According to the Guardian, Unite, the largest trade union in the UK, has recently filed a formal competition lawsuit against Amazon. It is reported that Unite accused Amazon of "abusing its monopoly position" and "raising prices" on popular products such as hand sanitizers and masks during the epidemic to profit from it. At the same time, it also called on the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate it.

According to Unite , the prices of some necessities people bought during this period have skyrocketed! For example, the price of Carex hand sanitizer for £1 has skyrocketed to £26.41, a 2,641% increase in price. A pack of 50 medical surgical masks has also soared from £36 to £170.

Unite pointed out that Amazon is not a neutral platform that has no opinion on the behavior of sellers, but is "closely involved in product pricing, delivery and product promotion" . Therefore, the reason why sellers are able to sell their products to customers at high prices is still due to Amazon's online platform, system, sales and logistics .

Coincidentally, in early July, Amazon also encountered a class action lawsuit for the same reason in its home base, the United States.

In response to these accusations, Amazon said there was no price gouging! Prices were set by third-party sellers. It had previously taken measures to prevent exploitative pricing and remove product listings, but ultimately failed to stop those sellers.

Amazon's response makes us wonder why Amazon has been suppressing sellers recently - to shift the pressure. Faced with pressure from government departments and trade unions, Amazon has no choice but to shift the pressure to sellers, and has hit many sellers who violated regulations.

After the fake reviews were exposed, Amazon was forced to take action against the big sellers on its internal platform under external pressure, and banned many of them. Facing accusations of price gouging, Amazon also took action against some sellers, either deleting their listings or banning their accounts.

As the most vulnerable group, the sellers' experiences are sympathetic. But at the same time, these cases also remind all sellers to operate in compliance and legally.

Seller

Amazon

price