Fake discounts on Amazon: US citizen files class action lawsuit

Is Amazon using fake discounts in the US to convince customers to buy a Fire TV television that it has produced itself? A plaintiff from Florida is accusing the online retailer of this. He has filed a class action lawsuit against Amazon in the Western District Court in Washington, which other affected parties can join.

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The accusation: Amazon systematically uses fake discounts on its product pages to mislead potential customers. According to the lawsuit, the discounts displayed on the product pages are intended to give the impression that customers can get discounts at a bargain price. In fact, however, the basic price of the product that is displayed as a comparison value is inflated. Accordingly, the discount displayed is incorrect.

List price expires after 90 days

According to an information board from Amazon US, which can be seen in a screenshot in the complaint, the list prices used for comparison must have been called up in the past 90 days. According to the complaint, however, Amazon does not adhere to this rule: For most of the Amazon Fire TV televisions examined, the list price was last requested in 2023. Since then, the televisions have been cheaper for months. Even according to Amazon’s own regulations, the list price may no longer be displayed as a comparison price.

In Germany, Amazon’s information board does not provide any information about when the list price was last displayed. “The list price/RRP is the suggested or recommended selling price of a product as specified by the manufacturer and made available by the manufacturer, a supplier or retailer,” it says instead. “Amazon only displays a list price/RRP if the product has been offered on Amazon.de by at least one retailer at or above the list price/RRP.”

“Discounts not real”

In the US, however, the information is clearer – and violations can be more easily proven. “Each Fire TV showed in bold a percentage discount, a list price, a sale price and the statement that the actual discount was only offered as a ‘limited time offer,'” the plaintiff writes. “But because the percentage discounts and the limited time offer referred to list prices, which were not real, the discounts and limited time offers were not real either.”

The plaintiff is calling on Amazon to refrain from this practice in the future. A jury will also determine the amount of damages, the complaint states. Amazon has had to deal with similar lawsuits several times. In 2021, the Superior Court of the State of California banned Amazon from deceiving its customers with list prices. However, Amazon ignored these rules, writes the plaintiff from Florida. The company has not yet commented on the current lawsuit.

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