Amazon Being Investigated in UK for Practices Which May Give Customers 'Worse Deal' (sky.com) 10
Amazon is being investigated by Britain's antitrust watchdog over concerns that some of its practices in the UK may be anticompetitive and result in a worse deal for shoppers. From a report: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will look at whether Amazon is distorting competition by giving an unfair advantage to its own retail business or sellers that use its services, compared with other third-party sellers in the Amazon UK Marketplace. The investigation will look at how the tech giant is using third-party seller data and how it decides the criteria for selling under the Prime label.
The CMA will also scrutinise how Amazon selects the preferred choice in the "Buy Box", which is displayed prominently on Amazon's product pages and provides customers with one-click options to "Buy Now" or "Add to Basket" from a specific seller. Sarah Cardell, general counsel at the CMA, said: "Millions of people across the UK rely on Amazon's services for fast delivery of all types of products at the click of a button."
The CMA will also scrutinise how Amazon selects the preferred choice in the "Buy Box", which is displayed prominently on Amazon's product pages and provides customers with one-click options to "Buy Now" or "Add to Basket" from a specific seller. Sarah Cardell, general counsel at the CMA, said: "Millions of people across the UK rely on Amazon's services for fast delivery of all types of products at the click of a button."
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Many a corporation has gone bust by coming across to customers as a bunch of money grabbing assholes, or merely overpriced.
But only of they have a viable competitor.
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> It is a company's duty to the shareholders to get as much money out of customers as possible.
It's hilarious how many people on Slashdot have this weird corporatist fantasy. God only knows where it came from, or why anyone with the slightest ounce of intelligence would believe it to be true.
Companies can act how companies want to act within the bounds of the law.
Correct. And there duty is to live up to shareholder expectations. If they don',t shareholders will remove their capital, which must be replace..
Whether a shareholder accepts that is up to the individual shareholder. Some companies do indeed like to make as much money as possible no matter how unethical, and some shareholders like that and buy into it.
However, shareholders can want the highest possible return, within the bounds of the law; which means extracting as much money as possible from customers. That, in and of itself, is not unethical nor illegal. How you do it can be.
Other companies want to do things differently, try to do things more sustainably, or ethically, and sometimes that attracts different types of shareholders and is therefore a viable approach to obtaining shareholder funding too, even if it's not the most profitable approach possible.
Let's say shareholders want a company that invests in sustainable projects. That is not at odds with the company wanting to be as pr
re: (Score:1)
No Sh*t Sherlock! (Score:2)
When I'm looking for best price I never find it on Amazon. The only merchandise I buy from Amazon is when they are the only price. Best price happens elsewhere, but it takes time to find the better price and Amazon calculates our laziness vs. increased price tolerance. The thing that makes this anti-trust monopoly so insidious is that it will always, always, wear down the buyer over time. We gradually tolerate higher and higher prices without our due diligence to reject their crap pricing. This is exac
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These days, I routinely go back and forth between Amazon and other vendors - and while I do buy from lots of sources I find Amazon has better prices on many occasions.
Perhaps you are buying unusual products? Or maybe you are on somebody's list and getting special treatment?
I worry a lot about Amazon's size and market share - but I don't find their prices match your description.
Actually, what you say is actually correct. It is quite true that while Amazon features an item on the market at any one time it is particularly difficult to find better competing prices ONLINE or in advertisements at that very moment. Amazons influence and complete awareness of online markets, as well as their traffic volume and influence on search engine traffic and ad revenue is paramount. They have such strong and accurate metrics of every detail of the market, as well as immediate response and adjus