The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is concerned that the algorithms used by online retail marketplaces may not promote fair and competitive forums for buyers and sellers. An investigation found that companies like Amazon Oz, eBay Oz, Kogan and Catch use coded wizardry to provide preferential treatment to the marketplace’s own products. And it’s no small change – in 2020-21 these companies saw $8.4 billion in sales, a rise of 21% from the previous year. “Online marketplaces need to be more transparent with consumers and sellers about how they operate,” ACCC boss Gina Cass-Gotlieb said, including why their search functions promote some products over others. The report also noted that the large amounts of consumer data collected and used by these companies is a lot – another thing users should be told more about, Cass-Gotlieb said.