The Bountiful Company (Bountiful), a nutritional supplement company, will pay $600,000 to settle a case with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over an allegation of inflating ratings on Amazon.com.
The company allegedly manipulated the reviews and ratings on Amazon through a function known as “variation listing.”
Amazon variation listing allows vendors to list products with variation—for example, sizes or colors—under a single listing. The total number of ratings and reviews of all products will show under one product page.
If the listing earns a “#1 Best Seller” or “Amazon’s Choice” badge, those badges will apply to all product variations under that listing.
Variation listing is widely regarded as a main method to boost the ratings and reviews of a list on Amazon.
A Bountiful employee reportedly told the FTC that the company put new products into Amazon variation lists to ramp up the ratings and reviews. The tactic also allows the latest products to borrow the “Amazon’s Choice” and “Best Seller” badges.
The products involved in this settlement include Bountiful’s Nature’s Bounty- and Sundown-brand dietary supplement products.
Both Nature’s Bounty and Sundown brands were acquired by Nestlé Health Science in 2021.
In response to a request for comment from The Epoch Times, Nestlé Health Science said, “The Bountiful Company has settled with the FTC on this matter to avoid a lengthy and costly legal challenge.”
The company continued, saying, “We stand behind our products and business practices and are convinced that consumers were neither deceived nor harmed by the variation practices implemented to assist consumers in finding similar products. Bountiful is already complying with the terms of the order and will continue to do so.”
An Amazon spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the company will continue to assist the FTC and other agencies to stop fraud.
“There’s no place for fraud in Amazon’s store and we will continue to assist enforcement agencies in holding bad actors accountable,” the spokesperson said.
According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the federal agency is not authorized to approve dietary supplements for safety and efficacy before they are marketed.
A company can lawfully introduce dietary supplements to the market without even notifying the FDA in many cases.
However, the federal agency regulates finished dietary supplement products and dietary ingredients under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.
