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(Vox)   Amazon is squeezing the life from its sellers   (vox.com) divider line
20
    More: Interesting, Amazon.com, Sales, Amazon Web Services, Amazon's platform, Cloud computing, larger cut of sellers, various fees, Amazon's favor  
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1345 clicks; posted to Business » on 06 Dec 2021 at 4:45 AM (30 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



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KB202
2021-12-06 5:47:07 AM  
22 votes:
Walmart model, online.
 
Creoena
2021-12-06 6:34:03 AM  
18 votes:
To be fair, it seems the majority of their third party sellers are selling fakes, knockoffs, or used returns.  They should just go away.  They are a cancer to Amazon.
 
mcmnky
2021-12-06 9:17:28 AM  
11 votes:
Remember when some people thought the internet would help cut out middle men? You'd connect directly with manufacturers! Download software directly from developers! Get music directly from musicians!

Instead it just bred a new generation of middle men.
 
wildcardjack
2021-12-06 9:20:17 AM  
7 votes:
I used to sell books via FBA. The cubic space was cheap enough to rent, prices were reasonable to sell, so I could actually sell a book via FBA for $10 and make a few dollars. Fees went up, prices went down as everyone with a smartphone got in and raced to the bottom, and between Kindle and Audible all the paperback fiction went to zero value. Once upon a time I could sell a used Danielle Steele for $40 because it had been out of print for 20 years, but now it's $3 on Kindle. The cheese, as a book I used to carry would say, has been moved.
 
kittyhas1000legs [TotalFark]
2021-12-06 6:54:47 AM  
6 votes:
I've been going to eBay more.  Typically cheaper, though sometimes I need to do a claim for something that never arrives.  I had one item "on its way to USPS" for about two months.
 
cefm
2021-12-06 7:55:56 AM  
6 votes:
Just get rid of them altogether. All those third party resellers are a cancer on their platform.
 
Boudyro
2021-12-06 10:11:54 AM  
6 votes:

Creoena: To be fair, it seems the majority of their third party sellers are selling fakes, knockoffs, or used returns.  They should just go away.  They are a cancer to Amazon.


The third party and scam crap is so bad I stopped using Amazon for actual buying things if I can avoid it. Bezo's being a turd has just hardened that approach for me.

I'll still use it for checking a product out. But once decided I go to the product-makers website to buy from them directly. It's not always possible. Sometimes they annoyingly sell certain loadouts through Amazon only. Only then do I buy it there, usually after reassessing how badly I want it.

That's led to me buying through Amazon only about once a year.
 
Rapmaster2000
2021-12-06 8:08:34 AM  
5 votes:

Creoena: To be fair, it seems the majority of their third party sellers are selling fakes, knockoffs, or used returns.  They should just go away.  They are a cancer to Amazon.


Fark user imageView Full Size
 
RogermcAllen [OhFark]
2021-12-06 9:37:20 AM  
5 votes:
I usually try to look up anything I'm about to buy on the vendor website and more often than not I can get it for the same price within +/- $2.  Well worth the cost to make sure I get the real product.
 
Tenatra
2021-12-06 9:56:56 AM  
5 votes:

kittyhas1000legs: I've been going to eBay more.  Typically cheaper, though sometimes I need to do a claim for something that never arrives.  I had one item "on its way to USPS" for about two months.


I wouldn't have any hope to get something that late but with the USPS stuff can get stuck in mailtubs, letter trays or mail bags. We've found a bunch of meds over the years in the mailroom of our my work. Polybag mailers and other lightweight parcels can get stuck in the folds of a mailbag and then tossed into an empty cart of mailbags. Certain businesses will take those APCs full of empty bags/tubs to use at their own business - it might take awhile before the item is discovered and injected back into the mail stream.

Here last month we found a 5lb, 8x8x4 box in a mailtub on an empty mailtub cart. It was shipped out in August 30 miles from here and was destined to arrive in our town for the delivery address. But for whatever reason never made it out of the tub. Hard to believe a worker tossed it on an empty cart and couldn't feel the weight of the package or see a brown parcel in a white tub.

