Amazon drops free book delivery to its lockers in France

Amazon has dropped its free delivery and 5% discount on new books delivered to its automated lockers in France after a long dispute with independent booksellers over whether these savings were compliant with French law. 

It said lockers only represent a small fraction of its roughly 3,000 collection points and that customers would continue to access free delivery and the 5% discount on other locations. 

“For new books, we have decided to focus the 5% discount and free delivery on in-store pick-up points and customer service desks – and to exclude automated lockers,” an Amazon France spokesperson told Le Figaro.

Why did Amazon use free delivery?

Under the Darcos law, which came into force in 2021, new books that cost less than €35 are subject to a minimum €3 delivery fee, while for books over €35, the minimum charge is €0.01.

The law was introduced to prevent large retailers from gaining an advantage over smaller booksellers by offering very low delivery fees. 

France has around 3,500 independent bookshops, with measures such as the 1981 Loi Lang helping to protect them from competition from larger retailers. The law sets a fixed price for new books and allows sellers to offer a maximum of 5% discount, including when a book bought online is collected from a physical bookshop.

Amazon began offering free delivery to collection points in 2024, including automated lockers located in or near supermarkets and other businesses selling books. 

It later introduced the 5% discount as well for books collected from these points.

Booksellers, however, argue that automated lockers do not qualify for the permitted discounts because customers are not collecting books from a bookshop.  

In February 2025, the Médiateur du livre said free collection from lockers did not appear to be authorised by the law, while collection from a staffed counter at a business that actually sells books could comply with the rules.

Amazon, however, continued the practice as the opinion was not legally binding. 

The issue was raised several times, and in a parliamentary response on September 8, the government said that Amazon’s free locker collection had created “a real challenge to the implementation” of the Darcos law.

The government also mentioned the fact that the Médiateur du livre had clearly considered the practice non-compliant with the law.

It said a draft decree was being prepared to strengthen enforcement of the rules on book pricing.

The response also includes that competing booksellers and their trade organisations had already tried to conciliate with Amazon by filing a conciliation request with the Médiateur du livre, raising the issue in autumn 2025.

“This procedure is a mandatory prerequisite to legal action aimed at ending the unlawful practices of this ‘all-online’ seller,” it said. 

The process however, failed, opening the way to legal action. The Syndicat de la librairie française and Fnac are among those now preparing a potential case against Amazon.

Amazon's position

On its side, Amazon said that its collection network helps make books more accessible and especially to readers living in rural areas and smaller towns. 

“For more than 20 years, Amazon has been committed to offering all readers, throughout France, simple and wide access to literary works,” Géraldine Codron said in a press release when Amazon launched free book delivery to more than 2,500 collection points in 2024. 

The company's latest decision also comes after the Conseil d'État, France's top administrative authority, rejected Amazon EU's appeal against the French minimum delivery charge on May 13, 2026.

The court ruled that France’s €3 minimum delivery charge for new book orders under €35 was compatible with EU law.