Write the Government About Amazon's Illegal Activity - We've Made it Easy!

Want to make a difference in the fight to stop Amazon.com's anti-competitive activities? Amazon isn't going to pay much attention to you or me...but they will listen to antitrust lawyers of the state of Washington. We've made it easy to let Washington state's government know that you do not approve of what Amazon is doing. Just type your name and email address in the boxes below and click Submit to send an email to monopoly@atg.wa.gov. The text contained in the email is below the form. You can also add your own personalized text to the message with the text box labeled Personalized Message. The Washington state Attorney General's web site states that they recommend including an address and phone number, so you might want to at least put that information in the Personalized Message text box. If you would like to submit a more detailed complaint, please use the form at the following URL: https://fortress.wa.gov/atg/formhandler/ago/AntitrustComplaint.aspx

SORRY, THIS FORM HAS BEEN DISABLED. THE WASHINGTON STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL HAS MADE UP ITS MIND NOT TO PURSUE THIS MATTER, SO THERE IS NO POINT IN CONTINUING TO CONTACT THEM.

Name:

Email:

Personalized Message:


Type the following verification code into the box:

To whom it may concern:

I have great concern about actions currently being taken by Amazon.com. Amazon has traditionally made its platform open to independent authors using publish-on-demand (POD) services provided by numerous companies. Now, Amazon is moving to exclude any author who does not use Amazon's own POD service, Booksurge. Many, many authors have had problems with Booksurge, including not getting paid. In addition, authors who do make the transition will be forced to charge more in order to cover the costs of using Amazon's printing services in addition to the fees Amazon charges for selling products on its web site. To force all indepenent authors to use a single, inferior service, a service owned by the same company providing the marketplace, that will also result in higher prices for consumers, seems to be a good fit for the following anti-competitive activity described on your web site:

Business mergers and monopolistic practices that would result in reduced competition and harm to consumers.

Amazon controls such a large portion of the print-on-demand book market that by forcing authors to use its print-on-demand service, it is reducing the number of POD options to one. The harm to consumers comes in the form of products of poorer quality (as evidenced by the large number of complaints about the Booksurge service) and higher prices.

I respectfully ask that you take a serious look at this new practice by Amazon.com and make a fair judgement about whether or not the company is in violation of the antitrust provisions of Washington's Unfair Business Practices-Consumer Protection Act.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

If you'd like to contact the Washington state Attorney General directly, here is the contact info:

Office of the Attorney General, Antitrust Division
800 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2000
Seattle, WA 98104-3188
Telephone: 206-587-5510
Fax: 206-464-6338
monopoly@atg.wa.gov
http://www.atg.wa.gov/Antitrust/default.aspx