5 ms·
And, like all middlemen, they very much deserve their cut. What are you going to do with that pile of books in your cellar if there's no bookshop to sell them
by swombat 16y ago
And, like all middlemen, they very much deserve their cut.
What are you going to do with that pile of books in your cellar if there's no bookshop to sell them for you? Open your own single-book store?
If you build a store, you should certainly get a healthy cut of what you sell through your store.
- Maascamp 16y agoI certainly wouldn't generalize that to _ALL_ middle men. Have you heard about sub prime mortgages..?
- swombat 16y agoOk, probably not all. Let's say "many".
- msy 16y agoThe problem isn't the existence of middle men, it's when oligopolies form that can bully producers and consumers alike and in the process stifle innovation and creativity.
- gyardley 16y agoOf course middlemen deserve a healthy cut. The issue here isn't whether Amazon deserves a cut, it's whether their incentives are aligned with the developers who use their platform. Amazon's control over pricing allows it to make decisions beneficial to the platform as a whole but potentially harmful to the individual developer. Incentives are never going to be perfectly aligned, but letting the developer control pricing would make them a lot more aligned than they are now.
- Retric 16y ago10% is a healthy cut 30% when they are not subsidizing the platform is a slap in the face. 30% and they get to restrict what you do with other platforms AND control your price structure is insane. Under these terms you any developer that uses Amazon marketplace is stupid. They might make slightly more money in the sort term but you are giving up huge long term gains. PS: I am seriously considering boycotting Amazon over this.