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How much to offer to and gain from their customers is a balance that every company has to strike. They choose the balance not out of the goodness of heart, but
by dabei 9y ago
How much to offer to and gain from their customers is a balance that every company has to strike. They choose the balance not out of the goodness of heart, but as a way to optimize their long term reward, given the regulation and competitive landscape. What we get from Amazon is about as much as what we can reasonably expect in the current environment. It will probably stay this way until new competition comes.
- wpietri 9y agoWhat I'm concerned about is a conflict of interest. When they just sold things, they had a very clear way to gain from me: setting prices so that they were profitable. I'm told their margins have definitely crept up from the early days, but I'm fine with that. But that's different than them selling me as a product to other people. I can pretty easily evaluate prices and shop somewhere else if I think Amazon's are too high. If, though, they are selling the ability to manipulate me, that's intentionally hard for me to notice and price. Once they're selling the power to shape my behavior, suddenly they're not on my side anymore. I can't trust them as much, because for any given interaction, it's not clear whether they aim to serve me or aim to serve me to somebody else.