Amazon Customer Service might not be able to help for this type of refund. The online retail giant was hit with a class action lawsuit, as first reported by Reuters, where customers are seeking refunds for increased product prices caused by the tariffs instituted by the Trump administration. The suit was filed on Friday in Seattle and accused Amazon of profiting “hundreds of millions of dollars in unlawful tariff costs.”
The lawsuit explained that Amazon is legally entitled to recover these costs, following a 6-3 decision from the US Supreme Court that ruled against the legality of the sweeping tariff policy put in place by President Trump. Corporations were allowed to recover restitution for these tariff costs and several companies confirmed to CNBC last week that they started to receive money back from the US government. However, the lawsuit claimed that Amazon hasn’t engaged in this refund process, since it’s looking to “curry favor with Trump by allowing the federal government to retain the funds.”
“Amazon has not returned any portion of those costs it passed on to consumers, and it has no intention of doing so,” the lawsuit read. “It has, in short, generated and retained a windfall from unlawful government action, and consumers — not Amazon — are the ones left paying for it.”
Meanwhile, shipping companies like DHL, FedEx and UPS who were impacted by the tariffs said they started the refund process and will pass the proceeds onto affected customers. Other companies have taken even more drastic measures, like Nintendo, who filed a lawsuit against the US government for having to pay the imposed tariffs to get its products into the country. We’ve reached out to Amazon for comment on the lawsuit and we’ll update the story when we hear back.
