3 ms·

Because what if they repeat the same trick towards Customers? Do we have a choice then?

by amrrs 12y ago

icebraining 12y ago
Why wouldn't we? There are hundreds of companies selling books, and you can start a new one with essentially nothing. Book selling is not a natural monopoly which requires heavy investment to enter into. I see no reason to assume Amazon can keep a monopoly with high prices simply because they squeezed the publishers. Low prices is what keeps them in power. (Btw, I'm playing Devil's advocate here. I don't buy at Amazon for ethical reasons - I just don't find their purchasing power to be a problem)
- spacefight 12y ago
  > I don't buy at Amazon for ethical reasons What's the reason in your case? I genuinely wonder - considering dumping them too.
  - icebraining 12y ago
    Nothing too specific, I'm afraid; the treatment of workers, the Kindle remote deletion, the one-click patent, cutting off Wikileaks. This combined with my general dislike of very large companies (notwithstanding my pro-Google bias).
- k-mcgrady 12y ago
  >> "Why wouldn't we? There are hundreds of companies selling books, and you can start a new one with essentially nothing." If Amazon screws the publishers out of business and begins publishing themselves our alternatives to Amazon would be reduced significantly. Then they have the power to increase prices for consumers because there's very little we can do. We can still use libraries and book shops but for new releases published by Amazon they could make themselves sole distributor.
ajross 12y ago
Repeating the same trick toward customers would be "monopoly". And yes, it would be bad. And our choice at that point would be antitrust action, presumably. But again: the linked article isn't about monopoly power. If you want to draw a line between this behavior and a future monopoly, it needs clearer argumentation.
yxhuvud 12y ago
Repeat what trick? Selling cheaper? Bring it on!
- amrrs 12y ago
  No, Not selling cheaper. It's selling at the price that they want.

Because what if they repeat the same trick towards Customers? Do we have a choice then?

by amrrs 12y ago

Because what if they repeat the same trick towards Customers? Do we have a choice then?

Why wouldn't we? There are hundreds of companies selling books, and you can start a new one with essentially nothing. Book selling is not a natural monopoly which requires heavy investment to enter into. I see no reason to assume Amazon can keep a monopoly with high prices simply because they squeezed the publishers. Low prices is what keeps them in power. (Btw, I'm playing Devil's advocate here. I don't buy at Amazon for ethical reasons - I just don't find their purchasing power to be a problem)

spacefight 12y ago
> I don't buy at Amazon for ethical reasons What's the reason in your case? I genuinely wonder - considering dumping them too.
- icebraining 12y ago
  Nothing too specific, I'm afraid; the treatment of workers, the Kindle remote deletion, the one-click patent, cutting off Wikileaks. This combined with my general dislike of very large companies (notwithstanding my pro-Google bias).
k-mcgrady 12y ago
>> "Why wouldn't we? There are hundreds of companies selling books, and you can start a new one with essentially nothing." If Amazon screws the publishers out of business and begins publishing themselves our alternatives to Amazon would be reduced significantly. Then they have the power to increase prices for consumers because there's very little we can do. We can still use libraries and book shops but for new releases published by Amazon they could make themselves sole distributor.

ajross 12y ago

Repeating the same trick toward customers would be "monopoly". And yes, it would be bad. And our choice at that point would be antitrust action, presumably. But again: the linked article isn't about monopoly power. If you want to draw a line between this behavior and a future monopoly, it needs clearer argumentation.

yxhuvud 12y ago

Repeat what trick? Selling cheaper? Bring it on!

amrrs 12y ago
No, Not selling cheaper. It's selling at the price that they want.