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So it seems to me that they are accusing Amazon for something that is common practice for all big retailers: private label products. At this point, it is hard

by nickpp 6y ago

So it seems to me that they are accusing Amazon for something that is common practice for all big retailers: private label products. At this point, it is hard to believe EU is attacking big tech companies for anything else rather than the fact that they are American...

ethanwillis 6y ago
Retailers aren't marketplaces. They're retailers. Generally they're buying goods from manufacturers to stock their shelves. Amazon isn't doing that.
- repsilat 6y ago
  Is that an important distinction? Near as I can tell the main differences are, - It's probably easier for merchants to sell in a marketplace than through a retailer, and - Suppliers probably get paid by retailers earlier than they get paid by marketplaces. Though neither point is necessarily true, and I'm not really sure there's a hard distinction to be made, and I'm not convinced any difference is morally important here. I could be wrong on any of those points though, and would be glad to hear why if I am.
  - gamblor956 6y ago
    It's a huge difference, and pretty much the heart of the matter: retailers pay for inventory, marketplaces do not. Of course if you ignore the primary distinguishing factor they look the same. It's like how a non techie can look at a laptop and call it an ipad.
- dredmorbius 6y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25046673 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25046673
ocdtrekkie 6y ago
The ludicrous claim that Europe's regulators are going after American companies can be easily dismissed by paying attention to Congress: Our own government has been asking questions about the same concerns about the same companies. The most significant difference though between our government and Europe's though is that Europe's is still functional. So when Europe is regulating our companies, we should realize they had to because we failed to do so ourselves.
alkonaut 6y ago
> So it seems to me that they are accusing Amazon for something that is common practice for all big retailers: private label products. Amazon isn't just a big retailer acting in a market. It's so big it is its own market. Authorities should ensure a fair market. When one actor becomes a market, then it's reasonable to apply a different set of rules from the set applied to everyone else.

by nickpp 6y ago

ethanwillis 6y ago

Retailers aren't marketplaces. They're retailers. Generally they're buying goods from manufacturers to stock their shelves. Amazon isn't doing that.

repsilat 6y ago
Is that an important distinction? Near as I can tell the main differences are, - It's probably easier for merchants to sell in a marketplace than through a retailer, and - Suppliers probably get paid by retailers earlier than they get paid by marketplaces. Though neither point is necessarily true, and I'm not really sure there's a hard distinction to be made, and I'm not convinced any difference is morally important here. I could be wrong on any of those points though, and would be glad to hear why if I am.
- gamblor956 6y ago
  It's a huge difference, and pretty much the heart of the matter: retailers pay for inventory, marketplaces do not. Of course if you ignore the primary distinguishing factor they look the same. It's like how a non techie can look at a laptop and call it an ipad.
dredmorbius 6y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25046673 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25046673

ocdtrekkie 6y ago

The ludicrous claim that Europe's regulators are going after American companies can be easily dismissed by paying attention to Congress: Our own government has been asking questions about the same concerns about the same companies. The most significant difference though between our government and Europe's though is that Europe's is still functional. So when Europe is regulating our companies, we should realize they had to because we failed to do so ourselves.

alkonaut 6y ago

> So it seems to me that they are accusing Amazon for something that is common practice for all big retailers: private label products. Amazon isn't just a big retailer acting in a market. It's so big it is its own market. Authorities should ensure a fair market. When one actor becomes a market, then it's reasonable to apply a different set of rules from the set applied to everyone else.