Amazon Being Sued For Being a Monopoly

[Librarian]

Hmmmm....

I certainly have a love/hate relationship w/ Amazon.

Yes, I love that I don't have to drive all over town looking for various things as I used to in the past.
I love that if I need a last minute item for travel I can usually get it.
I love that I can send my elderly father various things he needs quickly & easily.

I am NO fan of Bezos. (post in & of itself--he is successful & has a right to spend his $, but you don't hear a lot about him using that $ for the betterment of others/the world as you do his wife, Buffett, Gates, etc)

There ARE numerous small businesses trying to do what they do.
I know of one in our city--Spreetail--where DD interned in college.
They are an etailer that do what he does on a MUCH smaller level--sell products from various other retailers.
And it is a STEEP uphill battle for them, but they are still plugging away anyway.

SO do I have a problem if Amazon is maniuplating sellers/the market to dominate the market?
YES

Look back over 100 years ago & we had few companies dominating our market & this was NOT advantageous for consumers (but VERY advantageous for them). [MOD EDIT]
Anti-trust laws were developed to mitigate this.
Unfortunately, these laws have been slowly weakened over the last 50 years...
Leading us HERE.

People have a right to do business & be successful.
They DO NOT have a right to manipulate market & the people who depend on them to do business, as is implicated in this law suit.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I certainly have a love/hate relationship w/ Amazon.

[..]

People have a right to do business & be successful.
They DO NOT have a right to manipulate market & the people who depend on them to do business, as is implicated in this law suit.

I hate to defend Amazon, but I do not think they are doing anything illegal. They own their marketplace so they can set the rules for the product listings. Sellers agree to their terms and conditions. They control the search results because they own the search algorithms so they can rank sellers anyway they want to. They invented the Buy Box and the rules needed to capture it.

If the manufacturer sells a product directly to Amazon at a lower price than they sell it to an independent seller on Amazon there is nothing to be done about it.

People might be surprised to learn that while Amazon is the largest online e-tailer in the US, they barely have 10% of the overall retail market. That's hardly a monopoly.

 

[easysurfer]

I prefer to shop at Amazon for the usually lower prices and generous and efficient return policy. But I don't feel tied to Amazon. As a consumer I still shop other places and some places are better deals. I just bought some old photography equipment. A seller on Amazon was selling for about $160. I ended up buying on ebay for about $60. Savings of $100.

 

[Aerides]

If the manufacturer sells a product directly to Amazon at a lower price than they sell it to an independent seller on Amazon there is nothing to be done about it.

But... (and I don't know from legal on this point), Amazon has the ability to purchase that product at prices and quantities that would far exceed what the original seller might have negotiated. They can effectively buy away their competition. What distributor wouldn't take that offer? And they can and do squash the original seller by taking a loss and getting the buy box - they can play the long game that most small sellers cannot afford.

Imagine playing Monopoly and the guy across the table has 100x your bank. You land on You cannot win, no matter if you both play by the rules.

 

[Qs Laptop]

But... (and I don't know from legal on this point), Amazon has the ability to purchase that product at prices and quantities that would far exceed what the original seller might have negotiated. They can effectively buy away their competition. What distributor wouldn't take that offer?

That's where negotiation decides who gets the deal. Yes, Amazon has buying power and can offer to purchase huge volumes. But there are strings attached to being a manufacturer selling direct to Amazon. Still, the distributor would almost always take Amazon as the customer if only for logistics reasons, i.e. easy to sell to and only one account to keep track of.

And they can and do squash the original seller by taking a loss and getting the buy box - they can play the long game that most small sellers cannot afford.

How do we know Amazon is taking a loss to get the Buy Box? Especially considering they likely can purchase things for far less than the typical Amazon seller can buy, as you pointed out.

Frustrating for sure, but illegal? I don't think so.

