The Biggest Abuser of Forced Arbitration Is Amazon ⇥ prospect.org

Amazon may be foregoing forced arbitration for users, but there is no such relief for sellers on its platform. David Dayen, writing for the American Prospect in 2019:

All of Amazon’s third-party sellers, responsible for more than half of total sales on the website, must sign a contract that commits them to mandatory arbitration in the event of a dispute. “We each agree that any dispute resolution proceedings will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated or representative action,” the arbitration clause reads, meaning that no seller can team up with others similarly situated to bring a complaint. Court trials are also waived.

Amazon users and DoorDash couriers have written the recipe for disincentivizing the pernicious obligation to use these private courts that create no legal precedent with each case and often require non-disclosure agreements with settlements: flood them with cases.