The author makes the assumption that some buyers will pick the higher rated seller. This can certainly happen, but almost everyone buys from whichever seller Am

The author makes the assumption that some buyers will pick the higher rated seller. This can certainly happen, but almost everyone buys from whichever seller Amazon puts in the buy box and so this would lead to virtually zero sales. However the buy box does not always list the cheapest price. Amazon uses seller rating as a large portion of the decision of who gets that buy box. By having a better seller rating and a higher price, Amazon will sometimes give you the buy box and you will get the sale. So in the end this method works not because the buyer is shrewd with regards to seller ratings, but because Amazon doesn't always suggest the lowest price. If you always want the best price you need to click through to look at all sellers.