California Attorney General Rob Bonta last night filed a request for a preliminary injunction in California’s existing case against Amazon for price fixing. Attorney General Bonta’s 2022 lawsuit alleged that the company stifled competition and caused increased prices across California through its anticompetitive policies in order to avoid competing on price with other retailers. New evidence paints a clearer and more shocking picture. The motion for a preliminary injunction comes after a robust discovery process where California uncovered evidence of countless interactions in which Amazon, vendors, and Amazon’s competitors agree to increase and fix the prices of products on other retail websites to bolster Amazon’s profits. Time and again, across years and product categories, Amazon has reached out to its vendors and instructed them to increase retail prices on competitors’ websites, threatening dire consequences if vendors do not comply. Vendors, bullied by Amazon’s overwhelming bargaining leverage and fearing punishment, comply — agreeing to raise prices on competitors’ websites (often with the awareness and cooperation of the competing retailer), or to remove products from competing websites altogether. Amazon’s goal is to insulate itself from price competition by preventing lower retail prices in the market at the expense of American consumers who are already struggling with a crisis of affordability.
- 2 months
There was a time when Amazon was not full of scummy rip-off products, when it was not playing games with prices, when it was not a cloud-computing powerhouse, and you know what happened?
That’s right, they crushed their adversaries (retail shopping) and earned billions in profits. They won.
But somehow that’s not enough winning, there isn’t enough winning until all the value has been vacuumed up from the world.
- 2 months
Bezos explicitly undercut the competition for years to drive all of the competition out of business. Amazon took as much time from 1997-2016 to make as much profit as they did in 2017, which is also (not) coincidentally when they hit peak market saturation and were able to start raising their prices.
So what you’re talking about was real, but it wasn’t like, “back when Amazon was good”, they were just preparing for what they are now. Having a huge monopoly on just about everything has always been their win condition, and they’re no where near done winning.
- octobob@lemmy.mlEnglish2 months
Yeah. It’s the same thing Uber did with pushing cab services out of business.
Not only that, but AWS is the real money maker for them. Not that retail and gaming and prime and whatever don’t also make boat loads of cash, but it doesn’t even graze AWS. The scale of these data centers is unreal and most of the internet runs on AWS.
I’m an industrial electrician with background on what they’re ordering and installing in terms of control panels and if you saw the weekly shipments it’d make you sick. And we’re only one supplier, they have others.
- Sineljora@sh.itjust.worksEnglish2 months
I think it’s worse because Bezos (ex-wallstreet) had his buddies at Bain Capital short-and-distort competing companies into bankruptcy, which has the added bonus of clearing the tax burden from the gains on those shorts.
2 monthsAnd that is why I no longer buy anything from them. I’m just embarrassed it took me as long as it did to realize what they were really doing.
- floofloof@lemmy.caEnglish2 months
The frustrating thing is we can’t boycott AWS since so many of the sites we use run on it. But yes, we absolutely shouldn’t buy things through Amazon or any of the other web stores Amazon owns.
- frunch@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
we absolutely shouldn’t buy things through Amazon or any of the other web stores Amazon owns.
I try to use eBay as an alternative, though i find every 3-4 orders i place there, i get one in an Amazon box that by all rights appears to have been shipped by Amazon. I swear people are drop-shipping stuff from Amazon to their eBay buyers.
- 2 months
They are. If it has free returns and thousands of feedback it’s probably a drop shipper. Return it and use the eBay label it ends up costing them money.
- SolarMonkey@slrpnk.netEnglish2 months
They are doing exactly that for a sometimes hefty markup. I got something like that with a gift receipt, so ultra lazy, looked up the item and it was $11 cheaper. Like that totally defeats the purpose of going elsewhere.
I reported the seller then returned it.
- 2 months
I have often wondered whether targeted internet boycott days would shake up AWS, but I don’t know enough about their billing structure to run the numbers to see how much that would dig into AWS profits + how much of their income is flat subscription fees vs. billing on number of calls and haven’t had a chance to dig into it yet.
- Holytimes@sh.itjust.worksEnglish2 months
You would basically have to convince a few hundred million people to not use the internet for months at a time with out a single percentage of them breaking the boycott to actually even start to hit aws.
Countless things have to start failing before aws even starts to feel it since it’s not a consumer product. You basically have the drive all the companies using it to near bankruptcy so they can’t afford to pay for aws anymore.
