This isn't a fringe accusation. A class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington alleges that Amazon's advertised "List Prices" on Fire TV products were often inflated or unused for 90 days prior to the sale being advertised — making the discount look far bigger than it actually was. A separate class action, Kinney et al. v. Amazon.com Inc., makes a similar claim about Prime Exclusive discounts more broadly, arguing the strike-through comparison price wasn't a genuine former price at all.
Amazon has declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. Regardless of how the cases resolve, the underlying tactic they describe is well documented by pricing researchers independent of any lawsuit.
How the Tactic Actually Works
Pricing experts describe a specific, repeatable pattern: a product's price sits flat for months, then jumps 20–40% roughly three to six weeks before a major sale event like Prime Day or Black Friday. When the "sale" hits, the price drops back down — to what was actually its normal price the whole time. The discount percentage displayed is calculated against that artificially inflated number, not against what the item usually costs.
A Real Example From Our Own Tracking
We don't have to speculate — we can show this pattern directly using tracked pricing on products we've already verified:
This one checks out — the $340 price is independently confirmed as the best price tracked on this model all year, not a manufactured comparison. That's the distinction that matters: not every discount is fake, but you can't tell which is which just by looking at the percentage-off badge.
How to Check Any Price Yourself in 30 Seconds
- Copy the product URL from the Amazon listing you're considering.
- Paste it into a price-history tool like the checker on the Zroppix homepage, or CamelCamelCamel. Look at the 90-day chart, not just today's number.
- Compare the "was" price to the actual historical average — not just the price from yesterday. If the "was" price only appeared briefly right before the sale, that's the inflation pattern.
- If it's a real deal, buy. If not, wait — the genuine low will usually come back around within a few weeks based on the product's own price cycle.
The honest takeaway isn't that every Amazon deal is fake — plenty aren't. It's that the discount badge alone tells you nothing reliable. The only way to know for sure is to look at where a price has actually sat over time, which is a five-second check once you have the right tool doing it automatically.