Amazon Just Got Slapped With a $1 Million Fine For Misleading Pricing (recode.net)

Some deals are too good to be true. And, for Amazon, they will cost the company. From a report on Recode: A Canadian enforcement agency announced today that Amazon Canada will pay a $1 million fine for what could be construed as misleading pricing practices. The investigation centered on the practice of Amazon displaying its prices compared to higher "list prices" -- suggested manufacturer prices (MSRPs) designed as marketing gimmicks to make people think they are getting a deal, even though it's often the case that no shopper ever pays that price. "The Bureau's investigation concluded that these claims created the impression that prices for items offered on www.amazon.ca were lower than prevailing market prices," Canada's Competition Bureau said in a statement. "The Bureau determined that Amazon relied on its suppliers to provide list prices without verifying that those prices were accurate."

Comments

Canada extorts $1 Million from Amazon

[XxtraLarGe]

Canada's Competition Bureau said in a statement. "The Bureau determined that Amazon relied on its suppliers to provide list prices without verifying that those prices were accurate."

If that's the price the suppliers are giving them, why wouldn't it be accurate? Nobody forces people to buy from Amazon, there's an entire world wide web out there where they can compare prices and make their own determinations. Heck, there are even sites that will do the comparisons for you. Likewise, nobody ever pays MSRP on anything anyway; this sounds like a bogus complaint to me.

Re:Canada extorts $1 Million from Amazon

[AthanasiusKircher]

Yeah, I'm actually a bit surprised that so many people here just casually dismiss the fact that most American companies are engaging in pervasive and systemic deception on a regular basis. For the cynical among us, I'm sure people think that's true a lot of the time -- but prices are a pretty fundamental fact displayed by sellers (possibly THE fundamental fact). A lot of people here, for example, tend to be dismissive of ads, which they feel are mostly misleading and deceptive. I've seen a lot of posts arguing for their complete eradication. But displaying "fake prices" is okay?

Yes, it's common practice. Yes, it's not new. (I remember being shocked maybe 10-15 years ago when I went into a department store after probably not shopping in one for 5 years. And I couldn't believe how EVERYTHING was listed 50-70% off! I remember sales before that, sometimes exaggerating things, but it seems we took a turn somewhere in the past 20 years where this practice of inflating "retail price" became PERVASIVE.)

But just because it's common doesn't mean it's a good thing. While we're at it, can we do away with claims of "now with 30% MORE!" on product packaging unless that claim is followed explicitly by "more than... X" where X is a detailed explanation of what actually has less and when it had it?

I'm all for protecting the consumer

[Ecuador]

I'm all for protecting the consumer, but this sounds like that Canadian agency had a $1m budget deficit and they wanted to cover it fast. Sure, MSRPs are stupid and it would be nice to get rid of them, but how is the retailer supposed to know the manufacturer/supplier has them "inflated". Are they supposed to go all-Sherlock for each item they sell?

Re:Govt wants free money

[David_Hart]

Uh...you broke Law 365, section A, code D! Now we get a million dollars! Muahahahah

Laugh all you want, but there is a bit of validity to the complaint.

If you compare Amazon.com (US) to Amazon.ca (Canada) you will see that Amazon.com is like a superstore, with tons of choices and multiple price points for new, used, refurb, etc., and Amazon.ca is like your corner convenience store, you're lucky if you have one choice and it may or may not be marked up higher than retail. Yes, consumers should comparison shop but it could be confusing for less experience online shoppers.

Re:Govt wants free money

[zifn4b]

This is a pretty common requirement in the western world. The US is the only western country I'm aware of in which there's not a law against advertising an item as on sale when it's never actually been sold at a higher price.

My personal favorite are the stores always running the 50% off sale. 50% off the MSRP which is what the store would actually sell the price at regularly. That's the United States for you. If we're the world leaders of anything, it's unethical sales and marketing.