from Hacker News

Amazon sellers say they made a good living – until Amazon figured it out

by chrisaycock on 10/11/23, 10:27 AM with 15 comments

• by yumraj on 10/11/23, 4:11 PM

  I’m really not sure what’s a good outcome here.

  In a way, all these sellers even got this opportunity because of Amazon. We have a pure marketplace, eBay, but that rarely moves the needle. Without Amazon these sellers would not even have started, or sold in eBay at a fraction of the volume. So, I doubt Amazon becoming a pure marketplace is a solution.

  My personal preference would be for Amazon to go be the single source and close the marketplace, but doubt that’s the solution these folks want. Getting rid of all the scammy products and sellers will really clean it up, for me, and increase my satisfaction as a consumer.

  Amazon will always compete better against smaller sellers due to volume.

• by splatzone on 10/11/23, 2:33 PM

  Don't build your castle in other people's kingdoms

• by RcouF1uZ4gsC on 10/11/23, 2:56 PM

  > While Amazon opens up its platform for anyone to sell for a small commission fee

  For me that is the root of Amazon's problems that I have now. That is where all the fakes, and counterfeits, and dangerous devices exist.

  Instead of encouraging more small sellers, Amazon needs to police them much, much better.

• by Xorakios on 10/11/23, 4:40 PM

  Linked reference 13 in the original NPR article says 6.3% of US adults have Amazon Prime, not 63%.

  NPR factchecking is not what is used to be.