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish1 month
The government, use the government. It’s our last chance to use the government to regulate corporations before they become the government
- 1 month
I am a big believer in regulation, and some governments right now are in a position where they can be pressured to take anti-monopoly action against Amazon, which I want very much to see. Being in the U.S. as I am right now, though… There are some state governments I would like to see act (and shout-out to California for doing so here), but I am also brainstorming other nonviolent disruptive action which could be taken, because the federal government right now is actual fascists and Amazon is in league with them.
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish1 month
I was hoping last years shenanigans would have pushed Europe away from our tech companies. I don’t see much hope unless we can elect a new Congress that is willing to do Monopoly busting across the board.
- H3ckler26@lemmy.orgEnglish23 days
Yep. Canceled my shit, deleted all the apps, I’ll buy from someone else. Life was just fine before Amazon and will continue to be fine without them.
- NannerBanner@literature.cafeEnglish2 months
Walmart didn’t even touch amazon on this. There were articles for years about how mind boggling (and the articles were praising, not even critical of) it was that amazon’s investors were content to let bezos run amazon on a net zero or even negative profit model. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of walmart not pulling a profit.
- LincolnsDogFido@lemmy.zipEnglish2 months
You can’t really compare online book retailer Amazon to global online marketplace Amazon. Your underlying point is still mostly correct, but I would exclude the years that they were primarily focused on books. From my lived memory they didn’t really become the online retail juggernaut until a few years after the launch of Prime. Free shipping turned them into what it is today. So maybe the best comparison would be from like 2006-2016? Or maybe I’m wrong and the distinction isn’t necessary. Idk. I’m just trying to foster conversation
- LincolnsDogFido@lemmy.zipEnglish2 months
That’s what’s crazy to me, they survived the dot com crash and were so diversified that I have no idea how they stayed afloat. I would think that all of the combined expenses across all of their ventures without a true cash cow would sink them. Instead they survived and became the trash heap of consumer rights violations that they are.
- 2 months
The reason Amazon survived is because they WEREN’T running a dozen different ventures. They were an online bookstore and people kept buying books. Amazon benefited from the crash because that was when they started buying up servers to build AWS. Prime was just free 2 day shipping on books when it launched.
Ehhh not really. They operated at massive losses for a decade or more to eliminate the competition while growing their customer base. This is simply stage 1 of enshittification. You can only do this if you’re unbelievably filthy fucking rich. Then at some point they needed to cash out on all the good will and reputation they developed and that brings us to the shithole economy of today where people are simply too lazy to shop anywhere else.
- 2 months
The other commenters here are right about Amazon’s initial methods, but I’m also going to highly recommend Cory Doctorow’s Enshittification for a detailed explanation of how this happens (including a breakdown on Amazon specifically) and what to do about it.
- Entropy_Pyre@lemmy.caEnglish2 months
To quote a favorite singer of mine,
You could fill a man with gold, and still have room for greed.
- FiskFisk33@startrek.websiteEnglish2 months
It’s easy to crush the competition when you purposely take a loss as an investment in future market share.
- 2 months
Just wait until they get BLASTED in a strongly worded email.
- JcbAzPx@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
Well, it’s California’s attorney general, so better than even chance for actual punishment.
- slaacaa@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
Bezos was a Senior VP by the age of 30, working for D.E. Shaw, and was a rumored heir for taking over the business after he retires. Bezos would have made billions and managed a major hedge fund. Set for life.
But that was not enough for him, he wanted to hoard hundreds of billions of wealth instead, so here we are. How perfectly healthy and in no way a mental illness.
- Telorand@reddthat.comEnglish2 months
It was not. Poe’s Law.
They’re a complete stranger, and there are actual people who unironically say stuff like that, even on the Fediverse.
- Jhex@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
- db2@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
When you’re not sure check their overview. That one was obviously sarcasm.
Yourself though, you’re angry and reactionary so it tracks.
- floofloof@lemmy.caEnglish2 months
Their post history reveals them to be kind of a jerk. If it was an attempt at sarcasm it was a poor one.
- 2 months
- Grass@sh.itjust.worksEnglish2 months
oh I just cant wait for the highest profile minor slap on the wrist of the century!
- jali67@lemmy.zipEnglish2 months
Yeah don’t worry. They’ll get a small fine and will appeal and drag it out for years
- 2 months
I could see them threatening something absurd like no longer shipping to California.
- Redacted@lemmy.zipEnglish2 months
Dont worry guys well give one of the richest men in the world a 100k fine!
If America was a serious country they would break up Amazon for this AND arrest Bezos and send him to a random Supermax for corporate blackmail, mass fraud, and unfair competition. But I fear they never were.
- 2 months
America was bought by the corpos a long time ago.
