Amazon's deal to sell new Apple devices under US trade commission scanner

The Federal Trade Commission is scrutinizing a deal Amazon.com Inc. made with Apple Inc. to sell iPhones directly on its e-commerce site, signaling the agency has increased oversight of the tech giant.

John Bumstead, who sells refurbished Apple products, said in a Facebook post last month that about seven lawyers and an economist from the FTC interviewed him about the deal. He made the posting in a group of Apple resellers that complained about being forced to stop selling their refurbished products on Amazon.

The FTC and the Justice Department are ramping up scrutiny of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies. Facebook Inc. disclosed last week that the FTC is probing its businesses, the same week the Justice Department announced a broad review into whether tech companies are using their power to thwart competition.

The FTC and Amazon declined to comment. Apple didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The FTC inquiry was reported earlier by the Verge.

Amazon announced last November that it would sell the most-recent iPhone, iPad, Mac computer, Apple Watch and Apple TV models on its website, along with branded accessories and headphones from Apple’s Beats subsidiary. Previously, Amazon sold only older model iPhones.

Amazon in 2015 stopped selling the Apple TV media-streaming device that wasn’t easily compatible with the e-commerce giant’s video service, an example of Amazon using its clout as the world’s biggest online retailer to promote products that helped push its own streaming content.

In 2016, Apple filed a lawsuit against Amazon alleging that the online retailer was selling counterfeit Apple products on its web store.

Bumstead has been complaining to the media that Amazon removed listings of refurbished Apple products from its site, pushing out small independent dealers of recycled devices.

“Wouldn’t it be awesome if the FTC sued Apple/Amazon and actually SOLVED this problem for us?,” he posted on a Facebook page for Apple sellers.

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