A new browser extension called Amazon Brand Detector reveals just how many products sold on Amazon are produced by brands that are owned by Amazon or are exclusive to the e-commerce Masters of the Universe.
The Verge reports that a browser extension called Amazon Brand Detector reveals how many products on Amazon’s vast e-commerce platform are exclusive to or owned by the tech giant itself. The aim is to give shoppers a better idea of who controls the products they consider buying while shopping online.
Jeff Bezos holds goggles to his face (Joe Raedle /Getty)
Amazon delivery truck crosses bridge
The extension uses a list of Amazon brands curated by the Markup as well as various filters and other techniques to detect products that are part of Amazon’s “Our Brands” program. The browser extension was developed by the Markup after its recent investigation into how Amazon ranks its in-house brands compared to third-party sellers.
The Markup states that the tool is designed to make searches on Amazon’s platform more transparent. According to tests by the Verge, the extension highlighted Amazon Basics and Essentials products immediately, but it also highlighted that certain products were also sold by Amazon despite being indistinguishable from third-party sellers not affiliated with Amazon.
Some of these results were marked by Amazon as “featured from our brands,” but many were not. That text is also extremely small and grey making it easy to miss. Amazon does not attempt to hide the brands that it owns or runs and has a page that lists its “private and select exclusive brands,” but when using the site’s search function, it is easy to miss many of the signs that a brand is owned by Amazon.
The Markup claims that the browser extension “does not collect any data,” and that it should be compatible with other Amazon-related browser extensions.
To install the browser extension, you must be using a Google Chrome or Firefox-based browser.
Chrome users can click this link to go to the Chome Web Store. Click the blue button positioned at the top right of the page titled “Add to Chrome” to add the browser extension to your web browser.
Firefox users can click this link to go to the Firefox Add-Ons store where they can click the large blue button that states “Add to Firefox.”
The extension should then automatically highlight all products in Amazon searches that are owned or exclusively distributed by Amazon.
Read more at the Verge here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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