- sakuraba@lemmy.mlEnglish2 months
it has always been about cheap labor that’s for sure, the united stated was built by slaves, that’s why they love dubai so much
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a stain on America and a threat to all of us now.
I’m being hyperbolic, but I do think every CEO of every company in America worth hundreds of billions should be arrested, have their companies broken up, and said CEOs sent to Supermax prisons for mass fraud.
- 2 months
A nitpick, but America won’t have Gitmo in that scenario tho. Displacing american people to random countries now is deeply rooted in the premise it’s okay to have a torture camp franchized over to places out of everyone’s sight. It wasn’t okay before and it’s not now, and serious country with some sense and a accountability would not employ such tactic.
- 2 months
If you did want to nitpick Bezos hasn’t run Amazon since 2021, so we’d have to check when they were being accused of doing so.
5 years on and most of us think Bezos everytime we hear Amazon still
- MortUS@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
I mean, how can we be so sure Bezos doesn’t still have influence over Amazon? He sure owns a lot of stocks in it for obvious reasons. He’s bought the Washington Post to spread propaganda. He’s set up Blue Origin to get government contracts. I’ve no reason to believe that he’s not apart of the Amazon problem and their influence over American Markets.
Something about one big club.
- 2 months
He certainly has an influence - he’s still the chairman of the board. He gets to decide who gets fired and when. In some ways, he found a way to have more influence, while being less hands-on.
- 2 months
Holy shit guys! S-so, if you have a monopoly, it’s like, you can do whatever the fuck you want? So it’s like in THE FUCKING GAME OF MONOPOLY? Jee, we are learning something new every day
- tburkhol@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
In the game, you have to improve your properties to charge more rent. In reality, the monopoly can reduce quality and raise price at the same time.
- Zorque@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
You dont really improve it, just added more units. Its about volume, not quality.
- Mora@pawb.socialEnglish2 months
Which is also a pretty good tactic in Monopoly: try to buy as many houses as possible, but do not upgrade to hotels - exhaust the housing market- that way the other players cannot upgrade either
- 2 months
Considering the origin is “Jesus”, “Jee” is technically closer spelling than “Gee”. Not that I have a dog in this race.
- 2 months
Thanks bro, gee is what I was going for, kisses from Eastern Europe, or, as we call it, Gesus land
- 2 months
Well, your English is much better than my Eastern European. :) No clue you weren’t a native English speaker, so there’s that <3
- jaybone@lemmy.zipEnglish2 months
Was going to add “Gee Whiz” which comes before that one? Like it got shorter, then it got longer again?
- idiomaddict@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
It’s like nicknames. First it’s Joseph, then Joe, then Napoleon Jonaparte.
- 2 months
Oh, I thought that was the… just… regulat step. hehe.
I guess for some sort of vaguely-serious discussion[1], without doing any research, I think Jesus / Jesus Christ has stably evolved to Gee, with some variants like Gee Whiz being pretty common. I think Gee Willikers was more common around the TV Batman era and so now it’s less said straight and more said ironically. heh. I can’t think of any other common “Gee [something]”… maybe “Geezie Kreezie”, but I’ve only heard that from Suzy[2] Izzard, so not sure if that’s common or not. lol
It definitely got short; I wonder if we’d count a second word as it getting longer, or a second word replacing “Christ”. These are the types of inconsequential discussions I love. :)
- crunchy@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish2 months
In the game, even if you’ve built yourself up, an unlucky roll can still lose you the game. As opposed to real life, where the government decides you’re too big to fail.
- frongt@lemmy.zipEnglish2 months
That’s why you’ve got to get chummy with the banker and promise them a cut, and also that you’ll give them some of your cookies after the game.
- Monument@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish2 months
Can openers is what did it for me.
In 2015 I needed a new manual can opener. The local big-box stores had two basic styles. A cheap, all metal one that was just stamped from a single sheet, and a more expensive one with better handles.
The more expensive one had previously rusted and began to look nasty within a few years.
Amazon had a bunch of different styles at less than the price point of the more expensive one.I bought one. It was fine. I didn’t love the operation. It cut the whole top off from the side, rather than from the top in a downwards cut. The sharp edges were on the can rather than on the lid. It would catch the paper labels and sometimes wad them up into the can while you cut. Cans with no air space would leak when opened.
Anyway. Replaced it in 2019. Amazon still had a broad selection, but all except for obvious crap was as expensive as the local big box store’s expensive option. Wound up going to a smaller local(ish) bulk foods store and bought a cheapo restaurant one for less than Amazon’s/the big box store’s similar offerings. Minimal rusting to date.
