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This is the exact reason why Shopify grew rapidly. Sellers knew they needed a platform where they own the data and could abstract the operations outside of Amaz

This is the exact reason why Shopify grew rapidly. Sellers knew they needed a platform where they own the data and could abstract the operations outside of Amazon seller dashboard. People also forget that Amazon doesn't have to pay to advertise its own products, but 3rd party sellers do. This immediately puts you at a disadvantage if you want your product at the top since you pay seller commission and advertising fees to Amazon. Next time you want to buy something from Amazon, I would encourage you to find the seller's website directly or find them on eBay. eBay charges less seller fees and is not in the business of selling products directly.

chrischen 7y ago
Amazon does have to pay. It is an opportunity cost to them.
- theturtletalks 7y ago
  Sure, another seller could take their spot and they are potentially losing that ad money, but with their strategy, they can price out anyone since they don't pay seller commissions either.
  - chrischen 7y ago
    It's not as if seller commissions are purely an invented cost. They charge them because it's not a free service they provide, even for themselves.
IG_Semmelweiss 7y ago
shopify is collecting a lot of data for all web interactions in their customer's websites. What it does with this info, is anyone's guess. There was a pretty explosive article a few days ago in HN. Shopify may not be amazon yet, but it is certainly learning to be that way.
alaskamiller 7y ago
With Shopify you don't pay ~20% sales commission to Amazon per se, but you sure as heck will end up paying for that if not more to Facebook. Where by FB has no direct incentive, yet. It could be a FB Marketplace PM team someone has already copied Shopify outright and is just waiting for the right time to roll that out to all FB user worldwide. With Amazon Marketplace the strategy has always been to convert customers off that platform into your own. Most top listings in most niches/categories are priced for break even inclusive of the multitudes of keyword PPC campaigns they're running with the hope that you leave a review and that you actually pay attention to the little postcard that comes inside the package asking you to register your email address. Both games suck tbh.
- partiallypro 7y ago
  I think Shopify should experiment with a centralized market place where stores can opt in. If you opt in, your store items are listed in a central location searchable in at single point, just like Amazon. Your item listing in the central market place merely directs you to YOUR branded store, allowing you to check out, and see your other products. That solves a huge problem of visibility that Amazon has mastered.
  - theturtletalks 7y ago
    Shopify already has sales channels that users can tap into like Amazon and eBay. If they themselves build a marketplace, I'm sure those channels will opt out.
  - mlthoughts2018 7y ago
    I’m not sure it would be easy. Large hosting platforms like GoDaddy, Wix or Squarespace could try this too, but it puts you inherently at odds with your own customers. If I pay you to host my site where I sell my products, but you index me into the central sales portal in a bad way, I’ll be pissed. Kind of like restaurants on Seamless. It comes off as deep rent seeking - instead of helping me succeed, which is the real mission of most of these types of companies, you’re creating an artificially scarce resource (visibility within your central sales index) where now I have to pay you an arbitrary tax just to compete. Immediately makes customers want to leave.
julianlam 7y ago
> Next time you want to buy something from Amazon, I would encourage you to find the seller's website directly or find them on eBay. eBay charges less seller fees and is not in the business of selling products directly. Last time I bought an item off eBay, it arrived shipped via Amazon Prime. Pretty sure the seller just bought it off Amazon and shipped it to my house... it was a weird turn of events. It wasn't a branded item, just a third-party battery replacement for a cordless phone, but still.
- yojo 7y ago
  This is a common arbitrage tactic. Seller carries no inventory, lists multiple products on eBay for slightly higher than the Amazon price, and buys/ships from Amazon if anyone buys the eBay listing.
  - ianmcgowan 7y ago
    This happened to me, payed $110 for a ski jacket, get an amazon box and lookup the price on amazon - $80. I had to applaud the eBay seller for their hustle..
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - Spooky23 7y ago
    It’s a money laundering thing too. There was a story in my area a few years ago where people had some sort of scheme to convert Amazon gift cards into cash via EBay.
    - eloff 7y ago
      I stumbled across an anonymous payment processor that accepts all kinds of shady business, like online casinos and escorts. They accept payment via gift cards to Amazon and elsewhere. Maybe this is how they convert that into cash. I was puzzled about how that would work.
    - 7y ago
abtinf 7y ago
I suggest you research the topic of "transfer pricing".

