11At the center of the case are two features popular with consumers: the "Buy Now" button and the shipping component of Amazon Prime. The FTC is arguing that Amazon undergoes an imbalance of power in its business model for sellers: making it easier to sell through them, and entirely through them, by making it very difficult to sell anywhere else. This cycle, the complaint argues, stifles competition, reinforces an unfair monopoly, and harms sellers and consumers.

Amazon, however, told Entrepreneur in a statement that the practices the FTC is challenging "have helped to spur competition and innovation across the retail industry," the company said. "If the FTC gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from, higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers and reduced options for small businesses — the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do."

Karen Weise, a technology correspondent for The New York Times, explained on a Monday podcast episode of The Daily that the "Buy Now" feature is under scrutiny by the FTC because of the subsequent punitive measures imposed on sellers who may sell their product elsewhere.

"Amazon has these machines that go across other websites, and if they find it's even one penny less elsewhere, they will essentially punish the seller for that happening," Weise said on the podcast.

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