The Federal Trade Commission reportedly is looking into Amazon’s discount policy after a Consumer Watchdog complaint.
The US Federal Trade Commission is investigating charges that Amazon’s pricing policy is misleading customers, according to a report by Reuters. That follows from a complaint by the Consumer Watchdog group, which examined 1,000 products being sold at a discount on the online retailer’s site in June.
Consumer Watchdog found that Amazon’s reference prices, which were found on roughly 46 percent of the products, were listed higher during the sale than in the 90 days leading up to it — making customers think they’re getting a better deal than they actually are. These results prompted a letter to the FTC on July 6, urging the agency to investigate Amazon’s discount policy, Reuters said.
That dovetails with an examination of Amazon’s plans to purchase the health food grocery chain Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, announced in June. Consumer Watchdog has urged the FTC to prevent the sale as long as Amazon’s “deceptive” pricing discounts continue. Amazon said the advocacy group’s results were “deeply flawed,” according to Reuters.
Neither Amazon nor the FTC immediately responded to a request for comment.
