If you want to operate in compliance, you must not cross these red lines!

Data shows that 82% of consumers consider price as an important factor in purchasing products on Amazon. It can be said that product pricing will directly affect the sales of the seller's store. Therefore, in order to gain sales, many sellers will try to lower the price.

However, in the face of fierce market competition, a few sellers have ulterior motives and have joined forces to control the prices of certain categories in order to achieve profits. However, the truth will eventually come to light , and these behaviors have been discovered by regulatory authorities.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice's official website released a notice stating that two people and four companies were prosecuted for manipulating the prices of DVD and Blu-ray discs on Amazon.

According to the indictment , the price manipulation conspiracy lasted from at least October 2016 to October 29, 2019. It is reported that in order to implement this conspiracy, the three sellers communicated with each other through emails, text messages and phone calls, discussed the prices of DVDs and Blu-rays in various parts of the United States, and finally agreed to set a fixed floor price for the product to suppress market competition, and monitored each other to ensure compliance with the agreed price.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Tennessee noted that this harms consumers. The Assistant Attorney General of the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Division stated, “This indictment demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to protecting American consumers from unfair prices in all areas of the marketplace.”

In fact, in January this year, the U.S. Department of Justice also accused three men of manipulating the prices of DVDs and Blu-ray discs through Amazon. It is understood that this price manipulation conspiracy started at least in November 2017 and lasted until October 29, 2019. According to the announcement on the official website of the Ministry of Justice, one of the sellers who pleaded guilty was sentenced on January 7, 2022, and the other three are scheduled to be sentenced on September 30, 2022.

In fact, for DVDs, in addition to price manipulation issues, the most common problem is piracy. In 2020, the second largest Amazon German seller was "banned" by Amazon for allegedly selling pirated DVDs.

Compliance

Management