Amazon and Apple 'Colluded' to Make iPhone and iPad More Expensive, Says Antitrust Lawsuit

[sw1tcher]

Given Apple doesn't sell in bulk at a steep discount to resellers....

That's not true. Apple gave Amazon discounts though we don't know how steep they were.

3rd paragraph...

"Amazon began eliminating third-party sellers after it signed a 2019 deal with Apple to limit the number of resellers on Amazon marketplace to 20 per country. In exchange, Apple provided Amazon with a discounted wholesale price for iPhones and iPads."

 

[vipergts2207]

Apple and Amazon engaging in collusion and misconduct? I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!! 😐

 

[I7guy]

Apple and Amazon engaging collusion and misconduct? I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!! 😐

Me as well. As I'm sure every other poster that is reading this thread...../s

 

[Shanghaichica]

Some people are so entitled.

 

[JM]

Is it just me? Sometimes I feel not ethically right to buy stuff on Amazon anymore. Sometimes it's sketchy and shady.

I feel you. I try to be positive about it and just imagine that Amazon has just allowed the manufacturers to have a direct to consumer storefront that cuts out the US middle-person.

Which leads to (in many not all cases) a decrease in quality, because there’s no middle-person ensuring it. Also, I think, why a lot of the storefront product pages seem “shady and sketchy”.

Maybe I’m being too optimistic?

 

[ersatzplanet]

I would imagine it would be easy for Apple to list out the companies it has sold discounted units to (since they are the only legal makers of them) and cross check them to the sellers on amazon offering highly discounted units, and have Amazon only remove the dealers that didn't get them from Apple. One could easily say if they are discounted heavily, and didn't come from Apple, they are probably counterfeit or used.

 

[alfonsog]

I wonder what the wholesale price is % to retail.

 

[Fruit Stand]

No this isn't true at all. Please read again.

We can all read thank you. It’s a fact that most Apple devices that were sold on Amazon before this move were stolen, fake, counterfeit and/or modified and refurbished.

I used to work at the retail stores and saw hundreds of people who thought they were buying a legit brand new Apple products on Amazon for less money that ended being not as such.

 

[NWS]

no nanny government, I don't need you to protect me from the big bad corporations who I spend lots of money with willingly.

I wish government was this concerned about government waste, fraud, and abuse.

 

[adbe]

This clearly makes no sense: Apple supply the sellers. They get to pick and choose which sellers get stock, and at what price. Apple aren't generous with vendor margins, so there's not much room to operate for sellers anyway. Apple can't stop sellers selling at a loss in the short term. The long term takes care of itself by vendors getting blacklisted, or going bankrupt.

So where were are all these cheap devices coming from?

This is not Apple collusion, it's just another company forced to work exclusive deals with Amazon so that Amazon will make some effort to clean up the trash on their store front.

 

[Funny Apple Man]

Is it just me? Sometimes I feel not ethically right to buy stuff on Amazon anymore. Sometimes it's sketchy and shady.

I feel the same way when it comes to buying Apple products from Amazon. Buying Apple branded accessories are especially sketchy since Amazon is known to giving out fake ones. That's why I only buy my Apple gear at the Apple Store or any other big retailers.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Good, now get rid of all the other 3rd party sellers.
I've been getting so frustrated with every product I buy from Amazon defaulting to a 3rd party seller even when Amazon carries the product themselves.

I'm sorry, I'm buying from Amazon because I trust them to deliver the official product. If I wanted a small seller from China, well, I'd probably step out in front of traffic.

Official product? My mom said she ordered a DVD set on Amazon and got a plain plastic box with copied covers on it, the DVDs were burned generics with horrible resolution. Official product? Not sure...

 

[Stunning_Sense4712]

Here is a CBC News YouTube video showing some of the problems with third party sellers. The issues featured in the video are the most likely reason they are not allowed to sell these types of products on Amazon.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

This clearly makes no sense: Apple supply the sellers. They get to pick and choose which sellers get stock, and at what price. Apple aren't generous with vendor margins, so there's not much room to operate for sellers anyway. Apple can't stop sellers selling at a loss in the short term. The long term takes care of itself by vendors getting blacklisted, or going bankrupt.

So where were are all these cheap devices coming from?

This is not Apple collusion, it's just another company forced to work exclusive deals with Amazon so that Amazon will make some effort to clean up the trash on their store front.

Yet the number of vendors and manufacturers with complaints against Amazon and their laissez-faire practices is likely pretty long...

 

[Bobcat32]

Harm the public? Apple sells the magic keyboard for 300 for the iPad Pro 11 inch. I got mine on Amazon for 200 when they had that deal for almost a year. Crazy the difference.

 

[_Spinn_]

I thought there was already a lawsuit around this that was either dropped or that Apple won?

