> A study conducted by Consumer Watchdog in March found that for 61% of Amazon AMZN, -2.48% products, the pre-discounted price or “reference price” used for comparison with the new sale price was higher than what the products had been sold for in the past 90 days. This means the amount Amazon advertises under “you save” could be inaccurate. Amazon said the prices reflect averages of prices listed by competitors and other sources.

Isn't this what brick and mortar retailers do all the time? The "save" amount is (in my experience) often based on an inflated list price, which makes it look like you're "saving" more. Doing so is still dodgy - but what makes it different when Amazon does it vs anyone else?

This sounds pretty tame to me. Hardly the Deep Throat moment you're making it out to be. In fact, I'd wager that most retailers probably do this for big sales events.

Other retailers doing it doesn't absolve Amazon