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FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

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Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#691

Post by ComputerGuru »

TylerE wrote: post #631
cbsmith wrote: post #623

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but if you search and replaced the part where the $88 is to pay the manufacturer, and instead say it is to pay they employees and the cost of materials, it's not like that suddenly looks like a viable business.

And saying just don't use FBA is no solution either. Shipping large heavy stuff is expensive, and I best Amazon has much better rates negotiated with the carriers.

Storage plus shipping through FBA isn’t cheap. The problem isn’t that FBA is expensive, the problem is that selling on Amazon but not via FBA is heavily punished with placement and appearance leading to poor conversion rates.

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#692

Post by seanmcdirmid »

mrraj wrote: post #444
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…

From the Bloomberg article : "Chuck Gregorich, who sells fire pits and outdoor furniture, says turning a profit on Amazon is getting harder. One of his popular fire pits costs $200, of which Amazon takes $112 for its commission, warehouse storage, delivery and advertising. That leaves him with $88 to pay the manufacturer, ship the product in from China and cover his overhead." I have a hard time sympathizing here. Th…

They farm out manufacturing to China, but if they designed the products, this isn’t very different from having Foxconn assemble iPhones. But of course, now the Chinese manufacturer could sell their design directly and undercut them, since they aren’t Apple.

If they are using a design from the manufacturer, I have no sympathy for them. They are just trying to make money by adding some marketing and connecting dots together.

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#693

Post by lobochrome »

mrraj wrote: post #444
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…

From the Bloomberg article : "Chuck Gregorich, who sells fire pits and outdoor furniture, says turning a profit on Amazon is getting harder. One of his popular fire pits costs $200, of which Amazon takes $112 for its commission, warehouse storage, delivery and advertising. That leaves him with $88 to pay the manufacturer, ship the product in from China and cover his overhead." I have a hard time sympathizing here. Th…

Agreed. It’s a net positive for society if the entire CSFC (Cheap Shit From China) economy is slowly collapsing.

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#694

Post by lostapathy »

berniedurfee wrote: post #582
8note wrote: post #555

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think Amazon could destroy apple or Walmart just for kicks. Aramco? Air Canada? Samsung? Memory Express? Digikey? McMaster Carr? McDonald's? The Big R? Cantillion? Texas Instruments? "Show me a business" is quite vague

Why not McMaster Carr or even Digikey? I’m sure Amazon has put a sizable dent in their sales without even really trying. Amazon now has special search tools for buying fasteners that make it easier to find exactly what you need. Prices are cheap, risk is high, but prices are cheap.

> Amazon now has special search tools for buying fasteners that make it easier to find exactly what you need

Easier but they are no McMaster, by a long shot.

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#695

Post by root_axis »

selcuka wrote: post #661
danielmarkbruce wrote: post #583

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have to. They could get their own distribution channel. Distribution is a thing, you can't just complain that you don't have it for free.

That's literally the meaning of being a monopoly: There are no other distribution channels that can compete with Amazon. They are a distribution monopoly.

Huh? That's just totally incorrect. Consider FedEx, UPS, DHL, even USPS.

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#696

Post by SenAnder »

newsclues wrote: post #487
BowBun wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make a good point, but I think the parent point is true as well. You still have people actually producing work, unable to compete on these platforms where Amazon will literally make a copy of their product at a lower price. This is the result of commoditizing 'starting a business' to the point of near-worthlessness in the bottom 50%+. Like you say, I don't value the businesses that simply re-sell re-labeled produ…

"This is the result of commoditizing 'starting a business' to the point of near-worthlessness in the bottom 50%+." Is this not just a market effect of saturating the market with competition because suddenly running a business is comparatively easy (communications technology, platforms and existing logistics and production networks) to any other era. I can probably start a company drop shipping crap on Amazon in a sho…

Amazon inflating rates after capturing the market, permitting counterfeits, and penalizing sellers offering lower prices off-Amazon, has nothing to do with market efficiency or commoditization.

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#697

Post by ajkjk »

_2d30 wrote: post #686
Centigonal wrote: post #685

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read both - I don't see anything odd here. Seems like like the thesis of the FTC's case includes the natural continuation of some of Lina Khan's ideas, plus additional focus on the Amazon Seller economiy.

The abstract of the link is that Amazon’s monopoly power has manifested itself in _under_ pricing products. The FTC claim is that Amazon _over_ prices products. They are in direct opposition.

That's such a weak argument. Suppose Amazon does both, at different times (which they do); do you think they should cancel out and therefore not get in trouble?

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#698

Post by mighmi »

patrick451 wrote: post #607
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…

I'm missing some context to understand all of this. What was the "post-iOS change" and why did this make it difficult to go elsewhere? Why is Facebook/Instagram/TikTok alternative dead in the water?

Apple privacy changes reduced advertising effectiveness

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#699

Post by root_axis »

steveBK123 wrote: post #177
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…

I ran a small FBA business for a year nowhere near any scale and it was an interesting lesson. People who weigh in on these tech topics should actually try these things out to understand them better. It's nothing like listing on eBay where there's some haircut off the top and that's that. There are fees for - accepting inventory, holding inventory, returning unsold inventory, shipping sales, processing returns, destr…

> There are fees for - accepting inventory, holding inventory, returning unsold inventory, shipping sales, processing returns, destroying returns, transaction fees, ads to promote your listings in market, and probably 5 other things I forget.

Have you ever run a business where you have to manage your own inventory? What you listed and likely the 5 things you omitted constitute real work. Perhaps amazon's fees are capricious but they're doing all the work for you. You can manage your own inventory and shipping logistics and still sell on Amazon

Re: FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power

#700

Post by jiveturkey »

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…

> 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.

you either wouldn’t have a business at all without FBA, or you’d have higher margins with the same net earnings.

if you don’t like FBA try advertising on facebook. it’s very expensive because it’s very effective. the cost of the ad is so great that socks have to cost $20 and t shirts made in china have to cost $30.

i used to buy from marketplace on amazon. but dealing direct with sellers is worse than the ebay gamble. so i only buy FBA. i prefer direct sale from amazon if possible. the price is always higher but i have guaranteed no hassle.

otherwise i shop local.

i don’t know about dirty tricks but from my POV amazon earned their market by having consistent and reliable customer service. if you want to increase your sales it’s worth it to ride on _their_ brand. $250k to $5m for a mom and pop drop shipper sounds absolutely fantastic to me.

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