Amazon Buy Box Lawsuit UK, Will sellers be compensated?
If The below legal challenge is succesful, does it not open a door for sellers to sue as they’ve been denied sales by the same process?
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49 replies
Seller_DROodOAYHftnc
I had posted about this the other day, but I doubt there would be any way whatsoever that they could compensate sellers, as it may not have affected every seller, or item of stock - though I do know it is very prevalent in the book category, in fact all BMVD - giving themselves the Buy Box with a supposedly ‘New’ item, listed at the RRP but currently unavailable, for books that were published decades ago ! - no way they would EVER get a new copy.
Seller_qZO3ZCjoBXEeL
Unlikely because there is no advocate group taking legal action on behalf of sellers. Consumers are the ones with established legal protection due to market rules.
Seller_77IcbQKVGdZo0
Firstly Amazon will have to lose this legal challenge which is not certain at all.
I don’t really think it will allow sellers to sue if they have lost sales. It is hard to quantify how many sales a seller lost and hard to prove you would have had the sales even if you had the buy box.
I am one of those sellers who is vastly impacted by the buy box. I have not had the buy box on any of my FBM listings for around 18 months now even though I have a healthy account and no violations for over a year. The amount of sales that I have lost must be in the thousands. Only FBA has saved my business in the last 18 months.
My hopes for this legal action is that I will get a chance to understand why I don’t have the buy box and to get it back. The biggest problem for me is when you lose the buy box Amazon won’t tell you why and there is no form of appeal.
Seller_esvgLzKXw2YAl
If Amazon lose this and it is a big IF, then I can see no way that sellers will compensated.
There is simply no easy way of working out which sellers have been affected.
And even if it does go through, how many sellers are going to be willing to risk losing their account, just to get a bit of compensation?
The only part of this that is actually of interest to me, is clarity on exactly how the buy box works.
With that knowledge, it will make things a lot clearer for sellers.
I think we have all been affected by Amazon hogging the buy box against all sensible logic.
I have one currently, that they have the buy box for, selling an item for less than a pound, but promising 2-3 months delivery. When the same item is available on next day at about £1.50.
Seller_GTQV2zDar8YQQ
Google are still fighting fines they received for diverting search traffic to Google Shopping .
I don’t think anyone got compensated for loss of sales ,will I certainly didn’t anyway .
Seller_LKjg1QRrO36Yq
If Amazon lost the case, how would buyers be compensated?
Will everyone who has ever bought from the buybox be receiving some sort of refund?
I can’t see it ever working in reality.
Most sellers are also buyers so I guess we’d all be in for something in the unlikely result that the courts decide in favour of compensating customers.
I’ve always thought the buybox is a bad idea.
It treats buyers like idiots and its very existence is tantamount to an admission that Amazon’s catalogue and related search engine are not fit for purpose.
Seller_BS5lg2keRs2QO
Amazon may lose, but it will be on a technicality / specific use cases of the buybox rather than the policy in general. In the main that will be where they don’t have stock but keep the buybox.
I haven’t seen Amazon say anywhere that the buybox represents the cheapest possible option. In their explanation to buyers (which i couldn’t find on the retail site but is on their corporate site) they say it represents the offer that should a buyer look at all possible offers it is the one they would be most likely to choose.
I wonder what is the alternative to the buybox? If a seller goes to a product page should they get presented with a simple list of 20+ different sellers and then be expected to choose, or should there still be some level of curation? Which seller gets to be on top of the list, or is it random or does it rotate?
Seller_2Htw9xCla3oOQ
what a time wasting news and investigation. Of course nothing will come out of this. Amazon owns the marketplace, and we have to abide by its regulations and rules…
Seller_xUKHc5xSYJmI4
The way I read the information suggests that third-party sellers compete on price and Amazon has the buy it box regardless of what price the product is sold at, meaning consumers maybe paying more?. Also other competing seller information maybe hidden from the window so some consumers may not look cheaper options buy looking to purchase and select the higher price product. Self-preferencing is another topic which is often made reference to. Another interesting read on competition law. Just like if you use the buy shipping you are protected against A-Z claims but if you don’t you are not protected.
Seller_sFEUMUfeW5484
I couldn’t ignore this one. This has been a long time coming. And I think the key thing that will annoy Amazon the most is having to disclose how/why/what/when they use seller data and apply that to their BB algo.
Will be watching this one with interest.
(I’m still here by the way… )