Amazon Ads Surcharge Case: What Advertisers Should Re-Check Now

What Did Amazon Ads Allegedly Hide From Advertisers?

The FTC and 22 state attorneys general have filed an updated complaint against Amazon, and Search Engine Journal walks through the newly unredacted details. The core allegation is that Amazon used undisclosed soft reserve prices to push cost-per-click figures above what competing bids would have produced, with the largest increases tied to peak events such as Prime Day and Black Friday. The piece also reproduces an internal revenue discussion and an advertiser exchange in which an account manager denied any auction change.

For anyone who ran Amazon Ads between 2021 and 2023, this is a useful reminder that campaign reports show what was paid, not how the final price was formed. Paid media leads, agency strategists and brand finance teams should read it before drawing conclusions from old performance data. The allegations are still being litigated, and Amazon denies wrongdoing, so treat the article as a guide to questions worth asking rather than settled fact.