Amazon pulls seller information ID following Tesco exposure

Amazon has done a U-turn on its decision to make information about sellers available to consumers through its website.

The Detailed Seller Information (DSI) button was introduced by the online retail giant to its site earlier this month, allowing shoppers to check the identity of sellers and view their business name, address and VAT number.

It enabled Financial Mail to identify Tesco as the retailer behind a number of offers on Amazon, many of which were being sold cheaper than in Tesco supermarkets.

Other retailers are also believed to be using the site to sell under different business names.

But although the DSI button remains on the site, consumers are no longer shown details of the business name or address.

This means that if firms such as Tesco are selling goods under another name, shoppers have no easy way of knowing.

Tesco has also increased the price of goods sold on Amazon under the Oakwood name, so they match prices on its own website. None of the other big supermarkets – Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s – sells its own goods through Amazon.

A Tesco spokesman denied having asked Amazon to remove identifying information from the site. Amazon refused to say why the information had been removed.

Source : Helen Loveless – ThisIsMoney.co.uk
www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2100046/Amazon-pulls-information-letting-buyers-sellers-really-following-Tesco-exposure.html