A manufacturer says Amazon has been raising prices of products to double their actual recommended retail price, before artificially "lowering" the cost to create a fake "discount" during its Prime Day promotion.
Remodeez is a startup based in Charlotte, North Carolina that has invented non-toxic, odourless foot and bag deodorisers.
The recommended retail price of one of its deodoriser products is $9.99 (£7.67), as agreed between Remodeez's founder Jason Jacobs and Amazon since 2015.
However, according to Jacobs, during the recent Prime Day event held on 10-11 July, Amazon said that the product usually retails at $15.42, but that it had been dropped down to the bargain price of "$9.99 for Amazon Prime Day".
This action then made sales decrease, as people started to think more carefully before purchasing the product at the higher price.
Amazon said in a statement: "Our customers expect to come to Amazon and find the lowest prices and we work hard to meet or beat them for all customers, across our entire retail selection.
However, Rosenbaum says that the fault doesn't all lie with Amazon – prices are also affected by third-party services used by its sellers, which use algorithms to constantly raise and lower prices. »