Google fined 2.4 billion euros

[wendykamine]

http://www.djh.co.uk/when-even-the-global-giants-get-fined

Whey doesn't the EU take a good close look at eBays dealings? Sure they could make few pounds from eBay 🙂

[richardmsstuff]

Gosh, that would teach ebay a salutary lesson, wouldn't it? I'm sure lots of ebay members would be very happy to see it. Mind you, I'm racking my brains trying to work out how ebay would make up such a loss. Any ideas?

[joamur_gosof]

Ive got one idea to help ebay make up the loss

charge 3 percent instead of 10 on fvf ,dont take a cut of post cost ..hey presto back to leader ,buyers and sellers through the roof ,2.4 billion profits a quarter again ...fines paid, hardly noticed 🙂

[theelench]

What a coincidence,  3% FVF and no fee on P&P is exactly what I get charged on another site.   My items for sale there get regular views but fewer convert into sales than on ebay, even though the same item will often cost less.

Here my items are mixed in with several thousand others in the category and I get sales.  There, with only a couple of hundred other listings, sales are few.  I still can't buy a UV light bulb from a UK seller over there, apparently it's such a waste of time listing that no-one can be bothered.

The fees and the profit are better for me on the other site, as is the sale price for buyers, but buyers and sellers here both choose to ignore that fact.

If there's a moral to the tale it's that fines won't make competition, they just make governments richer and everyone else poorer.  Only the buyers and sellers themselves can create the competition that will break any stranglehold ebay has on the market.  If it really has one.

If they (mostly) sit back and wait for someone else to do it for them they'll have a very long wait.

[medealady]

Is there another fine or has the amount increased?

Is the EU trying to compensate for loss of income post Brexit?  

maybe the EU has a search engine that is being squeezed out so that cannot happen?

Do they want a return to 'Ask Jeeves? ' for those with long memories. Have they had a back hander from Bing?

Will the EU fine microsoft Windows for market domination?

Ebays insistence on paypal?

Hopefully Google will now charge everyone in the EU for use of its services and platforms and relocate completely to the UK in this region. Burying the EU in an appeal of algorithms should last decades.

The EU upholds 'Free' trade only when it suits them. Naturally there is no such thing as a free lunch without strings of some kind.

(and yes years back i voted for a 'Common Market' not domination by the back door by 2 European countries)

[theelench]

I don't even remember what that fine was for,  I assume you're talking about another one.

My view is still the same.  Fines will not create competition, only buyers and sellers can do that.  Google or ebay handing over large sums of money to the EU will only make ordinary people poorer.

[upthecreekyetagain]

Fines may however help put buyers and sellers in a position where ‘fair’ competition is generated.

This article helps explain why the fine has been imposed.

Ms Vestager alleges that there are three ways that Google has acted illegally:

• it required Android handset and tablet manufacturers to pre-install the Google Search app and its own web browser Chrome as a condition for allowing them to offer access to its Play app store
• it made payments to large manufacturers and mobile network operators that agreed to exclusively pre-install the Google Search app on their devices
• it prevented manufacturers from selling any smart devices powered by alternative "forked" versions of Android by threatening to refuse them permission to pre-install its apps

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44858238

[theelench]

I notice you parenthethisise "fair".

In my view these giant corporations are guaranteed to be anti-social in one way or another and should probably be fined for something or other on a regular basis.