Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

ftc.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 930 posts

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#141

Post by thomastjeffery »

taeric wrote: post #13
criddell wrote: post #5

I wish they would add ebook DRM to the list. Amazon has essentially locked the Kindle so that it can only purchase from Amazon and Amazon ebooks can only be used on the Kindle. On top of that, they offer no way of transferring ebooks and, AFAIK, offer no way to remove DRM after a work enters the public domain.

I don't know, as I never had access to that data, but I would be shocked to find that is not demanded by their agreements with the publishers. Akin to why there is no library that will give you non-DRM items. Is almost certainly part of a strategy by the publishers to bolster other marketplaces they find more favorable.

An agreement is constructed by two parties, not one.

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#142

Post by lancesells »

likpok wrote: post #109
catiopatio wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> post-iOS change What is the iOS change you’re referring to?

ATT, where apple hobbled other ad networks running on iOS. It used to be that DTC companies could use the fine-grained targeting offered by FB and Google to reach consumers without needing to go through a major distributor. Since the targeting is much less effective it's more expensive (potentially uneconomically so) to reach people. As a result, sellers are forced back to Amazon.

I work with DTC Shopify brands and I personally haven't found the ATT hurting ads performance in both Meta and Google. I'm sure YMMV but I've not seen it since it started. Maybe I work with very broad targeting compared to others.

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#143

Post by deltree7 »

reagan83 wrote: post #134
jollofricepeas wrote: post #52

FBA seller here. A lot of mom and pop businesses (~$20 million) have been built on Amazon over the past 10 years. Most of us are in the $250k to $5 million dollar range. The impact of Amazon’s monopoly power is felt big time by us as we’re being squeezed with no place left to go online especially post-iOS change. Our second option used to be the Facebook/Instagram/TikTok to Shopify connection but with that being dead…

Great insight overall - can you describe more on the FB/IG/TT to Shopify connection not working or now dead?

[dead]

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#144

Post by deltree7 »

babypuncher wrote: post #91
jollofricepeas wrote: post #52

FBA seller here. A lot of mom and pop businesses (~$20 million) have been built on Amazon over the past 10 years. Most of us are in the $250k to $5 million dollar range. The impact of Amazon’s monopoly power is felt big time by us as we’re being squeezed with no place left to go online especially post-iOS change. Our second option used to be the Facebook/Instagram/TikTok to Shopify connection but with that being dead…

what on earth did iOS change that impacts your amazon business?

[dead]

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#145

Post by fsckboy »

likpok wrote: post #109
catiopatio wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> post-iOS change What is the iOS change you’re referring to?

ATT, where apple hobbled other ad networks running on iOS. It used to be that DTC companies could use the fine-grained targeting offered by FB and Google to reach consumers without needing to go through a major distributor. Since the targeting is much less effective it's more expensive (potentially uneconomically so) to reach people. As a result, sellers are forced back to Amazon.

was there also any change related to Apple wanting a cut of anything sold through an app, and how the Amazon shopping app works on iOS, and could that also affect 3rd parties?

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#146

Post by thomastjeffery »

They only passively mentioned fulfillment.

The fact that Amazon owns the market and fulfillment and even last-mile delivery is the most obvious case of vertical integration I have ever heard of, and I personally interact with it in some way at least once every week!

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#148

Post by CptFribble »

cj wrote: post #27
HDThoreaun wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't all grocery stores do this?

I think grocery stores are culpable for a lot of shady behavior. The least of which is selling end cap space (most walking traffic) to the highest bidder, meaning a lot of junk food and impulsive-purchase products are put in the highest traffic places. At least on Amazon it's marked as a sponsored result. Even if most people click the first result anyway. Both Amazon and grocery stores can be in the wrong.

the difference is that grocery stores are easy to search completely - don't like the cereal options on the end-cap? just walk down the cereal aisle and see it all immediately.

Amazon on the other hand, actively makes it difficult to search for other products, by not only promoting their own brands at the top, but filling up the rest of the results with sponsored items.

It's more akin to an endcap with highest bidder items, but then every few feet you walk down the cereal aisle, the shelves separate and move farther away so another endcap can slide into view, pushing the cheaper alternatives farther and farther down the aisle the further you walk.

Not to mention the scale of the problem as well, grocery stores are finite, and amazon nearly infinite, at least in terms of how much time it takes to search through everything.

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#149

Post by babypuncher »

hightrix wrote: post #11
tehlike wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point, they don't have to rank it higher and people would still buy it. They are like Kirkland of Costco most often.

Exactly. I prefer Amazon Basics to YAYWOWND brand every day. It is one of the few brands on Amazon you can count on to not be Chinese crap. Even if it is made in China, the Amazon Basics products are generally good quality.

That is another problem with Amazon. It seems like my only options are Amazon Basics, or weird 3-day old Chinese brand.

Where are all the actually reputable brands hiding?

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#150

Post by delecti »

my123 wrote: post #122
criddell wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For that one, it's mandated by publishers. I believe the publishers want DRM. I'm not sure they want DRM that effectively locks in their readers to the Amazon ecosystem. I don't believe publishers would be upset if I could directly purchase books from Apple, Google, Kobo, or any other similar vendor directly on the Kindle. Is the audiobook market different? I know Cory Doctorow for one would like to sell his audio…

> but they require DRM There's no option to sell on Kindle's own store with DRM disabled indeed. edit: A poster has a link saying otherwise. Will ask what's up on the Audible side then.

Sure there is. From here https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0879H8NNB

> At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

(Specific title as just a convenient example from that publisher)

Post reply on HN