Amazon Canada ordered to pay $1M fine for deceptive price listings

Amazon Canada has been fined $1 million by the country’s Competition Bureau for using deceptive price listings.

According to a release from the Canada’s Competition Bureau, an independent agency that enforces Canada’s Competition Act, Amazon.com.ca Inc. was charged with listing misleading comparative prices.

From the release:

Amazon often compared its prices to a regular price — or “list price” — signaling attractive savings for consumers. The Bureau’s investigation concluded that these claims created the impression that prices for items offered on www.amazon.ca were lower than prevailing market prices. The Bureau determined that Amazon relied on its suppliers to provide list prices without verifying that those prices were accurate.

The Competition Bureau says that Amazon has made the necessary changes to reflect accurate price listings as part of the agreement between the ecommerce site and Canada’s Competition Tribunal.

“The agreement reached today resolves the Bureau’s concerns and sends a clear message to the marketplace that unsubstantiated savings claims will not be tolerated,” says the Competition Bureau.

In addition to the $1.1 million fine, the site must also pay $100,000 toward The Competition Bureau’s cost for investigating Amazon Canada’s price listings.

Tip via Recode’s report: “Amazon just got slapped with a $1 million fine for misleading pricing“