfeld & Co LLP: Amazon faces £900m demand to compensate tens of millions of UK customers, as Lawsuit accuses E-Commerce giant of unlawfully favouring its own product offers

A ground-breaking new legal claim (“UK Buy Box Claim”) alleges that Amazon has breached competition law and caused millions of UK customers to pay higher prices for products sold on Amazon.co.uk and the Amazon mobile app by obscuring better-value deals.

The opt-out collective action, to be filed in the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London, will allege that the Big Tech company abuses its status as the dominant online marketplace and harms customers by channelling them towards its “featured offer”.

This featured offer – prominently located in the “Buy Box” on Amazon’s website and mobile app – is the only offer considered and selected by the vast majority of users, many of whom trust Amazon and wrongly assume it is the best deal.

However, Amazon uses a secretive and self-favouring algorithm to ensure that the Buy Box nearly always features goods sold directly by Amazon itself, or by third-party retailers who pay hefty storage and delivery fees to Amazon, it will be alleged.

The Buy Box is designed and presented in a way that effectively prevents millions of consumers from navigating the site to find cheaper offers, or better delivery options, for the same product, according to the claim.

Such manipulation of consumers is a breach of Amazon’s obligation as the dominant marketplace not to distort competition. The claim will seek damages from Amazon estimated in the region of £900 million.

Julie Hunter, a longstanding advocate of consumer rights, is seeking to represent the interests of tens of millions of Amazon users in the collective action, which is due to be filed before the end of October.

Who is eligible

Anyone who lives in the UK and made purchases on Amazon.co.uk or on the Amazon app since October 2016 is an eligible member of the claimant class. In accordance with Competition Appeal Tribunal rules, the collective action is being filed on behalf of all potential claimants without them needing to actively opt in to the claim.

The case against Amazon

The e-commerce giant is accused of unlawfully abusing its dominant position. According to the claim, Amazon steers potential purchasers to products which are not designed to be the best offers for consumers. Rather, the so-called Buy Box offers are systematically biased to favour goods sold by Amazon itself as part of its retail business; and/or by third party sellers who pay to use Amazon’s order fulfilment and delivery services (which are a key source of revenue for Amazon).

Other sellers, who do not pay for Amazon’s fulfilment services, are nearly always excluded from the Buy Box, stifling their ability to offer consumers a better deal, and leaving consumers out of pocket. It will be alleged that Amazon uses the Buy Box feature to manipulate consumer decision-making – directing customers to the product featured prominently in the Buy Box, and thereby obscuring the full range of options available to them, which may be cheaper and/or offer greater value.

The claim will accuse Amazon of breaching section 18 of the UK Competition Act 1998 and Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It coincides with increased concern amongst the public and policymakers about Amazon’s dominant position as both a marketplace and a market participant (see Investigations and regulatory decisions, below).  

About the class representative

Julie Hunter has worked exclusively in consumer research, advocacy and protection for more than 20 years. She is an independent consultant who has worked with leading consumer organisations in the UK and abroad on topics such as consumer vulnerability, digital services, financial services, consumer rights, customer service and complaints.

Ms Hunter is Chair of the Consumer & Public Interest Network, an independent organisation representing consumers in the development of voluntary standards, supported by the UK standards body BSI. Ms Hunter is also a member of the Financial Services Consumer Panel (FSCP), an independent statutory body representing consumer interests in the development of UK policy for the regulation of financial services. Earlier in her career, Ms Hunter spent six years leading research projects and investigations at Which?.

Investigations and regulatory decisions

The European Commission is pursuing two formal antitrust investigations into Amazon.  One of these, initiated in November 2020, is evaluating the same alleged “self-preferencing” by Amazon as is alleged in the UK claim.  The Commission’s preliminary finding was that the rules and criteria for the Buy Box unduly favour Amazon’s own retail business, as well as marketplace sellers that use Amazon’s logistics and delivery services. The Commission is currently evaluating commitments offered by Amazon to address these concerns.

In July 2022, the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) announced that it was investigating Amazon’s business practices, including how it sets the criteria for selection of the featured offer.  The CMA indicated that its investigation followed on from that conducted by the European Commission.

An investigation by Italy’s competition regulator concluded in December 2021 that Amazon had abused its dominant position by making certain benefits to third-party retailers conditional on their purchasing of its logistics service.

In the United States, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust concluded that Amazon’s online retail dominance gives it monopoly power over third-party sellers on its US marketplace and that it effectively precludes retailers who have not purchased its logistics services from “winning the Buy Box”.

Statements

Julie Hunter, the proposed class representative in the action, said: “Nine out of ten shoppers in the UK have used Amazon, according to surveys, and two thirds use it at least once a month.  Like countless millions of people in the UK, I often use Amazon for the convenience it offers.

