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Comment by brndnmtthws | Hacker News Reader

Just do an internet search for "prime day scam", or something to that effect. The FTC has been investigating Amazon for their price deception tactics: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-whole-foods-m-a-amazon-ft...

Here's more on the report: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/story/your-amazon-sale-item-...

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I'm not going to say you're lying but I think you're being eh misleading. This investigation is happening due to increased scrutiny of the Whole Foods merger and isn't a formal investigation by the FTC.

Effectively the FTC is required to do its due diligence and the FTC has not accused Amazon of anything. It's some third-party group making the accusation.

> A study conducted by Consumer Watchdog in March found that for 61% of Amazon AMZN, -2.48% products, the pre-discounted price or “reference price” used for comparison with the new sale price was higher than what the products had been sold for in the past 90 days. This means the amount Amazon advertises under “you save” could be inaccurate. Amazon said the prices reflect averages of prices listed by competitors and other sources.

This sounds pretty tame to me. Hardly the Deep Throat moment you're making it out to be. In fact, I'd wager that most retailers probably do this for big sales events.

Other retailers doing it doesn't absolve Amazon

Isn't this what brick and mortar retailers do all the time? The "save" amount is (in my experience) often based on an inflated list price, which makes it look like you're "saving" more. Doing so is still dodgy - but what makes it different when Amazon does it vs anyone else?

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