 

[5105973]

Good, now get rid of all the other 3rd party sellers.
I've been getting so frustrated with every product I buy from Amazon defaulting to a 3rd party seller even when Amazon carries the product themselves.

I'm sorry, I'm buying from Amazon because I trust them to deliver the official product. If I wanted a small seller from China, well, I'd probably step out in front of traffic.

I don’t like it defaulting to sketchy resellers, either. But so far at least the defaults seem to have high ratings. I just know though, that their ratings system has been compromised.

 

[DFP1989]

I saved $1000 on a brand new M1 iPad Pro 12.9 2TB 5G earlier this year from a third party seller on Amazon AU. Sounded pretty great to me!

 

[spcopsmac21]

Too bad there are other websites like Wish.com or Alibaba.com that offers at a much lower cost. Widely known!

My 27” iMac from wish arrived today. It’s a 27” long aluminum ruler that had “ Made is Cupertino “ on it. Only $1799.99
Thanks WISH!

 

[ender78]

I feel the same way when it comes to buying Apple products from Amazon. Buying Apple branded accessories are especially sketchy since Amazon is known to giving out fake ones. That's why I only buy my Apple gear at the Apple Store or any other big retailers.

Sold on Amazon is not the same as Sold by Amazon. The argument that many are making here is that there were many third party sellers that were not selling legitimate/new products. Limiting the list of sellers to 20 at least has a chance of being validated by Amazon as "Authorized Resellers".

 

[FriednTested]

I recently bought a Speck case for my iPhone. I did look on amazon but the price was the same on the Speck website so I bought it there. I have found that Amazon does not always have the best prices.

Long gone are the days where Amazon was the place to get the best prices. Amazon is all about instant gratification now. 2 day delivery. 1 day delivery and even same day.

 

[jimthing]

Many people don't understand this. It was collusion that resulted in bad behaviour by Apple and Amazon.

The trouble was that a great many serious Apple refurbished sellers on Amazon Marketplace were NOT shady in any shape or form, yet they were blocked from selling for completely arbitrary reasons, despite selling Apple gear on the platform for years.

They had zero viable comeback options given to them too, as the rules they were forced to jump through were shoddy and deliberately overly difficult, forcing them to quit as their only real option. Constructive dismissal, by any other name.

While it helped Apple and Amazon, it didn't help customers in any shape or form.

 

[svish]

So many fake products can be found on Amazon. So don't think the move to restrict sellers was a bad one.

 

[DavidMalcolm]

What people and sadly probably the judge in this case don’t realize is that’s most of these ‘cheap’ devices were both harming Apple’s brand and harming customers.

I’m sure most of the refurbers were listing devices as just iPad or iPad Air, which doesn’t let you know that they were actually selling devices that may already have 0 software support by the time they get to Netflix.

Imagine thinking that you had been a genius and saved 200, only to find out that iPad you bought is an iPad 4 and since you didn’t get Netflix with your Apple ID when it could run on that one, you can’t now.

Also people would often buy these devices for their kids… but guess what? None of the games your kid wants to run will currently run on it!

Add to that these devices are typically refurbished as cheaply as possible instead of just being recycled. Which means the screens are more likely to break, batteries expand, etc.

A friend who should have know better bought a used 12 mini from Best Buy Market. We were meeting at a restaurant, she pulled out her phone from her pocket to call me and realized the screen was cracked. There had been no impact, no fall, she was absolutely shocked. She then did some research and found out a ton of refurbers get non-legit parts that fail constantly.

There’s a certain point where we just have to accept that some things shouldn’t be as cheap as possible. Sometimes it makes sense for things to be sold well made, rather than cheap.

If the courts want to stipulate that these devices are sold as not-iPad, with no Apple logo on the case, with big bold letters telling the customer that this device is made from an iPad married with a variety of parts that don’t match what it originally shipped with, sure.

But as Amazon was previously doing things, customers were just set up for failure.

 

[DavidMalcolm]

Many people don't understand this. It was collusion that resulted in bad behaviour by Apple and Amazon.

The trouble was that a great many serious Apple refurbished sellers on Amazon Marketplace were NOT shady in any shape or form, yet they were blocked from selling for completely arbitrary reasons, despite selling Apple gear on the platform for years.

They had zero viable comeback options given to them too, as the rules they were forced to jump through were shoddy and deliberately overly difficult, forcing them to quit as their only real option. Constructive dismissal, by any other name.

While it helped Apple and Amazon, it didn't help customers in any shape or form.

You don’t know that to be true. You’re just assuming. The refurbers may even believe that the cheap knock off parts they use are totally fine, but they have nobody doing QA on their work. They assume they aren’t shoveling waste into people’s hands, but when their customers have a problem, they’re phoning Apple, not the reseller.