 

[karen1972]

Amazon isn't a monopoly, you can go to Sears, Walkmart, Target, BJs, Costcos, etc.
They were complaining that Amazon took too big of a cut (yet they handle taxes, shipping, packaging, logistics, a platform for marketing, web services, etc) which are pretty expensive items in most people's routine brick and mortar store.

The lower price offer is likely the only one that may be at issue, the rest in my opinion is reaching.

Granted I rarely shop Amazon as I usually can find it way cheaper elsewhere.

 

[Aerides]

How do we know Amazon is taking a loss to get the Buy Box? Especially considering they likely can purchase things for far less than the typical Amazon seller can buy, as you pointed out.

Frustrating for sure, but illegal? I don't think so.

We don't know, that's what the trial is for. I'm going to assume the DOJ, having spent the time to get this far, knows more than we do and has enough specific legal things to make this not a waste of their time.

 

[youbet]

Apparently there is little popular support for the higher priced independent sellers. If there was, folks would buy from them despite the higher price and there would be no issue.

 

[W2R]

All I know is that I absolutely love Amazon



And, I hope that however the future unfolds, it includes more Amazon-like companies to compete with them. I think walmart dot com would be a good first contender for that coveted number one spot.

Anyway, as you/we grow older it becomes easier and easier to understand why we need to ENCOURAGE Amazon and similar companies, rather than to knock them down.

The older I get, the harder it is to buy things in person. No longer being allowed to drive is a biggie, plus on the horizon I can envision becoming weaker and less able to hike through those large big box stores even with my rollator walker.

Today I am waiting for Amazon to deliver paper bowls and Ritz crackers to my front porch. These, of course, are two of the absolute essentials of modern life....

 

[meleana]

I'm surprised they are pursuing this. I think Amazon has plenty of competition. Walmart, Temu, Alibaba, etc.

I am finding a lot of Amazon's prices higher than Walmart's, especially since I can just drive and pick up my orders in the parking lot for free. I have recently picked stuff up costing no more than $3-$5!



I still like Amazon though, also.

 

[harley]

I prefer to shop at Amazon for the usually lower prices and generous and efficient return policy. But I don't feel tied to Amazon. As a consumer I still shop other places and some places are better deals. I just bought some old photography equipment. A seller on Amazon was selling for about $160. I ended up buying on ebay for about $60. Savings of $100.

And it's easy enough to install an app like the CapitalOne Shopping app which will warn you if there are cheaper prices than what you are seeing on the Amazon (or other online store) page. I tend to buy from Amazon anyway, unless the price difference is significant. I get 5% cashback, which I don't most other places, so the price difference has to be higher than that just to break even. Also, I like their return policy, and I have Prime for my business so I almost always get free shipping.

I just don't see them as a monopoly. If they want to go after them from fixing prices, fine. I don't think they'll win, but it's certainly a worthwhile thing to investigate. And maybe it will make Amazon treat prices a little more transparently. HAHAHA! I'm sure the end result is that Amazon will find better, sneakier, ways to manipulate their end users.

 

[youbet]

I am finding a lot of Amazon's prices higher than Walmart's, especially since I can just drive and pick up my orders in the parking lot for free. I have recently picked stuff up costing no more than $3-$5!
.

I find myself using Walmart’s curbside pickup more and more. There is a Walmart just over a mile from us so it’s really convenient. And the employees are polite and accurate. I no longer get out of the car for basic groceries and misc odds and ends.

It’s a bit embarrassing to put yourself forward as a “Walmart fan,” but I guess I am.

 

[aja8888]

I am finding a lot of Amazon's prices higher than Walmart's, especially since I can just drive and pick up my orders in the parking lot for free. I have recently picked stuff up costing no more than $3-$5!



I still like Amazon though, also.

I just ordered some of my favorite aftershave from WM. Amazon was 20% higher. WM paid for shipping and I got the product in my mailbox in two days. No different than Amazon except the price was lower and the box had WM tape on it.