- _stranger_@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
I had a similar experience with a juicer. The hand ones kept breaking so I bought a rack and pinion beast from a restaurant supply company that will be inherited by my grand kids.
It cost me less than half of what Amazon wanted, and it wasn’t cheap
- NannerBanner@literature.cafeEnglish2 months
I bought one. It was fine. I didn’t love the operation. It cut the whole top off from the side, rather than from the top in a downwards cut. The sharp edges were on the can rather than on the lid. It would catch the paper labels and sometimes wad them up into the can while you cut. Cans with no air space would leak when opened.
That sounds like a really shitty one, actually. The can openers that operate on the side of the can should uncrimp the top, not actually cut into the can.
- Monument@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish2 months
Very probable. I was also not the most economically secure back then. I was trying to save money on a $20 can opener!
I had experiences like this one a lot. Most of the time what you get in Amazon cheap ist trash. All the good stuff isn’t much cheaper most of the time, 35€ instead of 40€ sounds legit. For me at least (worker, 2 Kids, most def. not rich) this ist not enough to buy from the devil thats kills all thats is good
- chaotic_ugly@lemmy.zipEnglish2 months
As far as distractions from the Epstein Files go, this is an exciting one.
- 2 months
Can’t wait for them to be fined one penny for every $20B made.
- 2 months
I cannot express enough how angry I am that people still use amazon. Major cringe when friends tell me all the shit they buy on there. I used it 10 years ago a couple times, never once since then. Its shit, slave labor, and enriches billionaires. No one forces you to use it.
- Echolynx@lemmy.zipEnglish2 months
Unfortunately, they are a master at driving local businesses out of money. Buying a certain pet food at my local retailer (a franchisee) would be about $30. On Amazon, it’s $25 (and sometimes even $15-20, if you do the subscription discount). At the local store, I’d have to pay more and drag the stuff home on my own feet.
- turmacar@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
It’s the Walmart model. A lot of the frustration is that it’s a systemic problem where individuals are incentivized against their best interests and the best interests of their communities.
Because shareholders. The Line, must go up.
Thankfully (/s) Amazon has enough money that it’s cheaper to bribe politicians than provide a better product. So systemic solutions are that much more difficult.
- dejova281@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
It’s cringe because it’s affordable and convenient? Whenever I buy something from there I always price compare online and it’s the cheapest hands-down. Some people don’t have the luxury of constantly considering geopolitics and large-scale repercussions when they’re just simply trying to get by.
- Soup@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
It super depends on what you’re buying. Personally, I just go without in order to avoid them. The only things I ever buy from Amazon are things I cannot find anywhere else that I need to have, such as water filters for the lead pipes in Montréal.
We don’t have the luxury to ignore how bad Amazon is. Amazon is aware of this and does everything it can to force you to buy from them by under cutting other businesses until competition dries up. Every time I can buy something for a little bit more and skip Amazon that’s a huge a win for everyone from the original supplier, the more local store selling it, and the working class in general.
Edit: Reading and writing more comments, I’m gunna find a way to get those filters from elsewhere even if they cost a bunch more.
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
No bro water filters from Amazon are unethical, please expose yourself to lead because some guy on lemmy is virtue signaling /s
- Soup@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
I cannot tell what side of the argument you’re trying to be on here, gunna be real hokest with ya.
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
I mean what I said. I also buy water filters from Amazon because I suck water straight from the ground. Some times the water is yellow and needs to be filtered.
- Soup@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
Did you miss the part where I said I’d be looking for filters elsewhere even if they cost a bunch more?
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
I think personal safety is more important than virtue signaling. You should have used your political power to regulate it before it became a critical service in communities. I hate Amazon, yet I am dependent on it. I come from the side of nuance. You want to handle Amazon you monopoly bust it. Boycotting won’t help.
- Soup@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
I have always voted progressive, never even centrist. I live in Canada, also, but yea I don’t actually make the rules but the people I vote for to make said rules don’t like Amazon either.
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish1 month
That’s my only point it doesn’t matter if there’s a group of consumers boycotting them if the government doesn’t listen to those constituents. Amazon is a political problem not a consumer problem.
- 2 months
Sure, but there’s many people who are wealthy enough to make the choice and still use amazon because they dont know any better. And this is what happens.
- dejova281@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
Understandable, perhaps one day I’ll be in that boat myself. Amazon has pissed me off in a few ways and I’m definitely looking for alternatives. Regardless of where I shop, I feel like my money is still going into the same greedy pockets unless it’s a local brick and mortar store.
