January 17, 2008

Free postage costs €1,000 per day

When the world largest book seller Amazon decided that it would be a good idea to offer free postage on their products in France it seemed like a very good idea, little did they know that it would end up costing them thousands of euros?

The problems started with the French booksellers union suing Amazon, the French courts ruled that Amazon were offering discounts of over five per cent off the list price and promptly told them to stop.

Amazon have decided not to take any notice of the French law and will pay the daily fine of a €1,000 instead of stopping the free delivery and paying the French union €100,000 in court costs too.

Source [Ars Technica]