Interne E-Mails zeigen, wie Amazon die Preise im Internet erhöht, heißt es in der Klage | „Es funktioniert!“: Amazon-E-Mails mit Anbietern zeigen ein Muster verschwindender Angebote

Highlighted issues from this lawsuit:

>Newly unsealed emails reveal the sneaky ways that Amazon colludes with rivals to raise prices across the Internet on “everything from diapers to clothing to furniture,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleged in a press release Monday.
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>“Amazon and a competitor will knowingly stop price matching each other, so that one retailer can increase its price, and the other retailer can match to the new, higher price,” Bonta alleged, pointing to one of three such schemes described in Amazon emails. “Thus, both competitors start selling at a higher price, increase their profits, and consumers pay more.”
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>The emails surfaced in a lawsuit that the state of California filed in 2022, accusing Amazon of wielding its tremendous influence as the world’s largest retailer to pressure vendors into increasing prices on rival e-commerce websites or removing products from cheaper platforms entirely. According to The New York Times, these emails offer “a rare behind-the-scenes look at how Amazon operates its $2.66 trillion empire.”
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>Amazon works in three ways to pressure vendors into manipulating competitor prices, Bonta alleged.
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>In one supposed scheme, Amazon proposes price matching by agreeing to increase the price of a product or temporarily pause its sales, which then allows the other retailer to raise its price.
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>Another route Amazon frequently takes flips that scheme. When Amazon sees a rival offering a product at a price it considers unprofitable, it pressures vendors to get the rival to raise their price to a level Amazon likes. Once the rival raises its price, Amazon then matches it.
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>Finally, Amazon allegedly follows a third, arguably more aggressive, path to get vendors to remove products entirely from platforms offering lower prices. That way, Amazon won’t be forced to lower its price to compete.
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>All three scenarios raise prices for consumers, Bonta alleged.
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>…
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>Some requests for price increases were permanent, Bonta alleged. Other times, Amazon sought temporary price increases ahead of some of the biggest sales days on its platform in a seeming bid to coerce vendors at key moments when they couldn’t afford to push back. As a result, Amazon seemingly set a higher base price before enacting significant price drops that were intended to surge sales.
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>Bonta is hoping this evidence will help California secure a preliminary injunction blocking Amazon from any price-fixing while the trial proceeds. A hearing on the request for the preliminary injunction is scheduled for July 23, while the case is scheduled to go to trial in January 2027, the press release said.

Jacking up the price before a big sale is an old underhanded retail trick, and it’s not surprising that it’s taking place here as well. If these allegations all hold true, then it’ll be clear that Amazon isn’t just content making money hand over fist, but rather it’s looking to make even more than that, just because they can.

Meanwhile at Nintendo

I’m looking at a faucet on a manufacturer website right now. It’s actually $60 cheaper on Amazon, than on their own website.

Companies are too big people.

that’s a cartel and illegal

That’s why they said Lina Khan was crazy and dangerous.

the emails saying „its working“ is so brazen. they knew exactly what they were doing and documented it anyway

Class action?

Stop buying from Amazon. Evil company.