- 2 months
Its true, but perfect is the enemy of good. If 10,000 people quit using amazon right now, that’s a huge difference. And millions of people use it.
- 2 months
“some people don’t have the luxury of considering whether their product is made from death camp body parts when they’re just simply trying to get by”
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
Jesus H Fucking Christ. How about electing a government that will regulate Amazon instead of comparing poor people who need consumer goods to nazis. This is some tankie ass behavior
- 2 months
You missed the point completely, so I’ll lay it out for you: Everyone has to draw a line SOMEWHERE. And when a country whose government sends fascist death squads into the streets is supported by a company, there’s a fuckton of lines to be drawn.
There’s ZERO excuse for doing business with amazon. No one is starving because they can’t shop there. So GTFO with your lazy ass morally corrupt exuses.
- 2 months
Yeah, these people saying they NEED amazon probably didn’t live in ye olden days without internet. We survived then, you can survive now.
There’s thousands if not millions of sellers all over the internet. People are lazy/dumb and just want to 1 click buy and are scared to go anywhere but amazon.
- 2 months
And then have the nerve to argue on behalf of “poor people” most of whom probably don’t have any spare money to buy convenience products on amazon.
- 2 months
I mean Walmart wiped out every other store so that’s usually where “poor” people have to go, especially in small towns. Amazon is doing it on a much larger scale.
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
Now that we have a dictator I find it hilarious you’re trying to do the steps from before we have a dictator. It’s too late for boycotts and protests and voting. You missed your chance for that 10 years ago. Amazon’s got cheap body armor.
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
Great reason to business with Amazon. Armor plates and carrier. Gun mods. These are real expressions of political will. Enjoy your boycott. Glad you’re privileged enough to have money and options on places to purchase consumer goods. Super happy for you. Very righteous.
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
Sorry bub I’ve got plants to feed. Don’t worry my neighbor is going to genocide us no matter where we buy water filters from.
- Darcranium@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
Once all the competitors are gone, they will increase the prices to absurd, heartless levels
- 2 months
Its always the plan. Walmart. Discord. They all do the exact same thing. Which is why we must resist.
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
Feel free to provide goods to my rural community any time! You can’t believe that poor people have budget consideration and seek the cheapest product?
- 2 months
Use eBay or literally any other site. What is so specific to amazon that you need ? Amazon isn’t even cheaper in many cases if you actually search.
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
eBay’s just as fucking bad? They monopolized your post office pricing and fix prices on their market place, they manipulate visibility and charge more for promotions. It’s the same scam with a different name lmao
- 2 months
Well, if you wanna say that, all stores are bad, capitalism is evil, stop buying things and go live in a cave 😁
There is not one store out there that’s not evil, because capitalism relies on exploiting the poor and weak and less intelligent. That’s how it is. Unless you go live off grid in Alaska but guess what you’ll still have to import products made with slave labor.
Again, Lemmy being angry because we aren’t perfect. Using eBay or a small store instead of amazon is astronomically better than buying your funko pop collection on amazon.
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish1 month
Amazon hosts small stores too. Most small stores exist on both. They also host half the internet and government contracts so they don’t care if you use eBay. Your tax dollars use Amazon. Their beyond your reach as a consumer but not an educated citizen
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
Amazon is cheaper than eBay on every item I’ve looked at in the last 6 months. eBay has robbed me a few times in the last 6 months. What a wild ass suggestion.
- 2 months
Huh, bad luck. I’ve been using eBay for 20 years with maybe 2 issues and they’ve always been resolved.
- TronBronson@lemmy.worldEnglish1 month
Companies like Amazon and eBay exist to leverage to post office and their platform for profit. They both do the same thing to the same people.
- toddestan@lemmy.worldEnglish2 months
I avoid Amazon as much as possible, though on occasion I’ve more or less had no other reasonable choice. But that’s happened something like 4 times in the last 10 years or so.
The big problem with boycotting Amazon is that while it’s easy enough to avoid buying from their online store as much as possible, AWS (Amazon Web Services) is pretty much unavoidable if you’re using the modern internet.
- 2 months
True, but its a start! We win not by everything at once. Small steps.
- BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.todayEnglish2 months
Yeah, that’s what the Health Care CEOs assassin was doing, just a minor self-correction in the Free Market. That CEO’s policies pissed off a customer bad enough that the customer eliminated the problem, and that company, and every other health care company, loosened up their denials significantly as a result.
That’s the Free Market working the way it’s supposed to. That assassin should be celebrated for working within the system to balance the market.
It wasn’t Luigi though.
