Dive Brief:
- Shopify said in court filings Monday that it will ask a federal judge to dismiss an antitrust complaint filed in June by Sezzle, the buy now, pay later company, alleging that Shopify wrongly advantaged its own BNPL offering on its international e-commerce marketplace, violating antitrust laws.
- Lawyers for Minneapolis-based Sezzle and Shopify met Thursday to discuss the Canadian company’s planned motion to dismiss Sezzle’s lawsuit and “have not agreed on a resolution of all or part of the motion,” according to Shopify’s filing in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota.
- A hearing on Shopify’s planned motion to dismiss is set for Dec. 12, according to the court filings Monday. U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud will set a date for Shopify’s motion to be filed, a magistrate assigned to the case ruled last month.
Dive Insight:
Ottawa-based Shopify, which offers technology to build online stores, says its technology powers websites for millions of businesses in more than 175 countries.
Shopify “used its market power” to make its own installment payment services the default BNPL provider on merchant websites, according to Sezzle’s June 9 lawsuit. Further, Shopify “rigged” the checkout process to make it “extraordinarily difficult” to choose another BNPL option, Sezzle alleged.
Shopify is the largest company offering software for entrepreneurs to establish their own e-commerce businesses through a variety of easily-managed templates, according to the lawsuit. Shopify launched its BNPL offering, Shop Pay Installments, in June 2021.
Shopify also imposed fees on millions of merchants through contracts that “penalized them” for using Sezzle or another non-Shopify BNPL option, according to the suit.
The lawsuit aims to ensure that “merchants and consumers have access to diverse and innovative payment solutions of their choice,” Sezzle CEO Charlie Youakim said in a June press release the company issued with its complaint.
Sezzle’s lawsuit said Shopify’s actions violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Act and Minnesota laws concerning antitrust and deceptive trade practices.
