Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Amazon Battles College Bookstores Over Advertising

Seattle-based Amazon.com is battling college bookstores over claims that the company's advertisements are deceptive, and has filed a lawsuit in Seattle to step moves by the National Association of College Stores (NACS). The NACS claims that Amazon's advertisements, which say that students can get 60 percent back on textbooks, are "misleading and deceptive". Amazon.com filed suit Tuesday looking for declaratory relief from an effort by the NACS filed with the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau. The NACS said it is seeking to limit the advertising by Amazon.com around college textbook pricing, and was not originally planning on having a public "win" in its filing, but was only trying to "promote a level playing field". The NACS represents around 3,100 college bookstores.