chrischen 7y ago

Amazon does have to pay. It is an opportunity cost to them.

theturtletalks 7y ago
Sure, another seller could take their spot and they are potentially losing that ad money, but with their strategy, they can price out anyone since they don't pay seller commissions either.
- chrischen 7y ago
  It's not as if seller commissions are purely an invented cost. They charge them because it's not a free service they provide, even for themselves.

IG_Semmelweiss 7y ago

shopify is collecting a lot of data for all web interactions in their customer's websites. What it does with this info, is anyone's guess. There was a pretty explosive article a few days ago in HN. Shopify may not be amazon yet, but it is certainly learning to be that way.

alaskamiller 7y ago

With Shopify you don't pay ~20% sales commission to Amazon per se, but you sure as heck will end up paying for that if not more to Facebook. Where by FB has no direct incentive, yet. It could be a FB Marketplace PM team someone has already copied Shopify outright and is just waiting for the right time to roll that out to all FB user worldwide. With Amazon Marketplace the strategy has always been to convert customers off that platform into your own. Most top listings in most niches/categories are priced for break even inclusive of the multitudes of keyword PPC campaigns they're running with the hope that you leave a review and that you actually pay attention to the little postcard that comes inside the package asking you to register your email address. Both games suck tbh.

partiallypro 7y ago
I think Shopify should experiment with a centralized market place where stores can opt in. If you opt in, your store items are listed in a central location searchable in at single point, just like Amazon. Your item listing in the central market place merely directs you to YOUR branded store, allowing you to check out, and see your other products. That solves a huge problem of visibility that Amazon has mastered.
- theturtletalks 7y ago
  Shopify already has sales channels that users can tap into like Amazon and eBay. If they themselves build a marketplace, I'm sure those channels will opt out.
- mlthoughts2018 7y ago
  I’m not sure it would be easy. Large hosting platforms like GoDaddy, Wix or Squarespace could try this too, but it puts you inherently at odds with your own customers. If I pay you to host my site where I sell my products, but you index me into the central sales portal in a bad way, I’ll be pissed. Kind of like restaurants on Seamless. It comes off as deep rent seeking - instead of helping me succeed, which is the real mission of most of these types of companies, you’re creating an artificially scarce resource (visibility within your central sales index) where now I have to pay you an arbitrary tax just to compete. Immediately makes customers want to leave.

julianlam 7y ago

> Next time you want to buy something from Amazon, I would encourage you to find the seller's website directly or find them on eBay. eBay charges less seller fees and is not in the business of selling products directly. Last time I bought an item off eBay, it arrived shipped via Amazon Prime. Pretty sure the seller just bought it off Amazon and shipped it to my house... it was a weird turn of events. It wasn't a branded item, just a third-party battery replacement for a cordless phone, but still.

yojo 7y ago
This is a common arbitrage tactic. Seller carries no inventory, lists multiple products on eBay for slightly higher than the Amazon price, and buys/ships from Amazon if anyone buys the eBay listing.
- ianmcgowan 7y ago
  This happened to me, payed $110 for a ski jacket, get an amazon box and lookup the price on amazon - $80. I had to applaud the eBay seller for their hustle..
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- Spooky23 7y ago
  It’s a money laundering thing too. There was a story in my area a few years ago where people had some sort of scheme to convert Amazon gift cards into cash via EBay.
  - eloff 7y ago
    I stumbled across an anonymous payment processor that accepts all kinds of shady business, like online casinos and escorts. They accept payment via gift cards to Amazon and elsewhere. Maybe this is how they convert that into cash. I was puzzled about how that would work.
  - 7y ago

abtinf 7y ago

I suggest you research the topic of "transfer pricing".