--- title: "FTC Alleges Amazon Secretly Raised Ad Prices Up to 250%" description: "The FTC unsealed claims that Amazon pushed ad prices up to 250% above auction results on Prime Day. What Amazon advertisers should check before Black Friday." url: https://publishmyblog.com/marketing/ftc-amazon-ads-surcharge-details/ section: "Marketing" author: "Saeed Shahriar" published: 2026-11-06T09:17:54.183Z updated: 2026-11-06T11:36:37.678Z --- # FTC Alleges Amazon Secretly Raised Ad Prices Up to 250% The unsealed complaint ties Amazon's soft reserve prices to revenue targets, while Amazon says no advertiser ever paid more than their bid. The FTC and 22 states have unsealed new details in their lawsuit over how Amazon priced search ads, including internal emails and the size of the price jumps it's accused of hiding. They allege Amazon pushed your prices **up to 250% above the auction result** on days like Prime Day and Black Friday. Ran your ads through a Prime Day since 2021? Then this is about your own bills. The updated complaint, [announced by the FTC on November 5](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/11/new-details-emerge-amazon-ads-auction-rigging-case), fills in figures that were blacked out when the case was filed in August. Amazon denies deceiving or harming advertisers. It hasn't answered the new details in public yet. ## What the unsealed complaint says On an ordinary day, the FTC says, a hidden surcharge could lift your price **up to 50% above what the auction set**. Big sale days got far more. Here are the examples it gives: - In the 2021 holidays, advertisers' average cost per click rose 20%, and some advertisers saw more than 200%. - For the 2022 holidays, Amazon raised the surcharges to bring in an extra $87 million worldwide. - On Prime Day 2023, one large food and beverage brand paid over 100% more, and Amazon staff admitted internally that it was wrecking that advertiser's return on ad spend. - In 2023, executives sought an extra $40 million to hit their targets, and one email pointed to reserves. The tool behind it is what Amazon calls a soft reserve price. It's a minimum set in real time, and it can lift your final cost per click above what rival bids alone would set. Then there's the email trail. The head of Amazon Ads wrote of wanting to "pull out all of the stops" to close the gap to plan, according to [Search Engine Journal's read of the complaint](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ftc-unseals-details-amazon-ads-auction-surcharge-suit/596010/). ## What advertisers were told What did Amazon tell advertisers who noticed? One asked if the second-price auction had changed. An account manager said there was no bug and no change in auction style, and blamed a crowded marketplace. The FTC calls that answer misleading. ## Amazon's side Amazon tells it differently. In its [August response to the lawsuit](https://www.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazon-ftc-sponsored-ads-lawsuit-response), it says **no advertiser ever pays more than their own bid**. It also claims: - The average cost per click on Sponsored Products stayed flat from 2019 to 2024 after inflation. - Reserve prices like its own are common across the industry. - By its estimate, advertisers saved over $8 billion from 2021 to 2025, because its auction weighs relevance and not only the bid. ## What we checked We read the [unsealed complaint itself](https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Amazon-RedactedComplaint.pdf), case 2:26-cv-03097-JHC in the Western District of Washington. Three details in its 181 pages matter for your account: - A footnote says Amazon's internal documents put the first surcharges on Sponsored Products search placements in July 2019, well before the 2021 example above. - Amazon didn't give advertisers invoices or auction results for a single click or auction, the complaint says, so you can't see how Amazon got to your final cost per click. - The 22 states ask for relief that includes "the refund of monies paid", on top of the FTC's request for monetary relief. So keep your Sponsored Products billing history going back to mid-2019. ## Why it matters Still, none of this is proven in court yet. In practice, your reports show what you paid and what came back, but they don't show how Amazon got to your final cost per click, and that's the gap this whole case is about. So who should care? Any seller or agency that **set targets off Prime Day 2023 or the 2021 and 2022 holidays**, when the FTC says prices ran above the auction result. Here are three things I'd do before Black Friday: - Pull your CPC and ROAS for Prime Day 2023 and the 2021 and 2022 holidays, and stop treating them as a normal baseline for your final cost per click. - Watch your cost per click next to your conversion rate during Cyber Week, so you can tell a price jump from weak demand. - Save what your account manager tells you about a spike, in writing. That said, I wouldn't pull your budget off Amazon over this. Check your numbers instead. Your shoppers are still there, and Amazon is pushing [its AI Ads Agent to run more of your buying](https://publishmyblog.com/marketing/amazon-ads-hits-19-6b-in-q3/). My read: **the less of the auction you can see, the more you trust its rules**. Did your CPCs jump on Prime Day 2023? Now you have one possible reason in writing, from an agency quoting Amazon's own emails. It's still the FTC's word against Amazon's, and Amazon says no advertiser ever pays more than their own bid. ## Common Questions **What is a soft reserve price in Amazon's ad auction?** It's a minimum price Amazon sets on an ad placement in real time. According to Amazon, a winning bid above it pays the soft reserve, and a winning bid below it still wins and pays its own bid. **Did Amazon charge advertisers more than their maximum bid?** Amazon says no advertiser ever pays more than their maximum bid. The FTC's complaint is about something else: hidden reserve prices that it says lifted final costs up to 250% above the auction result. **Will Amazon advertisers get money back from the FTC lawsuit?** Not yet, because the FTC and 22 states are still fighting the case in federal court. Amazon's own response says the money the FTC is asking for would go to advertisers, not shoppers. ## Sources - [New Details Emerge in Amazon Ads Auction-Rigging Case](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/11/new-details-emerge-amazon-ads-auction-rigging-case), Federal Trade Commission - [FTC Unseals Details In Amazon Ads Auction Surcharge Suit](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ftc-unseals-details-amazon-ads-auction-surcharge-suit/596010/), Search Engine Journal - [Amazon’s response to the FTC’s lawsuit regarding Sponsored Ads](https://www.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazon-ftc-sponsored-ads-lawsuit-response), Amazon - [Complaint For Permanent Injunction, Monetary Judgment, and Other Relief](https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Amazon-RedactedComplaint.pdf), Federal Trade Commission