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It seems the government's main issue is that they have problems with companies being large. If that's the issue they should lobby congress to simply enforce som

It seems the government's main issue is that they have problems with companies being large. If that's the issue they should lobby congress to simply enforce some maximum size/impact a company has. My opinion on this is that e-commerce is extremely competitive and consumers are already highly motivated to pay the least amount of money. If it were cheaper for consumers to go elsewhere they would, and sellers would follow.

abirch 3y ago
I agree with you. I quit using Amazon late last year and it's pretty easy to change to different vendors. Hopefully more consumers do this so that vendors don't have to use the Amazon price everywhere else on the internet.
- proamdev123 3y ago
  Where do you shop online now for things that you used to buy on Amazon? Have you found any unexpected pros or cons from going to alternative online stores? I’m not planning to leave Amazon, but I’d love to find good alternatives.
  - endisneigh 3y ago
    eBay, Walmart, Wix, Shopify stores, etc. You can use Google Shopping to find even more places. Amazon rarely has the best price for all items these days.
  - abirch 3y ago
    For smaller things I use Target. I rely more on Costco as well (versus Amazon's subscribe and save) For more niche items I buy in bulk from different the manufacturer's site. To be honest it's a little more work but to help retailers it's worth it. Sometimes I have to pay for shipping but I do remember that I'm saving 130 dollars a year by not being Prime.
BarryMilo 3y ago
That's a very naive view of the free market. What has been happening is Amazon consolidated the market, creating artificial barriers to entry as they do so (e.g. any and all exclusivity deals). This was always their plan, and they operated in the red for a very long time to get there. Hardly fair competition.
- endisneigh 3y ago
  What's the barrier to entry? It's hardly a requirement to sell on Amazon. It's extremely straightforward to sell stuff on the internet these days. Sellers are just complaining that they can't access Amazon's audience and do as they want. Luckily there's eBay, Shopify, Wix, etc. etc.
  - alkonaut 3y ago
    A free market is where everyone can sell their products in the town square. Amazon isn't a seller on the town square, they are (a large part of) the town square. And that's not in the best interest of consumers long term. There are other examples, such as Apple's app store that have this pattern too. It's true that there are other players, but when Amazon has the market share it has, it's often not feasible to ignore that customer group. And that means customers pay too much.
icegreentea2 3y ago
I think you're right that the government does have 'limit the size of companies' as a motivation, but I don't think that's their main motivation. For one thing, how would you even right and enforce a law on maximum size/impact of a company? How would this even politically get through? There's already enough push-back against enforcing laws like "don't form cartels". The pushback on maximum size/impact of a company would be even more intense. In any case, as the article states, "Today, Amazon tells sellers that if it detects a lower price for their products on any other online store, they will be punished, which is to say, their ability to get their products onto a place on the Amazon website where customers click will go away.". In other words, e-commerce is not extremely competitive.
- endisneigh 3y ago
  > In any case, as the article states, "Today, Amazon tells sellers that if it detects a lower price for their products on any other online store, they will be punished, which is to say, their ability to get their products onto a place on the Amazon website where customers click will go away.". In other words, e-commerce is not extremely competitive. This is a good thing, and those sellers can leave Amazon.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

abirch 3y ago

I agree with you. I quit using Amazon late last year and it's pretty easy to change to different vendors. Hopefully more consumers do this so that vendors don't have to use the Amazon price everywhere else on the internet.

proamdev123 3y ago
Where do you shop online now for things that you used to buy on Amazon? Have you found any unexpected pros or cons from going to alternative online stores? I’m not planning to leave Amazon, but I’d love to find good alternatives.
- endisneigh 3y ago
  eBay, Walmart, Wix, Shopify stores, etc. You can use Google Shopping to find even more places. Amazon rarely has the best price for all items these days.
- abirch 3y ago
  For smaller things I use Target. I rely more on Costco as well (versus Amazon's subscribe and save) For more niche items I buy in bulk from different the manufacturer's site. To be honest it's a little more work but to help retailers it's worth it. Sometimes I have to pay for shipping but I do remember that I'm saving 130 dollars a year by not being Prime.

BarryMilo 3y ago

That's a very naive view of the free market. What has been happening is Amazon consolidated the market, creating artificial barriers to entry as they do so (e.g. any and all exclusivity deals). This was always their plan, and they operated in the red for a very long time to get there. Hardly fair competition.

endisneigh 3y ago
What's the barrier to entry? It's hardly a requirement to sell on Amazon. It's extremely straightforward to sell stuff on the internet these days. Sellers are just complaining that they can't access Amazon's audience and do as they want. Luckily there's eBay, Shopify, Wix, etc. etc.
- alkonaut 3y ago
  A free market is where everyone can sell their products in the town square. Amazon isn't a seller on the town square, they are (a large part of) the town square. And that's not in the best interest of consumers long term. There are other examples, such as Apple's app store that have this pattern too. It's true that there are other players, but when Amazon has the market share it has, it's often not feasible to ignore that customer group. And that means customers pay too much.

icegreentea2 3y ago

I think you're right that the government does have 'limit the size of companies' as a motivation, but I don't think that's their main motivation. For one thing, how would you even right and enforce a law on maximum size/impact of a company? How would this even politically get through? There's already enough push-back against enforcing laws like "don't form cartels". The pushback on maximum size/impact of a company would be even more intense. In any case, as the article states, "Today, Amazon tells sellers that if it detects a lower price for their products on any other online store, they will be punished, which is to say, their ability to get their products onto a place on the Amazon website where customers click will go away.". In other words, e-commerce is not extremely competitive.

endisneigh 3y ago
> In any case, as the article states, "Today, Amazon tells sellers that if it detects a lower price for their products on any other online store, they will be punished, which is to say, their ability to get their products onto a place on the Amazon website where customers click will go away.". In other words, e-commerce is not extremely competitive. This is a good thing, and those sellers can leave Amazon.
deleted 3y ago
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