Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#31

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 03, 2021, 11:36 AM UTC

mk89 wrote: post #28

spaceribs wrote: post #2

Amazon should be nationalized. All these 3rd party companies want is a "farmers market", a stall to sell their wares. Give them the municipal software infrastructure they need to do so and maintain it as a public good.

I disagree. There are more and more services providing logistics, delivery, payments, etc. And they are quite reliable. Just 2 years ago I was entirely relying on Amazon as a good ecommerce. As of 2020/2021, to be honest, there is nearly no difference with some individual retailers (which don't use a 3rd party platform to sell their goods like Amazon or Ebay). Lots of websites have improved, logistics, delivery, cust…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#32

Post by wolfretcrap » Mon, May 03, 2021, 11:36 AM UTC

sumedh wrote: post #6

Cant Costco, Walmart also do the same thing, why is Amazon being singled out here?

They already do.

And anyone selling through any platform where they've all data let it be supermarket chain or e-commerce platform, should understand the risk that their data can be used to compete with them if you realize risk is not worth pay off, prefer selling on own website - it's not hard these days. No I mean, yes it's still hard to get eyeballs on your product but to list in Amazon, you need to pay Amazon tax.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#33

Post by logicchains » Mon, May 03, 2021, 11:39 AM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #27

jpxw wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For one, large government software projects are almost always disastrous, even in developed countries. Secondly, that isn’t what sellers want. Many sellers use Amazon to fulfill their orders. Amazon is far more than just a “market stall”.

> For one, large government software projects are almost always disastrous, even in developed countries. The same tends to be true for large corporate software projects. As a fairly recent example: https://www.theregister.com/2019/04/23/hertz_accenture_lawsu...

>The same tends to be true for large corporate software projects.

Yes, but it's not true for Amazon, the topic of conversation.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#34

Post by chuii123 » Mon, May 03, 2021, 11:40 AM UTC

https://mays.tamu.edu/humana-tamu-analytics/wp-content/uploa... https://mays.tamu.edu/humana-tamu-analytics/wp-content/uploa... https://mays.tamu.edu/humana-tamu-analytics/wp-content/uploa... https://mays.tamu.edu/humana-tamu-analytics/wp-content/uploa... https://mays.tamu.edu/humana-tamu-analytics/wp-content/uploa... https://mays.tamu.edu/humana-tamu-analytics/wp-content/uploa... https://mays.tamu.edu/humana-tamu-analytics/wp-content/uploa... https://mays.tamu.edu/humana-tamu-analytics/wp-content/uploa...

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#35

Post by chuii123 » Mon, May 03, 2021, 11:40 AM UTC

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#36

Post by boomboomsubban » Mon, May 03, 2021, 11:42 AM UTC

rualca wrote: post #18

amelius wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stallman said it too: https://stallman.org/amazon.html > We should not allow a company to have a share over around 10% of any market. If in a certain field a single dominant company is beneficial for society, that means it is a natural monopoly, and should be served by a regulated utility.

> We should not allow a company to have a share over around 10% of any market. If a company was already at said 10% limit and you wanted to buy something out of them because to you their offer is by far so much better than any of the alternatives, in your opinion what should happen?

There should be an investigation into why they can make a far better offer than their competition. Most answers are likely exploitative in some way.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#37

Post by AbrahamParangi » Mon, May 03, 2021, 11:42 AM UTC

smhost wrote: post #25

AbrahamParangi wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interop requirements may serve better than direct government control. At the very least, it’s worth being clear eyed with respect to the quality of government run services. What would be necessary for the government to run a service like Amazon successfully? Is our government today capable of doing such a thing? I think the answer is clearly no.

> What would be necessary for the government to run a service like Amazon successfully? Anti-corruption measures to stop politicians from sabotaging those services. E.g., USPS.

Idk if USPS is truly an example of excellence, even if they are an example of govt excellence. In 2020 they shipped 70 billion packages, of which 90% was spam.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#38

Post by alfonsodev » Mon, May 03, 2021, 11:43 AM UTC

rualca wrote: post #18

amelius wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stallman said it too: https://stallman.org/amazon.html > We should not allow a company to have a share over around 10% of any market. If in a certain field a single dominant company is beneficial for society, that means it is a natural monopoly, and should be served by a regulated utility.

> We should not allow a company to have a share over around 10% of any market. If a company was already at said 10% limit and you wanted to buy something out of them because to you their offer is by far so much better than any of the alternatives, in your opinion what should happen?

The price would regulate itself by offer/demand balance and you would still be able to buy it if you can afford it.

With no limits, they can actually create artificial lower prices that competition can’t match, and they become exponentially more powerful and dominating.

And sometimes you end up as a customer having less options and lower quality.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#39

Post by LightG » Mon, May 03, 2021, 11:43 AM UTC

spaceribs wrote: post #2

Amazon should be nationalized. All these 3rd party companies want is a "farmers market", a stall to sell their wares. Give them the municipal software infrastructure they need to do so and maintain it as a public good.

It's a catch-22 ... would Amazon be this innovative had it been nationalised?

At what point do you nationalise? Is there a next technology which will be stifled if it was nationalise?

Does nationalisation sttifle innovation?

I've been wrestling with these questions as I actually don't like Amazon for all the reasons that have been well publicised ... but their customer service is excellent.

Which sets me against a string of recent bad experiences with local suppliers, getting stung, and thinking ... well, if Amazon treat me better, why shouldn't I move away from local suppliers and stick with the monopoly? Which goes against a lot I believe in.

I guess the problem is it's putting a lot of trust in Amazon. Which is itself an argument for nationalisation. I don't know.

Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales

#40

Post by spaceribs » Mon, May 03, 2021, 11:45 AM UTC

rualca wrote: post #23

jpxw wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For one, large government software projects are almost always disastrous, even in developed countries. Secondly, that isn’t what sellers want. Many sellers use Amazon to fulfill their orders. Amazon is far more than just a “market stall”.

> Secondly, that isn’t what sellers want. Many sellers use Amazon to fulfill their orders. Amazon is far more than just a “market stall”. This. Amazon is basically a huge logistics network. Their business is not selling you products, whether from their own generic brands, from high-end Veblen goods companies like Apple or from cheap chinese dropship artists. Their business is to process payment, and get that package…

Based on the article, the verticality of their business seems to indicate they are not merely in logistics...