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I think stories like this show up because there is a set of Amazon users that still want it to be a neutral marketplace where Amazon doesn't have a vested interest in one product selling over another. That hasn't been true for quite a while though.

The problem is that Amazon said that they dont do it (Copy successful products and then manipulate search results so they appear before the others).

The available documents show that its an official Amazon strategy.

Moreover, this is common practice for any offline retailers since retailing started.

> this is common practice for any offline retailers

This would apply better if retailers hid competing items on the back of shelves or in locations that can only be unlocked by 3rd parties (eg: using Google search to find product Amazon won't show you).