4 ms·

"Now, if this were all that was happening, sellers and brands could just sell outside of Amazon, avoid the 35-45% commission, and charge a lower price to entice

by aimor 5y ago

"Now, if this were all that was happening, sellers and brands could just sell outside of Amazon, avoid the 35-45% commission, and charge a lower price to entice customers. “Buy Cheaper at Walmart.com!” should be in ads all over the web. But it’s not. And that’s where the main claim from Racine comes in. Amazon uses its Buy Box algorithm to make sure that sellers can’t sell through a different store or even through their own site with a lower price and access Amazon customers, even if they would be able to sell it more cheaply. If they do, they get cut off from the Buy Box, and thus, cut off de facto from being able to sell on Amazon." This was the missing piece for me. Would like to see more specifics about how Amazon does this.

cptskippy 5y ago
I came here to say the same thing. That seems to be the key point of their argument and it's glossed over in two sentences. Unless Amazon is punitively punishing sellers who sell off site cheaper, it doesn't seem like there's much there. They mentioned the "algorithm" which seems to imply this isn't an agreement entered into by the seller. Is Amazon crawling other market places to check seller prices against their site? Couldn't sellers circumvent this by using a different name? This allegation is put forth without any supporting evidence and, considering the amount of crummy things sellers do on Amazon already, it seems trivial to circumvent.
- arrosenberg 5y ago
  > Is Amazon crawling other market places to check seller prices against their site? I didn't sell directly on Amazon for long enough to find out, but from talking to other merchants, I understand that they were/are doing this. IMO, even if the merchants enter into those terms willingly, it's still anticompetitive. Amazon is effectively creating a protectionist trade zone like the British used to enact in the 1760s and 1770s. The merchants enter into it because the alternative is "don't trade with a huge portion of the market" and also maybe face predatory attacks from Amazon-friendly merchants.
  - cptskippy 5y ago
    Yeah it's definitely anticompetitive but I find it strange there's no evidence to back the claim up.

by aimor 5y ago

cptskippy 5y ago

I came here to say the same thing. That seems to be the key point of their argument and it's glossed over in two sentences. Unless Amazon is punitively punishing sellers who sell off site cheaper, it doesn't seem like there's much there. They mentioned the "algorithm" which seems to imply this isn't an agreement entered into by the seller. Is Amazon crawling other market places to check seller prices against their site? Couldn't sellers circumvent this by using a different name? This allegation is put forth without any supporting evidence and, considering the amount of crummy things sellers do on Amazon already, it seems trivial to circumvent.

arrosenberg 5y ago
> Is Amazon crawling other market places to check seller prices against their site? I didn't sell directly on Amazon for long enough to find out, but from talking to other merchants, I understand that they were/are doing this. IMO, even if the merchants enter into those terms willingly, it's still anticompetitive. Amazon is effectively creating a protectionist trade zone like the British used to enact in the 1760s and 1770s. The merchants enter into it because the alternative is "don't trade with a huge portion of the market" and also maybe face predatory attacks from Amazon-friendly merchants.
- cptskippy 5y ago
  Yeah it's definitely anticompetitive but I find it strange there's no evidence to back the claim up.