VIDEO: Amazon Promotion 'Parasitic'

There's a raging river of annoyance streaming from local retailers over Amazon's latest promotion.

Starting at 9 tonight through Saturday at midnight, the online giant is offering a 5 percent discount on select items that customers must first find in bricks-and-mortar stores.

Here's how it works. You use Amazon's Price Check App on your smartphone to scan the prices of toys, sporting goods, music CDs, and DVDs you find in physical stores. Amazon will then give you 5 percent off each item if you buy it from them. The maximum discount is $15.

The promotion has local retailers – including those in Exeter – seeing red. They argue their stores are basically being used as "showrooms" for Amazon's profit.

Though the deal does not apply to books, it annoyed Dan Chartrand, owner of Exeter's .

"(Amazon) is a complete parasite," he said.

Amazon has long drawn criticism for – among other things – avoiding collecting state sales taxes.

In a statement, the Retail Industry Leaders Association went so far as to call for congressional action:

Amazon’s aggressive promotion of its Price Check App shows the lengths they are willing to go to exploit this tax loophole, and is a stark reminder of why Congress needs to act to protect retailers on Main Street.

Amazon defended the price check promotion in a statement to the Christian Science Monitor:

(The promotion) means that you can save money on the products you want and that’s a great thing for customers ... (these) deals are another incentive to shop smart this holiday season.