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>The complaint alleges that Amazon violates the law not because it is big, but because it engages in a course of exclusionary conduct that prevents current comp
by fasthands9 3y ago
>The complaint alleges that Amazon violates the law not because it is big, but because it engages in a course of exclusionary conduct that prevents current competitors from growing and new competitors from emerging
>Anti-discounting measures that punish sellers and deter other online retailers from offering prices lower than Amazon, keeping prices higher for products across the internet. For example, if Amazon discovers that a seller is offering lower-priced goods elsewhere, Amazon can bury discounting sellers so far down in Amazon’s search results that they become effectively invisible.
I feel like ultimately they are accused of violations because they are big. I don't think that's the worst thing. But as others have pointed out - their tactics are very similar to deals grocery stores and retailers make with suppliers all the time. The only difference seems to be that Amazon is big enough that suppliers can't legitimately threaten to take their business to another store - because there isn't one.
Their complaints that Amazon makes prices higher for products across the internet is clearly only true because they are so big.
- autoexec 3y agoMaybe they are only so big because their anti-competitive behaviors have kept alternatives from taking their users. I'd love to be able to stop giving amazon as much money as I do, and I know a lot of people who feel this way.
- fasthands9 3y agoI don't disagree with that but nonetheless it seems like the behavior they are in trouble for (telling suppliers they can only sell on Amazon if they don't offer cheaper prices elsewhere) is something that tons of other retailers do. I really don't mind their being a different set of rules if someone has the ability to dictate most of the market, but exclusive deals are routine for smaller players.
- judge2020 3y agoAlternatives in terms of sellers on Amazon.com, maybe, but people use amazon because of how good of a product Prime is (or at least, for the past few years, appears to be despite it being obvious product prices go up to offset subsidized shipping prices) and because it tends to have everything available is a fast and secure way. With e.g. a search engine showing you products, you might be sent off to one of 100k stores that all need your cc info and who don't already have your shipping address. This is partially solved by Shopify for Shopify sites, and Apple Pay/Google Pay/PayPal for third parties, but it's still often more friction to go to a 3p store.