P2B Regulation: 30-day prior-notice duty for Amazon, eBay, and Etsy suspensions

Regulation 2019/1150 (P2B = Platform-to-Business) applies since July 2020. It governs the relationship between online platforms and business users - mainly marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Booking, Zalando.

Core duties: transparent, clear ToS; substantive reasoning for suspensions; at least 30 days' prior notice for full terminations; an internal complaint system; a mediation clause.

Breaches of the P2B Regulation are directly actionable - no regulatory threshold, no pre-litigation step. You can take the marketplace to court directly, with concrete damages claims.

Art. 4(1) P2B is unambiguous: before fully terminating platform services, the provider must give written reasoned notice at least 30 days in advance. Immediate suspensions are only allowed for acute, documentable breaches.

This is regularly violated in practice. Amazon and eBay often suspend without notice and deliver the 'reasoning' days later. That is formally unlawful - the suspension can be reversed on procedural grounds alone.

The Cologne Regional Court (e.g. 81 O 33/22) and the Frankfurt Regional Court (e.g. 3-08 O 5/22) confirmed the duty in several cases - the case law is clear and enforceable.

Breach of the P2B Regulation triggers damages under § 280 BGB - including consequential damages. Immediate suspension of a seller with a running business quickly reaches 5- or 6-figure amounts: lost profits, default interest on holds, business reorganisation costs.

We typically assess three damage categories: concrete fund-hold damage (default interest 9% above base rate for commercial); lost profits based on the preceding 6-12 months; consequential damages (warehouse rent, credit interest, etc.).

Important: the value at stake is often substantial. An €80,000 hold plus €30,000 lost profit quickly reaches 6 figures - with corresponding economic effect. Success-fee components often make sense here.

Art. 12 P2B forces marketplaces to set up a mediation procedure - free of charge for the seller, with concrete response deadlines. That's an important lever: we often announce mediation before going to court.

Platforms tend to avoid mediation because it can become public and trigger EU-wide reputational effects. In practice, the formal mediation announcement alone leads to out-of-court settlement in many cases.

We combine P2B proceedings with DSA complaints (DSA Art. 20) and supervisory complaints to the relevant data protection authority - creating pressure on multiple fronts. Platforms react surprisingly quickly.