CAIT alleges Amazon of misusing third-party data for its 'selfish motives'

New Delhi, March 23 Global e-commerce giant Amazon, which is supposed to be a mere bridge between buyer and seller, is indulging in practices which are in "gross conflict of interest", alleged the Confederation of All India Traders.

It further alleged that the e-commerce firm has been copying third party user data and misusing it for its own "selfish motives".

"This data, which rightfully belongs to the user and is only for the use of third-party sellers, has been misused by Amazon which first copies this data and then creates its private labels on the basis of such data," it said in a letter to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

It goes on to say that this data provides an indication about the consumer buying in terms of tastes and trends and is of immense value to the party sellers, which are being devoid of them by the e-commerce firm Amazon, it alleged in the letter.

"As per the FDI policy, Amazon is permitted to merely operate a pureplay marketplace i.e. a bridge between the buyer and seller and not control inventory of any kind."

However, Amazon not only indulges in controlling the inventory through its related party sellers, but created a complex web of preferred sellers and service providers to whom it gives preferential treatment in the form of low or zero commission charges, among other advantages, the letter read.

Lastly, the traders' body requested the Centre to release the long-pending Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, which prohibits related or preferred sellers to sell their goods and services on their platforms in addition to mandating every e-commerce firms to provide non-discriminatory access to all stakeholders.