Amazon failed to adequately alert more than 300,000 customers to serious risks—including death and electrocution—that US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) testing found with more than 400,000 products that third parties sold on its platform. The CPSC unanimously voted to hold Amazon legally responsible for third-party sellers' defective products. Now, …
Read More »Sellers Call Amazon’s Buy Box ‘Abusive.’ Now They’re Suing
In 2015, merchants selling their wares on Amazon began to notice that whenever one of their products began to fly off the virtual shelves, the ecommerce powerhouse itself would seem to quickly come out with its own, cheaper version. Unable to compete on price, the retailers’ own sales would begin …
Read More »TikTok Shop’s Era of Super Subsidies Is Ending
The days of buying ultracheap stuff on TikTok Shop may be winding down. Starting today, the fees TikTok charges sellers increase from 2 percent to 6 percent of the price of each order. They will creep up to 8 percent in July. The changes may mark a crucial moment for …
Read More »Temu Is Burning Cash to Challenge Shein and Amazon on Black Friday
A $5.93 mobile phone holder seemed like a gamble worth taking for Michelle Zhang. During the past year, she has become a regular shopper on the cut-price ecommerce app Temu, mostly purchasing home and kitchen appliances. “Things on Temu are usually less than half of their prices on Amazon, and …
Read More »This Website Exposes the Truth About Soaring Food Prices
It didn't take long for Mario Zechner to prove the government wrong. In May, the independent software developer was listening to a radio interview with Austria’s labor minister, Martin Kocher, who said the government would build a new database that will help people find the cheapest milk, eggs, and other …
Read More »Amazon’s All-Powerful ‘Buy Box’ Is at the Heart of Its New Antitrust Troubles
Anyone who has shopped on Amazon will have seen the Buy Box with its peppy yellow and orange Add to Cart and Buy Now buttons. The US Federal Trade Commission has seen it too, and made it central to an antitrust case filed against Amazon today. The long-anticipated government complaint, …
Read More »TikTok Shop Has a Snail Slime Problem
Snail mucin, for the uninitiated, is part of a skin-care regimen that’s meant to leave faces glowing and hydrating. Yes, it’s snail slime, and it’s exactly the sort of product primed to explode on TikTok—where skin-care content is king and millions of people watch as influencers dab serums and gels …
Read More »How to Spot Fake Reviews on Amazon
As the leading online retailer in the US and the UK, Amazon sells just about everything. (Like the logo says, from A to Z.) Whether you are shopping online for a cheap portable charger, eco-friendly cleaning supplies, or headphones for your kids, Amazon is likely your first stop. And when …
Read More »Black Friday Will Be Confusing (Again). Here Are Our Tips
Black Friday used to fall on just one day of the year. Shoppers would camp outside of stores, eagerly awaiting the chance to bust down some doors and save a ton of cash. Over time, the sales event has grown. Now, the entire month of November is a hydra where …
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