Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) planned fee on merchants that don't use its shipping services will be discarded, according to a report by Bloomberg on Thursday.
The publication said it had seen documents confirming the move. The U-turn from the e-commerce giant suggests it is being more cautious about the amount of money it tries to pull from online sellers as it battles an escalating antitrust investigation.
In August, Amazon announced the 2% fee on merchants, stating it would take effect on October 1, although it was met with discontent from Amazon merchants and consultants. It was also seen as a "brazen move since the US government is poised to file an antitrust lawsuit against the e-commerce giant," said Bloomberg.
They explained that the federal case is predicted to focus partly on Amazon's alleged efforts to push merchants into using its logistics services.
Bloomberg said an Amazon spokesperson emailed them, stating the 2% Seller Fulfilled Prime fee was intended to cover the company's costs, "but after careful consideration," they've made the decision "not to implement this program fee to ensure seller sentiment related to the fee does not impact program participation."