Court rules Amazon ‘Dash’ button violates German law

If you’ve used Amazon and are a Prime member, then you’ve seen the one click-to-buy button. Although a great idea in hindsight, but after multiple complaints by Amazon customers a court case was brought against Amazon by Germany’s consumer protection watchdog. At a regional court in Munich, the company was ordered to stop taking orders from the dinky devices, as it failed to provide customers with up-to-date pricing information. According to local media Amazon has plans to appeal the order.

"We are always open to innovation. But if innovation means that the consumer is put at a disadvantage and price comparisons are made difficult then we fight that," Wolfgang Schuldzinski, head of the consumer body, said in a statement.

The Dash buttons were first out in 2015 as a one-click ordering service for popular products. By the second quarter of 2017, Amazon said that there were over 600 brands had Dash buttons, with four buttons getting pushed every minute by customers.

Although the Dash button itself carries the brand logo, so customers can purchase their favourite products, the issue Amazon ran into in Germany is that the buttons don’t inform the customer of how much the item costs. It is due to this fault that the Munich court found that Amazon breached ecommerce rules because it reserved the right to change features of the order, such as price, delivery cost and even product brand.

However, Amazon claims that the Dash buttons are in fact not in violation of German law and that it plans to fight the ruling through legal channels. “Today’s ruling is not only hostile to innovation. It also stops customers from making an informed decision about whether a service like the Dash button gives them a convenient shopping experience,” an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters.