4 ms·

Once again a click-bait headline that misses why these companies domination continues to grow. First - a link to actual FAQ: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fulfillm

Once again a click-bait headline that misses why these companies domination continues to grow. First - a link to actual FAQ: https://www.reddit.com/r/FulfillmentByAmazon/comments/cl7jll/sold_by_amazon_sba_faq/ https://www.reddit.com/r/FulfillmentByAmazon/comments/cl7jll... Second: This is an OPT-IN offer to sellers who want it. Third: Amazon will be seller of record. That means Amazon will handle all sales tax issues. That alone is a big win. Amazon is handling all return costs (huh?). So in short run until that changes another win. Amazon probably thinks they can do a better job pricing products than sellers, increasing the cut for both parties potentially. I'll let reader decide if amazon has any skills in pricing. This continues a trend towards automation that amazon has adopted when they think computers can do (on average) a better job than people. If this is a stupid idea, ebay won't copy it. If it isn't a stupid idea - look for SBE (sold by Ebay) in the future :)

lonelappde 7y ago
This seems like it's moving FBA to "traditional" Amazon retail, with a migration plan that makes sense for people who already know FBA.
bertil 7y ago
I don’t think the problem here is that Amazon is doing something unhelpful. Of course, they have more information than anyone and can set prices better. The issue is that (according to legal theories on anti-trust) market control, no matter how helpful, is anti-competitive in the long run. Even if companies don’t have to set their own prices, they would be crazy not to: over-price and they don’t sell anything; under-price and they leave money on the table. I know those rules sound like we are punishing success and good service but the idea is that if a company dominates, no one will challenge them. The service won’t improve or innovate, new companies won’t be able to scale to prove their ideas. It has happened repeatedly in the past, for beloved services. Thinking about those things dynamically helps.
- dwild 7y ago
  > over-price and they don’t sell anything Well, that depends on the service itself. I often buy from Amazon not because it's cheaper, but because I know that shipping will be quick, even if it's imported the charge won't be taken by the carrier with an absurdly high fee, that if something has to be returned it will be easy. I even usually avoid third-party sellers on Amazon because of that, even if they are much cheaper. > under-price and they leave money on the table You just said that overprice and they won't sell anything. Seems like the alternative isn't money on the table but nothing at all on the table. > if a company dominates, no one will challenge them I think that's the wrong part. If someone can do just as good or better than Amazon, they'll do it. Amazon is the proof itself, there's so many products that still have third party on Amazon itself that compete against Amazon. This option will just let Amazon have access to a bigger inventory for a lower cost than owning it themselves... That's not a huge advantage. I'm sure their algorithmns are already pretty good to balance the right amount of stock.
- Spooky23 7y ago
  Anti-trust is dead. DoJ won’t pursue, and a company like Amazon would probably kill future action in the Supreme Court.
dddddaviddddd 7y ago
Interestingly, when selling on eBay currently the initial values for starting bid and buy it now price are autopopulated by eBay. Seems a trend in this direction.
RyanAF7 7y ago
Not sure how this wouldn't be considered price fixing or anti-competitive behavior. Prices are key to free market efficiencies and market for loanable funds. Amazon really has a marvellous way of being completely anti-capitalist while appearing as it's golden child, too. Amazon is a scam. Jeff Bezos has succeeded where Jeff Skilling failed.
- privateSFacct 7y ago
  Huh? Because Amazon moved from selling products (and setting 100% of prices) to inviting competition from new and USED products, including letting those compete against its own listings - we are going to bust them for anti-competitive behavior? There are entire catagories of product where you can save a ton with almost no loss of function by buying used. Amazon has lowered per unit cost on everything from ebooks to other products because they have data showing increases in demand will beat out loss of net margin. They've sued publishers to try and drive down prices or be able to set lower prices than publishers want. They will generally accept much lower margins than a corner retail store. They offer all you can eat books (KindleUnlimited) which dramatically LOWERS the per unit cost of books for heavy readers. Same thing with Prime, they are driving a far far lower per unit cost with movies and music. The worry should be that Amazon has been an absolutely ruthless competitor since day one. Good union jobs at UPS may be threatened if Amazon thinks it can do the job cheaper with dirty renta-vans and contractors. Any high margin business out there should be a little worried - for example, pharmacists making $175K+/year should wonder what happens if Amazon does 2 hr delivery of Rx with computerized interaction screening. And this is all clearly anti-competitive? They have a whole platform around de-skilling and automation. Their warehouse workers are told, literally second by second where to go and what to do - fully sequenced and monitored including discipline. This doesn't strike me as a process that will increase prices. They also do seem to screw - not their customer, but merchant partners from time to time. Customer says product was defective to avoid a return shipment fee. This is actually pretty common. The warehouse DOES NOT do much screening to see if this is true. The customer is not asked for specific details. I'm sure some customer accounts are cancelled over abuse related to this but it seems likely to be low given the number of folks doing this.
  - 7y ago
blairanderson 7y ago
I run a consulting company for Amazon suppliers[0], and that reddit post you linked to was mine. 100% agree with you, the click-bait is totally FUD. This program is not a big deal and won't hurt anyone. I was actually contacted by 2 different journalist (CNBC,WashingtonPost) and both were dying to turn this into an Antitrust article. I didn't really see it that way but agreed it could help LESSEN antitrust liability by being OPT-IN. [0] https://www.andersonassociates.net https://www.andersonassociates.net
- dbuder 7y ago
  It is an antitrust issue when discoverability of non sold by Amazon products drops etc.

