Amazon must face US nationwide class action over third-party sales

Scope of the Class and Deterrence vs. Payouts

• Commenters estimate hypothetical per-person payouts (e.g., ~$100), noting that even tens of billions would be significant but still only a fraction of Amazon’s annual profits.
• Several argue the real value is deterrence of anti-competitive behavior, not compensation, though some think it’s “too late” given Amazon’s market power.
• Questions are raised about what fraction of eligible consumers typically enroll in such settlements, with wide uncertainty.

Amazon’s Price Parity Rules and Seller Workarounds

• The lawsuit centers on Amazon restricting third-party sellers from listing lower prices elsewhere while also selling on Amazon.
• Commenters note common workarounds: identical list prices but constant discounts via coupons, “spin-the-wheel” promos, and perpetual “sales.”
• There is disagreement over enforcement: some say violating parity risks being kicked off Amazon; others claim large sellers openly do it without consequences.
• One ex-employee recounts fixing an internal price-monitoring crawler that had been down for years, allegedly boosting revenue by ~$8M/month, and feeling under-rewarded.
• Complaints surface that Amazon copies successful third-party products as “Amazon Basics” and undercuts original sellers.

Antitrust via Class Actions and Legislative Failure

• Multiple commenters think it’s “awful” that antitrust enforcement effectively happens through class actions that mainly enrich lawyers.
• The situation is tied to a “do-nothing Congress” and unusually poor representation compared to other countries.

“Too Large to Manage” Class Argument

• Amazon’s argument that a 288M-person class is “unmanageable” is widely mocked as “we’ve wronged too many people to be accountable.”
• Others explain the legal standard: manageability is about courts handling diverse harms and individualized issues, not Amazon’s computing capacity.
• There’s back-and-forth over whether this is a legitimate procedural concern or an excuse to dodge collective liability.

Effectiveness of Fines and Regulation for Megacorps

• A long subthread debates whether large firms treat fines as a “cost of doing business.”
• Examples raised include Uber/Lyft vs. taxi and labor laws, big tech privacy cases, Airbnb, and the Equifax breach (with frustration at very low implied per-person compensation).
• One side argues fines often exceed any savings from non-compliance and that legal departments prevent obviously illegal behavior; the other sees repeated under-punishment and systemic inability to rein in megacorps.

Comparisons to Other Platforms and Retailers

• Some call for similar scrutiny of Valve/Steam for most-favored-nation (MFN)–style clauses.
• Others counter that Valve’s restrictions apply only to cheaper Steam-key sales, not to lower prices on other stores, and that publishers can sell elsewhere at different prices.
• It’s noted that many major retailers impose some form of price parity because “shelf/search space” near the point of purchase is extremely valuable.

Amazon UX Grievances: Reviews and Ads

• Commenters claim Amazon suppresses negative reviews and blocks updates when products later fail, calling this anti-competitive and deceptive.
• There is frustration that AI (Rufus) is replacing searchable review content, perceived as “artificially generated product deception.”
• Others complain about intrusive, non-disableable ads on Echo devices and hope for future suits over that.

Norms Around “Snitching” and Automated Enforcement

• A tangent debates whether fixing Amazon’s price-enforcement crawler is “snitching,” comparing it to red-light cameras.
• Some view anti-snitch norms as protecting wrongdoers at society’s expense; others emphasize the risks to whistleblowers and tension between rules and personal interest.