What Is The FTC Planning for Amazon? Millions of Small Sellers — and Their Customers — Deserve Clear Answers

For millions of small businesses across the country, Amazon’s marketplace has been a game-changer — providing instant access to a massive customer base while offering cutting-edge digital marketing tools and state-of-the-art shipping and logistics services. A small candlemaker can find and efficiently ship to customers nationwide, allowing him to quickly grow his business. A specialty food brand can reach people interested in its niche offerings, allowing its owners to invest in developing new products and hiring more staff. A gift and home decor company can reach customers from coast to coast — without a warehouse, a shipping department, or a massive advertising budget.

Amazon’s retail opportunities and efficiencies matter to U.S. sellers and customers. That’s why small businesses are paying close attention to the Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing antitrust case against Amazon — and why it’s so important that they understand the changes the FTC is considering.

Why Won’t the FTC Tell Us What Remedies It Has in Mind? 

The FTC started investigating Amazon in 2019 and filed an antitrust suit in 2023. After seven years of investigations and litigation, the agency still hasn’t publicly stated what changes to Amazon’s business it would seek if it prevails in court — leading U.S. District Judge John Chun on April 6 to step in and order the FTC to disclose “each and every remedy and form of relief” it intends to pursue. The Senate will also have a chance to demand answers at its upcoming FTC Oversight Hearing.

It should not take a federal judge stepping in to require the FTC to outline basic details of its case. After this length of time, the lack of clarity is difficult to justify, and it leaves small businesses facing real uncertainty about the future of the digital tools and services they use every day. 

There are two possible explanations for this lack of transparency. Neither inspires confidence in the FTC’s approach.

First, it’s possible the FTC hasn’t developed a coherent plan for how to fix the alleged problems. If that’s the case, it raises serious concerns about government processes and accountability — and suggests that after seven years of work, the agency still has not clearly defined what it’s trying to accomplish. 

A second explanation is that the agency already knows what remedies it prefers — but is reluctant to share them because it knows they’ll be wildly unpopular, breaking apart the integrated products and services that make Amazon valuable to sellers and a favorite with consumers. If the FTC plans to seek remedies that will make Amazon a less appealing, more expensive marketplace for sellers and consumers, the public deserves to know now — not after decisions are made.

While the FTC has not clearly stated its goals, any proposed remedies should be evaluated against a simple question: what is the agency trying to achieve and how would these changes affect small businesses and consumers? 

What Could the FTC Actually Do?

Observers have speculated about various possible remedies — and each carries real consequences for small businesses and consumers.

• Breaking up Amazon. Breaking up Amazon has long been a goal of the company’s critics. For example, the FTC could force Amazon to divest its logistics network — the system behind the two-day shipping consumers love, and that allows even the smallest businesses to ship their products at the same speed and cost that big retailers can.
• Separating first-party and third-party sales. The FTC could require Amazon to split its first-party retail business — where Amazon sells products directly — from its third-party marketplace, where independent sellers list and sell their own goods. Under such a separation, Amazon could operate a preferential platform for its own retail products, fully integrated with Prime and its logistics network, while third-party sellers would be pushed onto a more standalone marketplace experience, where they are responsible for their own fulfillment and operations. This divide could significantly reduce visibility and convenience for independent sellers, potentially impacting their sales.
• Disrupting tools that show customers the best prices. Right now, consumers shop on Amazon because they believe they are getting a fair price and fast, reliable, free shipping. Amazon has built this trust by featuring the best deals for its shoppers, using a combination of price, reviews, shipping speed, and accuracy, among other factors. The FTC could force Amazon to change which products it features, leading consumers to see higher-priced options as the marketplace’s featured offers — and breaking their confidence in the platform’s reliability as a provider of competitively priced goods.

Conclusion

Amazon’s marketplace currently supports millions of independent businesses — helping them gain visibility and expand their customer base, significantly bolstering their revenue, and providing the operational infrastructure they need to rapidly scale.

Effective policy should deliver stability and transparency — especially in cases of this scale and importance. After seven years, small businesses deserve a clear explanation of what the FTC is trying to accomplish and how its proposed remedies would impact the tools they use to grow.  The FTC owes small businesses — and the public — a clear and honest account of what changes it intends to seek, and what the real-world consequences would be before those changes are imposed.