HN Reader

The next class action needs to address the anticompetitive procedure of artificially protecting shit products by deleting critical customer reviews.

In my Prime account, 90 percent of my reviews are positive, but because I've left several scathing, unapologetic negative reviews for products that shouldn't exist, all my reviews are now placed in eternal limbo. None of my reviews ever actually post.

For the reviews that posted, three months later when the product stops working, Amazon prohibits me from updating the original review. The FTC is well aware of this too.

Keep this in mind when evaluating a product using reviews as a metric. And further note the egregious usurpation of the review content search function being replaced by Rufus, the world's foremost most worthless heap of artificially generated product deception.

Amazon is indefensibly sinister.

> Amazon argued that the class was too large to be manageable

Sorry, we've wronged too many people to be held accountable! What a wild argument.

Very excited for my impending choice between a 30-day extension to my Prime membership or a $5 off of $50 coupon for anything in the Prime Fresh store.

...after 5 years of lawfare and gozillions spent, of course. :/

> The consumers’ 2021 lawsuit said Amazon violated antitrust law by restricting third-party sellers from offering their products for lower prices elsewhere on rival platforms while they are also for sale on Amazon.

I've noticed that third-party sellers generally get around this by having the same list price on their own site, but basically offering everyone a coupon for 15-30% off. Not just for signing up for e-mails, but spinning a wheel that pops up a discount, items that are on sale 95% of the time, etc.

So while this may very well be anticompetitive of Amazon, at the same time it's generally something savvy sellers and savvy consumers have been able to get around easily for a long time.

> Amazon argued, that the class was too large to be manageable

LOL, they literally have a giant data center at their disposal and some of the best automation geniuses in the world.

> The consumers’ 2021 lawsuit said Amazon violated antitrust law by restricting third-party sellers from offering their products for lower prices elsewhere on rival platforms while they are also for sale on Amazon.

Holy shit, do Valve next! They do the exact same thing.

Interesting to see this moving forward in the new administration. I guess spiking the WaPo Harris endorsement wasn't quite enough to get Bezos out of the crosshairs.

It’s quite awful that the best this country can do at "enforcing" antitrust violations is through class action lawsuits.

The only people that benefit here are the lawyers on both sides.

I hope they get hard. They've been getting away with intense anti-competitive practices for nearly 2 decades

So what are we all looking at? $100 a piece? Lol "Have you used Amazon from the years x to y?" If it covers 2020 thats basically most Americans.

aaaw hell yeah

Can't wait till Amazon is hit with a class action on showing ads on my Echo Show that I can't disable anymore.