lonelappde 7y ago

This seems like it's moving FBA to "traditional" Amazon retail, with a migration plan that makes sense for people who already know FBA.

bertil 7y ago

I don’t think the problem here is that Amazon is doing something unhelpful. Of course, they have more information than anyone and can set prices better. The issue is that (according to legal theories on anti-trust) market control, no matter how helpful, is anti-competitive in the long run. Even if companies don’t have to set their own prices, they would be crazy not to: over-price and they don’t sell anything; under-price and they leave money on the table. I know those rules sound like we are punishing success and good service but the idea is that if a company dominates, no one will challenge them. The service won’t improve or innovate, new companies won’t be able to scale to prove their ideas. It has happened repeatedly in the past, for beloved services. Thinking about those things dynamically helps.

dwild 7y ago
> over-price and they don’t sell anything Well, that depends on the service itself. I often buy from Amazon not because it's cheaper, but because I know that shipping will be quick, even if it's imported the charge won't be taken by the carrier with an absurdly high fee, that if something has to be returned it will be easy. I even usually avoid third-party sellers on Amazon because of that, even if they are much cheaper. > under-price and they leave money on the table You just said that overprice and they won't sell anything. Seems like the alternative isn't money on the table but nothing at all on the table. > if a company dominates, no one will challenge them I think that's the wrong part. If someone can do just as good or better than Amazon, they'll do it. Amazon is the proof itself, there's so many products that still have third party on Amazon itself that compete against Amazon. This option will just let Amazon have access to a bigger inventory for a lower cost than owning it themselves... That's not a huge advantage. I'm sure their algorithmns are already pretty good to balance the right amount of stock.
Spooky23 7y ago
Anti-trust is dead. DoJ won’t pursue, and a company like Amazon would probably kill future action in the Supreme Court.

dddddaviddddd 7y ago

Interestingly, when selling on eBay currently the initial values for starting bid and buy it now price are autopopulated by eBay. Seems a trend in this direction.

RyanAF7 7y ago

Not sure how this wouldn't be considered price fixing or anti-competitive behavior. Prices are key to free market efficiencies and market for loanable funds. Amazon really has a marvellous way of being completely anti-capitalist while appearing as it's golden child, too. Amazon is a scam. Jeff Bezos has succeeded where Jeff Skilling failed.

privateSFacct 7y ago
Huh? Because Amazon moved from selling products (and setting 100% of prices) to inviting competition from new and USED products, including letting those compete against its own listings - we are going to bust them for anti-competitive behavior? There are entire catagories of product where you can save a ton with almost no loss of function by buying used. Amazon has lowered per unit cost on everything from ebooks to other products because they have data showing increases in demand will beat out loss of net margin. They've sued publishers to try and drive down prices or be able to set lower prices than publishers want. They will generally accept much lower margins than a corner retail store. They offer all you can eat books (KindleUnlimited) which dramatically LOWERS the per unit cost of books for heavy readers. Same thing with Prime, they are driving a far far lower per unit cost with movies and music. The worry should be that Amazon has been an absolutely ruthless competitor since day one. Good union jobs at UPS may be threatened if Amazon thinks it can do the job cheaper with dirty renta-vans and contractors. Any high margin business out there should be a little worried - for example, pharmacists making $175K+/year should wonder what happens if Amazon does 2 hr delivery of Rx with computerized interaction screening. And this is all clearly anti-competitive? They have a whole platform around de-skilling and automation. Their warehouse workers are told, literally second by second where to go and what to do - fully sequenced and monitored including discipline. This doesn't strike me as a process that will increase prices. They also do seem to screw - not their customer, but merchant partners from time to time. Customer says product was defective to avoid a return shipment fee. This is actually pretty common. The warehouse DOES NOT do much screening to see if this is true. The customer is not asked for specific details. I'm sure some customer accounts are cancelled over abuse related to this but it seems likely to be low given the number of folks doing this.
- 7y ago

blairanderson 7y ago

I run a consulting company for Amazon suppliers[0], and that reddit post you linked to was mine. 100% agree with you, the click-bait is totally FUD. This program is not a big deal and won't hurt anyone. I was actually contacted by 2 different journalist (CNBC,WashingtonPost) and both were dying to turn this into an Antitrust article. I didn't really see it that way but agreed it could help LESSEN antitrust liability by being OPT-IN. [0] https://www.andersonassociates.net https://www.andersonassociates.net

dbuder 7y ago
It is an antitrust issue when discoverability of non sold by Amazon products drops etc.