“Many consumers believe that Amazon offers good choice and value, but instead it uses tricks of design to manipulate consumer choice and direct customers towards the featured offer in its Buy Box. Far from being a recommendation based on price or quality, the Buy Box favours products sold by Amazon itself, or by retailers who pay Amazon for handling their logistics. Other sellers, however good their offers might be, are effectively shut out – relegated down-page, or hidden several clicks away in an obscure corner of Amazon’s website.

“Online shoppers have a right to be treated fairly and to be able to make informed decisions. This lack of transparency and manipulation of choice is an abuse of consumers’ trust, as well as a raid on their wallets.  Amazon occupies an incredibly powerful position in the market, making it impossible for consumers to take individual action. Amazon shouldn’t be allowed to set the rules in its favour and treat consumers unfairly. That is why I am bringing this action.”

Lesley Hannah, one of the partners at Hausfeld & Co LLP leading the litigation, said:

“Most consumers use the Buy Box when purchasing products on Amazon – estimates range from 82% to 90%. This means that millions of consumers have paid too much and been denied choice. This action seeks fair redress for them.

“Amazon takes advantage of consumers’ well-known tendency to focus on prominently-placed and eye-catching displays, such as the Buy Box. Amazon doesn’t present consumers with a fair range of choices – on the contrary, the design of the Buy Box makes it difficult for consumers to locate and purchase better or cheaper options. Amazon should not be allowed to take advantage of its customers in this anticompetitive way.” 

“Competition laws are there to protect everyone. They ensure that individuals can make genuine and informed choices, and are not simply led into making selections which benefit the companies they interact with. Fairness is at the heart of competition law and consumers are not being treated fairly by Amazon.”

Further information

Affected Amazon users, on whose behalf the class action is brought, will not pay costs or fees to participate in this legal action, which is being funded by LCM Finance, a global litigation funder.

Ms Hunter is represented by Anna Morfey, Lesley Hannah and Aqeel Kadri of Hausfeld & Co LLP, and by Marie Demetriou KC, Robert O’Donoghue KC and Sarah Love of Brick Court Chambers.

To learn more about Ms Hunter’s claim, please visit www.ukbuyboxclaim.com.

About Hausfeld & Co LLP

Hausfeld is a leading disputes-only law firm specialising in competition law, with significant expertise in all aspects of collective redress and group claims, including abuse of dominance litigation against Big Tech and other large corporates.

The firm pioneered the Trucks Cartel litigation in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. It has acted on some of the most complex damages claims of the last decade: on the “Interchange Fee” litigation against Visa and Mastercard, in “Google Shopping” claims on behalf of price comparison websites against Google; against six financial institutions over their participation in unlawful price-fixing of the foreign exchange currency markets; and against Google, Apple and Qualcomm in relation to their alleged abuse of dominance concerning Google Play Store, Apple App Store and the smartphone chip market respectively.

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Padronus Finances Collective Action Against Meta Over Illegal Surveillance

By John Freund |

Austrian litigation funder Padronus is financing the largest collective action ever filed in the German-speaking world. The case targets Meta’s illegal surveillance practices.

Together with the Austrian Consumer Protection Association (VSV) as claimant, the German law firm Baumeister & Kollegen, and the Austrian law firm Salburg Rechtsanwälte, Padronus has filed collective actions in both Germany and Austria against Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. The lawsuits challenge Meta’s extensive surveillance of the public, which, according to Padronus and VSV, violates European data protection law.

“Meta knows far more about us than we imagine – from our shopping habits and searches for medication to personal struggles. This is made possible by so-called business tools that are deployed across the internet. The U.S. corporation is present on third-party sites even when we are logged out of its platforms or when our browser settings promise privacy. This breaches the GDPR,” explains Richard Eibl, Managing Director of Padronus.

Meta generates revenue by allowing companies to place paid advertisements on Instagram and Facebook. Which ad is shown to which user depends on the user’s interests, identified by Meta’s algorithm based on platform activity and social connections. In addition, Meta has developed tools such as the “Meta Pixel,” embedded on countless third-party websites, including those dealing with sensitive personal matters. The “Conversions API” is integrated directly on web servers, meaning data collection no longer occurs on the user’s device and cannot be detected or disabled, even by technically savvy users. It bypasses cookie restrictions, incognito mode, or VPN usage.

Millions of businesses worldwide use these tools to target consumers and analyze ad effectiveness. “Use of these technologies is now omnipresent and an integral part of daily internet usage. Every user becomes uniquely identifiable to Meta at all times as soon as they browse third-party sites, even if not logged into Facebook or Instagram. Meta learns which pages and subpages are visited, what is clicked, searched, and purchased,” says Eibl. He adds: “This surveillance has gone further than George Orwell anticipated in 1984 – at least his protagonist was aware of the extent of his surveillance.”

While Meta users can configure settings on Instagram and Facebook to prevent the collected data from being used for the delivery of personalized advertising, the data itself is nevertheless already transmitted to Meta from third-party websites prior to obtaining consent to cookies. Meta then, without exception, transfers the data worldwide to third countries, in particular to the United States, where it evaluates the data to an unknown extent and passes it on to third parties such as service providers, external researchers, and authorities.

