Sale of goods question

[WestieMamma]

I recently bought some nappy bin cartridges from Amazon. They are marketed as a pack of 6. The pack of 3 is on sale for £9.99 (normal price £13.99). A single cartridge is £3.37 (normal price £5.49). Pack of 6 £19.99 (normally £21.99).

So normally they are the cheaper option but on sale they cost the same per unit as the 3 pack.

However the box has now arrived and splashed right across it is a red manufacturers label which says '4 + 2 free'.

So basically Amazon have charged me the unit price for the 2 free ones by selling the box as a pack of 6. Are they allowed to do this? I don't know if it makes any difference that I am not in the UK, although I buy from Amazon UK. If not, what should I do about it?

[WestieMamma]

Looking at the customer reviews it looks like the original prices for this item were £14.99 (£15.29), which would be about right for a pack of 4. So they've put the price up to take into account the 2 free ones.

[prh47bridge]

You ordered six cartridges for £19.99. You have got six cartridges and you have paid £19.99. There is no problem. You do not have any cause for action against Amazon.

The manufacturer cannot dictate Amazon's prices. Amazon is free to set whatever price it wants. In this case they have reduced the single cartridge by nearly 40%, the three pack by nearly 30% and the six pack by only 9%.

If the "buy four get two free" claim had been made prior to purchase there may be a case for referring Amazon to trading standards for misleading advertising but the fact you didn't (and couldn't) see it until after purchase means that Amazon has done nothing wrong.

For what it is worth the manufacturer's 4+2 free offer would relate to single cartridges at the RRP of £5.49, hence the normal price of £21.99 for the pack of six.

[WestieMamma]

Ok thanks. Still seems devious to me though. Like they're taking advantage of being a distance seller to price something in a way which a face to face seller would never get away with.