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NYT - Amazon Ordered to End Free Delivery on Books in France

Amazon.com may not offer free delivery on books in France, the high court in Versailles has ruled.

The action, brought in January 2004 by the French Booksellers’ Union (Syndicat de la librairie française), accused Amazon of offering illegal discounts on books and even of selling some books below cost.

The court gave Amazon 10 days to start charging for the delivery of books, which should at least allow the company to maintain the offer through the end-of-year gift-giving season. After that, it must pay a fine of €1,000 (US$1,470) per day that it continues to offer free delivery. It must also pay €100,000 in compensation to the booksellers’ union. …

It’s not been a good month for U.S. e-commerce sites doing business in France: last week, the French auction regulator sued eBay France for breaching rules on the conduct of auctions. The regulator said that eBay’s failure to comply exposed consumers to the risk of fraud. In its defense, eBay France maintained that it is not an auctioneer and that it has “invented another way of buying and selling” not covered by the rules.

Of course it’s common knowledge, or should be, that the founders of eBay, who became instant billionaires, one of whom is the 76th richest person alive, who are in the habit of donating hundreds of millions of dollars to various philanthropic interests, could never have started eBay if they hadn’t left France, because of that same auction regulator.

We might think they’re thick, but I’m sure they tell themselves they aren’t interested in such Anglo-Saxon considerations.