Numerous German district courts (including Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Leipzig) and more than 70 other courts have already confirmed Meta’s illegal surveillance in over 700 ongoing individual lawsuits. These first-instance rulings, achieved by lawyers Baumeister & Kollegen, are not yet final. Eibl notes: “The courts have awarded plaintiffs immaterial damages of up to €5,000. If only one in ten of the up to 50 million affected individuals in Germany joins the collective action, the dispute value rises to €25 billion. This is the largest lawsuit ever filed in the German-speaking world.”

Meta’s lack of seriousness about user privacy is well-documented. In 2023, Ireland’s data protection authority fined Meta €1.2 billion for illegal U.S. data transfers. In 2021, Luxembourg imposed a €746 million fine for misuse of user data for advertising. In 2024, Ireland again fined Meta €251 million for a major security breach. In July 2025, a U.S. lawsuit was launched against several Meta executives, demanding $8 billion in damages for systematic violations of an FTC privacy order. Richard Eibl notes: “This case goes to the heart of Meta’s business model. If we succeed, Meta will have to stop this unlawful spying in our countries.”

The new collective action mechanism for qualified entities such as VSV is a novel legal instrument. If successful, the unlawful practice must be ceased, and compensation paid to consumers who have joined the case.

The lawsuit is expected to trigger political tensions with the current protectionist U.S. administration. Only last week, the U.S. President again threatened the EU with new tariffs after the Commission imposed a €2.95 billion fine on Google. “We expect the U.S. government will also try to exert pressure in our case to shield Meta. But European data protection law is not negotiable, and we are certain we will not bow to such pressure,” says Julius Richter, also Managing Director of Padronus.

Consumers in Austria and Germany can now register at meta-klage.de and meta-klage.at to join the collective action without any cost risk. Padronus covers all litigation expenses; only in the event of success will a commission be deducted from the recovered amount.

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Kerberos Named Finalist for 2025 CIO Industry Innovation Awards in Private Credit

By John Freund |

Kerberos Capital Management has been named one of only four finalists nationwide for Chief Investment Officer (CIO) magazine’s 2025 Industry Innovation Awards in the Private Credit category.

Each year, CIO magazine honors organizations that demonstrate “truly exceptional approaches to the challenges of institutional asset ownership and asset management.” This recognition highlights Kerberos’ leadership in private credit and its innovative strategies that continue to set new standards in the institutional investing market.

“We are proud to be recognized among the top firms in the country for our work in private credit,” said Joe Siprut, CEO & CIO of Kerberos Capital Management. “This acknowledgment underscores our team’s commitment to innovation, disciplined risk management, and delivering differentiated value to our investors.”

Kerberos’ inclusion as a finalist reinforces its growing national reputation as a forward-thinking investment manager that thrives on tackling complex challenges, seeking to generate alpha from complexity but not from increased risk.

About Kerberos Capital Management

Kerberos Capital Management is an SEC-registered investment adviser and alternative investment manager, providing creative solutions for those seeking capital in special situations. Kerberos’ flagship private credit strategy emphasizes legal assets and other complex collateral. Kerberos manages both a pooled vehicle and separate accounts for institutional and high net worth investors worldwide.

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New North Litigation Capital Launches, Backed by £50 Million in Senior Secured Financing from Pollen Street Capital

By John Freund |

Pollen Street Capital ("Pollen Street") today announces a new senior secured credit facility of up to £50 million to New North Litigation Capital (“New North”). New North is a commercial litigation finance company and a direct subsidiary of Capital Law, a Cardiff based law firm founded in 2006.

Capital Law has a strong track record in commercial litigation, having closed over 400 claimant cases since 2001 with a 95% win rate. Drawing on its senior leadership and experienced disputes team, Capital Law launched New North to address the underserved small to mid-market segment of commercial litigation market. 

New North will be the only litigation financier in the UK owned and operated by practicing lawyers, bringing their day to day lived experience of handling mid-market litigation into pricing the risk and the funding investment decisions.

Christopher Nott, Founder and CEO of New North commented: “We are pleased to work with Pollen Street on this financing to launch New North Litigation Capital. The funding supports us to bridge a critical gap by funding claims that are often deemed too small by other players in the market. We are excited to work with the Pollen Street team as we create this new kind of litigation funding.”

Connor Marshall-Mckie, Investment Director at Pollen Street, commented: “New North addresses an important gap in the litigation funding space, focusing on smaller mid-market commercial litigation. With the significant opportunity available and the deep experience of the leadership team from Capital Law we are excited to partner with the team to support their growth.”

About Pollen Street

Pollen Street is a fast-growing and high-performing private capital asset manager. Established in 2013, the firm has built deep capability across the real estate, financial and business services sectors aligned with mega-trends shaping the future of the industry. Pollen Street manages over €7bn AUM across private equity and credit strategies on behalf of investors including leading public and corporate pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, asset managers, banks, and family offices from around the world. Pollen Street has a team of over 95 professionals.