Amazon Price Parity - Bullying?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ng-small-firms-inflating-prices.html?ITO=1490

Anyone here affected

Of those that are, how many are planning to resist in any way or is everyone going to roll over because its just too much business to risk?

What strategies are you coming up with to work around this scenario?

* Setting up other domains/companies that are not linked to Amazon

* Finding ways around the parity demands (e.g. customer segmentation pricing)

I think this is going to become a more and more important issue for ecommerce in the UK

 

Is price fixing, cartel operation etc not a criminal offence in this country?

I thought it was?

 

FYI anyone who does fancy loding a complaint with the OFT you can see the info here:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/about-the-oft/oft-structure/accountability/complaint

 

Eh?? My reading of that article was that:

1. IF you sell product "A" on Amazon
2. AND you sell product "A" more cheaply elsewhere

You have to make prices the same or get kicked off Amazon.

I don't see what's wrong with that? Why should Amazon provide a portal for people to find your product, if when they search for it again they'll most likely independently click onto your website and buy it? Amazon aren't a charity!

I'd be amazed if the OFT could do anything... google shopping etc and the nature of the internet mean they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

 

They provide a portal as you say at a cost, thats their fees, they cannot dictate the price you offer the product at, thats your business not their's as long as you pay their fees!

Its not illegal to have differing prices across different selling channels

 

No, defo on the same page Kulture, wont be long then til Ebay follow suit!!!

 

Sellers use Amazon through choice i.e at the expense of other channels, including their own. It strikes me as slightly naive for companies to turn on Amazon when in fact, they signed up to use their service knowing full well of the chargers and therefore downsides to using them.

 

I disagree Amazon are not price fixing, Amazon are making sure the prices on there website are the cheapest so you come back to them, you can sell it whatever price you want, you just cannot sell it less anywhere else than you can on Amazon which IMO makes perfect sense.

I wish Amazon would raise the price in the sports sector but they do nothing of the sort, however its manufacturers and suppliers that are in the wrong IMO since they sell it at reduced rates to Amazon and allow them to undercut anyway, then when all the retailers stop buying their products think OH poop and start back tracking.

The amount of people on this forum with new products and they all want to sell to the nationals first in a get rich quick plan, without a thought to long term stability.

 

bet they're paying less tax than the retailers that sell on the site too:

Financial accounts show that Amazon paid no corporation tax at all in Britain in 2010. The last time it reportedly paid the tax here was in 2007, when it is said to have handed over just £19,367 to the Treasury

 

TBH i am suprised any web design or SEO (or similar service which can be web based) company is registered in the UK, it would be much more Tax efficient to establish overseas, the thing that I think is more astonishing is the goverment don't seem to be doing anything to keep the business in the UK

 

Perhaps if they offered much lower taxes they'd get many more businesses basing banking here?

It's that old conundrum. Do you have high taxes and a few companies, or do you drop your taxes right down and have a flood of businesses with banking here?

I'd say it was better to reduce the taxes, have them bank and operate here. They're operating in the UK anyway and not paying any tax at all, or very little.

 

its not price fixing, price fixing is when they tell you what price to sell it at, all they are making you do is list it at the same price across the board, if you want sell it cheaper then remove it from Amazon until you put the price back up, why should amazon advertise your prices differently to your web site?

My point about manufacturers and suppliers, was in relation to selling to Amazon so Amazon can sell direct nothing to do with them (manufacturers and sellers) selling directly to the public.

 

Agreed with TotallySport...

Amazon are under no obligation to list your products, and by delisting them are not reneging on any contract you haven't agreed to.

Think of it this way - what are people getting their backs up over it? Because they used Amazon to get hits on their sites, and then sold through their own, effectively using them as a marketing tool.

Think of it as "never knowingly undersold" if it makes you feel better ;-)