Amazon customer service may not be able to help you with this type of refund. The online retail giant has been hit by a class-action lawsuit, as first reported Reuterswhere customers are seeking refunds for increased product prices caused by tariffs instituted by the Trump administration. The complaint was filed Friday in Seattle and accuses Amazon of profiting from “hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal pricing costs.”
The lawsuit explains that Amazon is legally entitled to recover these costs, following a 6-3 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that ruled against the legality of President Trump’s sweeping pricing policy. Companies have been allowed to recover restitution of these tariff costs and several companies have confirmed CNBC last week they started receiving money from the US government. However, the lawsuit claims that Amazon did not engage in this refund process because it seeks to “curry favor with Trump by allowing the federal government to keep the funds.”
“Amazon has not returned any portion of the costs it passed on to consumers, and it does not intend to do so,” the lawsuit says. “In short, it has generated and retained a windfall from illegal government actions, and consumers – not Amazon – are paying the cost.”
Meanwhile, shipping companies like DHL, FedEx and UPS, which were hit by the tariffs, said they had initiated the refund process and would pass the product on to affected customers. Other companies have taken even more drastic measures, such as Nintendo, which filed a lawsuit against the US government for having to pay customs duties imposed to bring its products into the country. We’ve reached out to Amazon for comment on the lawsuit and will update the story when we hear back.