Amazon quietly ends controversial pricing agreements with sellers
Amazon will no longer require its third-party sellers to price their products lower than on other competing websites
It quietly eliminated a clause in its contracts that critics have called anti-competitive.
Price parity agreements, or most-favored nations clauses (MFNs), were formerly used by Amazon in contracts with third-party sellers to ensure that people selling products on the platform did not sell the same products for cheaper on any other platform like eBay or Alibaba, reports The Verge.
Amazon declined to comment.
A few years ago, regulators in Germany and Great Britain investigated this practice and it was dropped in Europe. The threat of regulation or impending investigations might be at fault for causing Amazon to drop MFNs in the United States as well. Last December, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) penned letters to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission demanding an investigation into these anti-competitive provisions in Amazon’s contracts.
“Amazon’s wise and welcome decision comes only after aggressive advocacy and attention that compelled Amazon to abandon its abusive contract clause,” Blumenthal said Monday. “I remain deeply troubled that federal regulators responsible for cracking down on anti-competitive practices seem asleep at the wheel, at great cost to American innovation and consumers.”
Last week, presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) rolled out a sweeping proposal to break up big tech companies like Apple, Amazon and Google, and announced that it would be one of her top priorities as president, reports TechSpot.
More Amazon news
Amazon has launched a Brand Referral Bonus program
Amazon entices brands to drive more traffic to their listings with Brand Referral Bonus program Amazon has launched a Brand Referral Bonus program to reward brands for driving sales on its marketplace. It gives participating brands an average 10% credit on sales...
Boost repeat purchase rate of your Private Label product with QR-codes
Qr-code as an instrument to promote Private Label product sales Repeat purchase rate is of utmost importance in e-commerce. Startup Batch comes with a simple yet effective solution: using QR-code on a product to promote sales. Batch has raised $5 million in seed...
Facebook publishes new report on the evolution of eCommerce
Facebook report: mobile is quickly becoming the main shopping tool Facebook has published a new report which looks at how consumer habits have changed as a result of the pandemic, and the key trends that are driving the big shifts in how people find and purchase...
