Amazon settles with Santa Cruz County DA, other CA counties for $2 million over false advertising claims

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. (KION) Amazon has agreed to pay $2 million in penalties, costs and restitution after complaints that the company violated codes about discount pricing and false advertising.

The Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit for the Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office worked with the San Diego, Alameda, Santa Clara, Yolo and Riverside DA's Offices to get the judgment as part of a consumer protection lawsuit.

Amazon uses "former price" advertising to let customers know that the price on Amazon is lower than what they can find elsewhere, but the DA's Office claims that the former prices were sometimes misleading.

According to Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosell, sometimes the former price was not timely or supported by enough sales. The lawsuit also claims that the company did not share that the former price is not necessarily the most common market price or regular retail price.

The DA's Office said Amazon cooperated with the investigation and worked to improve the reliability of how it validates former pricing. The company has already made the required changes included in the judgment, including adding a hyperlink that allows customers to read definitions of pricing terms, according to the DA's Office.

“Our office is committed in the protection of consumers, even against the largest companies in the world, by ensuring they are not being misled and have the information needed to make informed purchasing decisions," Rosell said.

The Santa Cruz County Consumer and Environmental Affairs Unit was one of the agencies that started the investigation, according to Rosell.