Friday, June 04, 2010

Online booksellers protest at Amazon 'price parity' move

03.06.10 | Philip Jones in The Bookseller

The Independent Online Booksellers Association has sent a letter to government authorities in the UK, France, Germany and the European Union, including the UK's OFT, protesting at Amazon "Price Parity Policy" labeling it "dangerously anti‐competitive".

The policy, introduced earlier this year by Amazon, insists that booksellers who sell books on its Marketplace site cannot offer them more cheaply elsewhere online. It prevents independent booksellers from price promoting on their own site, unless those prices are matched on Amazon.

The IOBA said the scheme was an "anti‐competitive measure by the dominant online marketplace for new and used books designed to undermine smaller competitor websites and even independent booksellers’ own websites". The IOBA said it was particularly damaging since the costs for booksellers sellng via Amazon were greater than selling off their own or other rival sites and that these costs could now not be reflected in the price.
More at The Bookseller.

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