FTC files “the big one,” a lawsuit alleging Amazon illegally maintains monopoly::FTC: Amazon “extracts enormous monopoly rents from everyone within its reach.”

  • Pxtl
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1442 years ago

    I can’t help but notice Amazon is facing a big lawsuit over hurting other corporations.

    Selling an infinite catalogue of shoddy, fraudulent, and outright dangerous goods like leaden toys, phone-melting power-equipment, house-destroying incendiary batteries, and data-erasing empty data storage? No, that’s fine, that’s not Amazon’s fault, that was XZBBK’s fault. We kicked them off the store. No, I don’t think they’re related to that new company XBZZK, why would you say that? They sell legitimate USB cables that according to the listing used to be cutting board, a drying rack, a canopy for a kids bed, and an espresso machine.

    • @chiliedogg@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      312 years ago

      It’s worse than that.

      They DON’T kick bad actors off the store most of the time because they don’t know who they are.

      Amazon keeps all of product X in one place in each distribution center, regardless of the supplier. So they can’t know which of the 35 sellers of the product is supplying the counterfeits.

      I don’t buy batteries from them anymore. I’m pretty sure 90+% of 18650 cells they have are counterfeit.

    • dditty
      link
      fedilink
      English
      102 years ago

      The gall to question their listing with an average customer rating of 4.9/5 stars. Sure I only gave them that rating so I could qualify for the warranty on the 3 TB flash drive I bought from them for $8.99, but I’m sure it’ll work fine once I use it for the first time.

    • @uis@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      52 years ago

      Amazon isn’t sued for not kicking bad actors, it is sued for being bad actor

  • @WilliamTheWicked@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    102
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    …can we just skip to the part where Amazon pays less than a fractional percent of their profit in fines and then proceeds with business as usual? I just feel like the charade has grown tiresome at this point.

    • @chonglibloodsport@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      652 years ago

      You must’ve missed the part where Lina Khan built her entire career and reputation on an article she wrote for the Yale Law Journal as a law student arguing that Amazon should be split into separate companies and prevented from re-integrating.

      She is considered a radical within the antitrust law world. She is vigorously opposed to vertically integrated monopolies of which Amazon is a star example. This case against Amazon is basically the final boss of her career and her legal movement, the New Brandeis Movement.

    • @WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      6
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Ah well, better not try then. Guess we just have to learn to like the taste of corporate boot.

      Maybe some more wanking about some glorious revolution that will never happen will make that boot taste better.

    • @Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      52 years ago

      I feel the exact same way with celebrities or the uber wealthy and criminal trials. Just skip to the part where they pay .000000001% of their net worth n fines or bail or whatever and get off scot free.

    • @nucleative@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      342 years ago

      Amazon and Walmart have just outright won the game. Everyone else in those spaces, and adjacent spaces, just can’t compete anymore. You either do business with them or die/live on the leftover scraps.

      It’s really not good, there should be more opportunities for others.

    • @elephantium@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      32 years ago

      banks

      Not a monopoly though?

      cable companies

      Agreed on this one! In theory, there are lots of cable companies.

      In practice, you actually only have one cable provider that provides service in your area.

      health care

      Also not a monopoly in my area.

      Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to defend any of the abusive practices of any of these industries. It’s just that they’re not monopolies.

      • @jackalope@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        22 years ago

        Monopoly as used by professional economists doesn’t refer to a literal 100% marketshare. It refers to distortion.

  • @protovack@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    182 years ago

    i hate amazon as much as anyone, but…really, just cancel prime and dont use them unless you absolutely have to. Order direct from companies themselves if you can. Shop local. You can’t rely on the FTC to do anything and i doubt this will go anywhere. you are much more powerful than you think you are.

      • @dirtySourdough@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        152 years ago

        I had this happen to me on eBay as well. I paid a few extra bucks to avoid buying from Amazon and instead got the item mailed to me directly from Amazon. This is against eBay’s policies (you need to have the described item on hand) and may be against Etsy’s policies too

    • @cm0002@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -22 years ago

      No thanks, I don’t feel like going back to waiting a week for my package, 4 hour to next day delivery is just too nice

      • @protovack@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        72 years ago

        fair enough. i found that it was mostly a scam. they hook you in with “free” prime in college, then it just keeps re-billing forever until you finally realize “do i really need this package in 1 day as opposed to 3-4?” in my case, i virtually never need something instantly. so why pay the $170? its clearly very profitable for them, judging by how desperately they try to get me to re-sign up.

  • @Smoogs@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    92 years ago

    Well it’s a shame a company can’t keep benefitting the customers. Seems the capitalist business plan always has to go through a morph of fucking over everyone.

  • Marxism-Fennekinism
    link
    fedilink
    English
    72 years ago

    Will not go anywhere because Amazon and other gigacirporations basically own the US govt at this point.

  • Fubber Nuckin'
    link
    fedilink
    English
    32 years ago

    I’m all for Amazon getting sued but… the big one? Wasn’t there another “big one” a week or two ago? And who called it that? Feels like the reporters just made that part up.