3 ms·

I recall Amazon being fined by the French government a few years ago because offering free shipping was "unfair competition". It can't be good for innovation w

• jhancock 17y ago
  If a company can subsidize a product or service (shipping, free maps so you make money off ads, etc) at a loss, this is anti-competitive. I'm not saying it is illegal or immoral. But it most certainly can be an effective anticompetitive approach. It is reasonable for people/companies/government to ask if society or their economy has crossed a line in terms of disabling competition. This is nothing new. The U.S. has/had anti-dumping laws, they just aren't used these days. Maybe the pendulum will swing back the other way, who knows. So when you say "It can't be good for innovation when you can sue your competitors simply for offering better value." Well it depends. What is value here? Subsidizing shipping can be seen as both offering value as well as using capital reserves to kill off competition.
• dtf 17y ago
  France has a law to "protect" booksellers, which means no-one is permitted to undercut the list price by more than 5%. The traditional booksellers complained that the free shipping was worth more than 5%, so Amazon were fined €1000 per day until they stopped... I don't think they stopped. Does anyone know if they are still paying the fines?
• anigbrowl 17y ago
  well, they haven't won the case yet, and they probably won't, since Google can argue that they offered to supply it in exchange for benefits-in-kind which have an economic value, in other words a barter agreement. Don't go blaming France just because a French company brings a crappy lawsuit. the USA is awash with frivolous lawsuits.