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> "illegal" because Amazon uses their non-retail business profits to identify high selling items, produce them themselves, sell them at a lower price (because

> "illegal" because Amazon uses their non-retail business profits to identify high selling items, produce them themselves, sell them at a lower price (because they have all the data also), and finally steer customers to those products. They're the market place and a player. This new idea isn't well defined in law, but using your profits from one company to undercut another area is illegal. > "by the rules" is the same idea as "illegal", and even if they're not, the point she's trying to make is the fact they are not breaking rules should be setting off alarm bells because... > "but why is that a concern of the government?" because America loves the free market, and big business is the enemy of it.

mal10c 8y ago
I see what you're saying about the first part (the illegal part), thanks for your thoughts on that. I do disagree with your last comment though: > because America loves the free market, and big business is the enemy of it. Sure big businesses can raise prices and cause consumers to pay more. But big businesses can also lower prices too by investing in technologies that save money - which we see all the time. So I guess I don't see big business as the enemy of the free market, after all, there's nothing forcing me to buy from big company A, even if they have a monopoly on a product. The reason is, in a free market, I'm free to discover and pursue ways to side step a monopoly. I don't need the government to help me do that.
plandis 8y ago
> and finally steer customers to those products Do you have data that shows this actually happens? Everything else you stated before this part is a win for consumers in my mind. More competitors is generally a good thing.
elamje 8y ago
To your first point - Walmart, Target, and almost all Grocery stores in the southern US have private labels for significantly cheaper than name brand labels. They are the market place and players. And they also drive traffic to their products via website and shelf placement. If you say amazon is illegal here, you can’t simply ignore almost all big players are. Not sure that’s illegal anyways since the consumer has plenty of choices at Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc. Historically with Walmart and Target being players and the marketplace, have you seen that damage the consumer? Largely consumers end up getting commodity goods for cheaper, and the goods that are specialized/branded for roughly equivalent prices to other marketplaces.

mal10c 8y ago

I see what you're saying about the first part (the illegal part), thanks for your thoughts on that. I do disagree with your last comment though: > because America loves the free market, and big business is the enemy of it. Sure big businesses can raise prices and cause consumers to pay more. But big businesses can also lower prices too by investing in technologies that save money - which we see all the time. So I guess I don't see big business as the enemy of the free market, after all, there's nothing forcing me to buy from big company A, even if they have a monopoly on a product. The reason is, in a free market, I'm free to discover and pursue ways to side step a monopoly. I don't need the government to help me do that.

plandis 8y ago

> and finally steer customers to those products Do you have data that shows this actually happens? Everything else you stated before this part is a win for consumers in my mind. More competitors is generally a good thing.

elamje 8y ago

To your first point - Walmart, Target, and almost all Grocery stores in the southern US have private labels for significantly cheaper than name brand labels. They are the market place and players. And they also drive traffic to their products via website and shelf placement. If you say amazon is illegal here, you can’t simply ignore almost all big players are. Not sure that’s illegal anyways since the consumer has plenty of choices at Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc. Historically with Walmart and Target being players and the marketplace, have you seen that damage the consumer? Largely consumers end up getting commodity goods for cheaper, and the goods that are specialized/branded for roughly equivalent prices to other marketplaces.