New Details Emerge in Amazon Ads Auction-Rigging Case(www.ftc.gov)
3 pointsby toomuchtodo8 hours ago2 comments
  • ddxv8 hours ago
    > The unredacted portions of the complaint allege that Amazon secretly raises advertising prices by as much as 50% above auction results on ordinary days and by as much as 250% on major shopping days like Prime Day or Black Friday.

    I have to admit, and I've spent a lot of time in ads, I didn't realize this was illegal? I mean, when you're buying from an 'ad network' where they control the buy and sell sides, don't they get to just set whatever margins they want? It seems what they would get in trouble here is that they day to day were changing those margins, but those also likely change all the time anyways?

    If they are guilty of this, wouldn't any closed at network be guilty of the same?

    And if they are guilty of that, is the legal answer that third party exchanges should be required for advertising?

    Curious what other people think, just thinking out loud and not very familiar with law, so maybe that's what I'm missing.

    • hurfdurf6 hours ago
      If I'm reading this correctly, they messed with the auctions to end up with a final price just below the winning bid.

        280.  Under its reserve pricing systems, after completing the auction, Amazon provides the 
  results, including its customers’ unsealed bids, to its pricing teams for the sole purpose of 
  using them as inputs in algorithms that would then calculate an artificial auction price above 
  the amount of the second-place bid, while not exceeding the winning bid.  The goal of this 
  effort is to generate higher prices that are undetectable to its auction participants.
  • toomuchtodo8 hours ago
    Newly unredacted records in the FTC’s case against Amazon for rigging its ad market reveal that Amazon secretly raised advertising prices by as much as 50% above auction results on ordinary days and by as much as 250% on major shopping days like Prime Day or Black Friday. During the 2022 holiday shopping season, Amazon secretly and successfully raised its surcharges to increase its revenue by $87 million worldwide.

    Updated complaint: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Amazon-Redacted...