ProPublica Accuses Amazon

According to the latest investigation report by ProPublica, Amazon is using its algorithm to push forward those products that benefit Amazon more and is charging their customers more than the minimum purchase price.

The Investigation Looked at….

250 of the top selling products over a course of several weeks. Remember that “buy-box” that pops up whenever you open Amazon?

The investigation looked at 250 frequently purchased products over several weeks to see which ones were chosen to appear in the highly-prized “buy box” that pops up first as a suggested purchase.

The issue at hand is how Amazon is dealing a preferential hand to particular products in the buy-box. The investigation found out that about three-quarters of the time, Amazon featured products either being sold by itself or those for which companies pay Amazon. And the prices are not the cheapest as well. Usually people end up paying about 20% more while selecting products out of this buy-box. They would have to pay less if they searched, selected and added these same products to their wishlist.

Amazon Says……

That the product selection for the buy-box is not at all biased in any way. The algorithm chooses these products based on certain parameters. Although Amazon refused to comment about what these parameters were.

Have you also noticed such price differentiation on Amazon? Do share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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