The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Advertising Amazon

Amazon to pay $1.1m fine over Canadian pricing practices

Author

By Natalie Mortimer, N/A

January 14, 2017 | 2 min read

Amazon has agreed to pay a $1.1m fine after Canada's Competition Bureau found the ecommerce giant had created the impression prices for items on its site were lower than market prices.

Amazon Canada

Amazon to pay $1.1m fine over Canadian pricing practices

Amazon will pay a $1m penalty and $100,000 towards the Competition Bureau’s costs as part of an agreement resolving the Bureau’s concerns with the online retailer’s pricing practices on its Canadian website.

The Bureau said that Amazon often compared its prices to a regular price—or "list price"—signaling attractive savings for consumers.

In a statement it said: "The Bureau determined that Amazon relied on its suppliers to provide list prices without verifying that those prices were accurate. The savings claims were advertised on amazon.ca, in Amazon mobile applications, in other online advertisements, as well as in emails sent to customers.

"Amazon has already made changes to the way it advertises list prices on its Canadian website to accurately represent the savings available to consumers. The policies put in place by Amazon have had an effect beyond the Canadian website, including on savings claims for products sold on www.amazon.com."

Advertising Amazon

More from Advertising

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +