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The Amazon tactics that hiked prices across the internet
8 days ago
- Amazon allegedly pressured suppliers to raise prices on rival retailers' sites to protect its own profitability, using tactics like suppressing product listings and demanding compensation.
- Examples include a table lamp jumping from $24.99 to $39 at Walmart, an air fryer rising from $84.99 to $149.99 on Newegg, and an ice cream maker tripling to $59.99 at Amazon.
- Internal emails show Amazon employees flagged low competitor prices as threats and instructed suppliers to fix pricing or face consequences, often using code words like 'channel optimization'.
- Amazon's algorithmic price-matching and 'game theory' approach led to demands for supplier reimbursement, pushing some to pull products from rivals or increase prices elsewhere.
- California and FTC lawsuits allege Amazon's practices constitute illegal price-fixing, while Amazon defends them as routine retail negotiations that lower consumer prices.
- Former employees and suppliers described pressure to raise competitor prices, with Amazon staff advised to avoid written records of such discussions.
Egg producers will pay $3.3M and donate 53M eggs to settle price-fixing
22 days ago
- Three major egg producers (Cal-Maine Foods, Versova, Hickman’s Egg Ranch) settled price-fixing claims.
- They allegedly colluded to artificially inflate egg prices from June 2022 to March 2025.
- Settlement includes $3.3 million in payments and donation of 53 million eggs to food banks.
- Companies must adopt antitrust compliance programs and stop communicating with competitors on pricing.
- Egg prices soared to record highs in March 2025 ($6.23/dozen) due to bird flu and alleged collusion.
- Prices dropped significantly after the Justice Department investigation began in March 2025.
- None of the companies admitted wrongdoing; Cal-Maine called allegations 'baseless'.
- Advocacy groups criticize settlement as insufficient for meaningful accountability.
The Egg Bandits Made a Thousand Times the Fine They Just Paid for Price Fixing
a month ago
- Major egg producers Cal-Maine, Versova, and Hickman's were accused of price-fixing from 2022-2025, using the avian flu crisis as cover to artificially inflate egg prices.
- The conspiracy involved manipulating the Urner Barry price index by submitting fake bids and sham transactions on the Egg Clearinghouse to create false demand signals, influencing wholesale contract prices.
- Despite clear evidence from emails and texts, the settlement resulted in only $3 million in total penalties and egg donations, with no admission of wrongdoing, allowing companies to avoid follow-on civil suits.
- Cal-Maine profited over $3 billion from the scheme, paying penalties roughly 1,000 times less than their gains, highlighting how crime can be financially rewarding with minimal legal consequences.
- The case illustrates the failure of elites, economists, and media to acknowledge price-gouging, instead attributing price hikes solely to supply and demand, while antitrust action ultimately led to lower prices after the investigation.

price-fixing

The Amazon tactics that hiked prices across the internet

Egg producers will pay $3.3M and donate 53M eggs to settle price-fixing

The Egg Bandits Made a Thousand Times the Fine They Just Paid for Price Fixing