Amazon snubs anti-Amazon law
Internet retail giant bypasses ban on free book delivery by offering to deliver for one centime
AMAZON has moved to subvert the new anti-Amazon book pricing law that came into force this morning – by cutting its delivery costs to just one centime.
The law, which banned companies from combining free delivery with the permitted maximum 5% discount, was passed almost unanimously at the tail end of last month by the National Assembly and Senate.
Culture Minister Aurélie Filippetti, who had previously criticised Amazon for “dumping” books by selling at a loss, said the law “was a sign of the nation’s profound attachment to books”.
However, it was no sooner on the statute books – published in the Journal Officiel yesterday – than Amazon France overturned its effect.
It put a note on the Amazon.fr website saying that “since the new law on online book sales we can, sadly, no longer offer free delivery for books plus the 5% discount” and said book deliveries would be charged at €0.01 while other articles would be delivered free above €25.
It is expected other online booksellers such as Fnac and Chapitre will follow suit, but this morning both were still offering free delivery.
Amazon standard book deliveries from the UK are still charged at £4.70 per delivery plus 50p per kg.