There's also the chance that the ebayer purchased/printed the shipping labels of more than one order and then missed packing it entirely for you. [or slapping a label to someone else on your order] It's something that most will learn to never do again after eating the cost of their first mistake.

Overall I've had a great time on ebay both buying and selling. My favorite part about eBay [at least in my dealings]. Is that sellers are collector minded and aren't just going to toss something in a box and let it get banged around. Target is hit or miss. Sometimes they'll pack decent, other times no. Walmart and Amazon are even more of a miss when it comes to packing for a safe journey. Ordering any toys from big retailers like that I'll hope for the best, if it's damaged -> I'm sending it back. If I was selling on there I'd never let Walmart/Amazon fulfill my orders.
 
Xai
2021-12-06 6:29:06 AM  
3 votes:
When you can't go any further out, you go up and this is vertical integration at its finest.

Fact is amazon is swimming in investment capital and investing in the very infrastructure they require, in the form of shipping, is pretty logical.
 
Spego
2021-12-06 7:59:32 AM  
3 votes:
Embrace, extend, and extinguish.
 
Linux_Yes
2021-12-06 8:48:43 AM  
3 votes:

Spego: Embrace, extend, and extinguish.


And dodge taxes
 
rubi_con_man
2021-12-06 9:15:10 AM  
3 votes:
Monopoly and Monopsony at the same time. Not making things, not consuming things, just perpetual arbitrage and a massive cut

i.pinimg.comView Full Size
 
Rapmaster2000
2021-12-06 9:31:57 AM  
3 votes:

mcmnky: Remember when some people thought the internet would help cut out middle men? You'd connect directly with manufacturers! Download software directly from developers! Get music directly from musicians!

Instead it just bred a new generation of middle men.


It created whole new types of middlemen.  The Uber app is a middle man.
 
WhackingDay
2021-12-06 9:49:15 AM  
3 votes:

Creoena: To be fair, it seems the majority of their third party sellers are selling fakes, knockoffs, or used returns.  They should just go away.  They are a cancer to Amazon.


Yep. I will be taking a long look at keeping Prime. It's extremely hard to find real things on Amazon any more. Too much of what's there these days seems to be grey market stuff sold by quasi-legit third parties.
 
SalmonberryPie
2021-12-06 1:31:40 PM  
3 votes:

Creoena: To be fair, it seems the majority of their third party sellers are selling fakes, knockoffs, or used returns.  They should just go away.  They are a cancer to Amazon.


Amazon does a CRAP job of policing counterfeiters. I used to work for a 3rd party seller, and fakers were selling no-name product on our legitimate listings. Why are there so many fakes? Because Amazon does not care.
 
trialpha
2021-12-06 10:17:25 AM  
1 vote:

RogermcAllen: I usually try to look up anything I'm about to buy on the vendor website and more often than not I can get it for the same price within +/- $2.  Well worth the cost to make sure I get the real product.


That really only works in the US.

Here in Canada, Amazon's biggest benefit is shipping. If I go to the Manufacturer's website, they're likely based in the US and either don't ship to Canada or do so for something absurd like $50 for a $10 item.

I could buy from a non-Amazon Canadian store, but they'll likely want anything from $10-$20 to ship. And it'll probably take a week. Meanwhile, Amazon shipping is "free" (disregarding Prime membership cost) and will take a day.
 
austerity101 [TotalFark]
2021-12-06 11:34:37 AM  
1 vote:

wildcardjack: I used to sell books via FBA. The cubic space was cheap enough to rent, prices were reasonable to sell, so I could actually sell a book via FBA for $10 and make a few dollars. Fees went up, prices went down as everyone with a smartphone got in and raced to the bottom, and between Kindle and Audible all the paperback fiction went to zero value. Once upon a time I could sell a used Danielle Steele for $40 because it had been out of print for 20 years, but now it's $3 on Kindle. The cheese, as a book I used to carry would say, has been moved.


Thanks, capitalism!

Having media readily available is a good thing. It just sucks that we don't also provide for everyone's basic needs, so people need to earn the right to stay alive.
 
BolloxReader [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2021-12-06 7:12:11 PM  
1 vote:
I remember Ebay back in the day being the gold standard for "buyer beware," full of knock-offs and stolen merchandise. Amazon made them look legit.
 
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