Amazon Scraps Planned Merchant Fee Amid Antitrust Scrutiny (1)

Amazon.com Inc. is scrapping a planned fee on merchants that don’t use its shipping services, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg.

The abrupt reversal suggests the company is being more cautious about how much money it tries to extract from online sellers amid an escalating antitrust investigation.

Amazon announced the 2% fee on merchants in August, and it was set to take effect on Oct. 1. The levy was interpreted by Amazon merchants and consultants as a brazen move since the US government is poised to file an antitrust lawsuit against the e-commerce giant. The federal case is expected to ...