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I might be misinterpreting the article, but the first two paragraphs specifically describe the over-abundance of marketplace sellers offering similar and someti

I might be misinterpreting the article, but the first two paragraphs specifically describe the over-abundance of marketplace sellers offering similar and sometimes identical products. They're using the same seller platform - Amazon - but that doesn't seem the same as lacking marketplace options as a consumer. Not sure if it's a perfect analogy, but if we compare the Amazon marketplace to a giant flea market, I think the claim that consumers need a reasonably high level of 'savvy' to operate effectively is pretty easy to defend. When there are lots of sellers, lots of noise, and difficulty verifying quality, the consumer will frequently lose out despite the surplus of marketplace options.

benj111 4y ago
Well there's 'Amazon', the market it provides. But there's also Amazon itself. Amazon itself doesn't really have competition. Therefore there's no insentive for it to clean up it's listings, protect consumers from bad actors or generally help consumers in anyway. If Amazon had to actually compete to attract customers to its platform then it would improve the experience. Your own example proves the point. Flea markets might be cheap to run for the owner, but would people go there by choice if there were a superior alternative?