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This is not true in my experience. I work for a medium sized CPG in their eCommerce department. We were clearing many millions of dollars through Amazon 1P a co

This is not true in my experience. I work for a medium sized CPG in their eCommerce department. We were clearing many millions of dollars through Amazon 1P a couple years ago, but it was nowhere near 20% of our business. Amazon asked for ridiculous price cuts and we walked away. It hurt but there's no point in selling on a platform through which we are not profitable. On a personal level I hate Walmart and their business practices. Not much of a fan of Target either. But, on a professional level, I'm excited to see their marketplaces take off. Amazon is absolutely horrible to work with and their tools for sellers are obnoxious at best. I'd love to see some real competitors in this space.

socalnate1 7y ago
I think you just proved the OP's point. It was nowhere near 20% of your business, so you could walk away.
- zeroego 7y ago
  I feel like OP's quote was saying that the "seller" is beholden to amazon because it's 20% of their business. Amazon realizes this and then puts the proverbial squeeze on them and forces them to lower their prices. What I was saying was we were nowhere near 20% and amazon still tried to squeeze us to a point not being profitable. So what I'm contesting is that amazon is smart about when they try and get more money out of you. They are trying to do it constantly on the 1p platform regardless of the size of your involvement with them.
  - socalnate1 7y ago
    Ah, gotcha. Thanks for clarifying.
shostack 7y ago
How do those conversations typically go in the real world? Is it an actual meeting w/ a buyer agent there? An automated message? If a live conversation is it a fairly hostile "look at all the sales we're driving for you. Give us this price or they go away because we have all the leverage here"? Or is it a bit more of a back and forth? Curious to hear any real world examples of how that typically goes.
- zeroego 7y ago
  I'm sorry I didn't see this reply. Amazon assigns an account manager to essentially squeeze you as much as possible from day 1. We were amicable at first, but they just kept asking for bigger and bigger discounts. After we flatly refused the account managers pricing for a couple of months in a row the 1P PO's just stopped showing up one day, the manager didn't pick up their phone, and that was that. We have since re-established our 1P relationship and our new account manager seems to be more understanding. Time will only tell.

socalnate1 7y ago

I think you just proved the OP's point. It was nowhere near 20% of your business, so you could walk away.

zeroego 7y ago
I feel like OP's quote was saying that the "seller" is beholden to amazon because it's 20% of their business. Amazon realizes this and then puts the proverbial squeeze on them and forces them to lower their prices. What I was saying was we were nowhere near 20% and amazon still tried to squeeze us to a point not being profitable. So what I'm contesting is that amazon is smart about when they try and get more money out of you. They are trying to do it constantly on the 1p platform regardless of the size of your involvement with them.
- socalnate1 7y ago
  Ah, gotcha. Thanks for clarifying.

shostack 7y ago

How do those conversations typically go in the real world? Is it an actual meeting w/ a buyer agent there? An automated message? If a live conversation is it a fairly hostile "look at all the sales we're driving for you. Give us this price or they go away because we have all the leverage here"? Or is it a bit more of a back and forth? Curious to hear any real world examples of how that typically goes.

zeroego 7y ago
I'm sorry I didn't see this reply. Amazon assigns an account manager to essentially squeeze you as much as possible from day 1. We were amicable at first, but they just kept asking for bigger and bigger discounts. After we flatly refused the account managers pricing for a couple of months in a row the 1P PO's just stopped showing up one day, the manager didn't pick up their phone, and that was that. We have since re-established our 1P relationship and our new account manager seems to be more understanding. Time will only tell.