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by kjs3 1812 days ago
That's exactly it. You get sold on "You get a slice of the amazing growth of Amazon", but are buying into the fact Amazon can cut you out at any time, for any reason, and you have no recourse.
2 comments

> the fact Amazon can cut you out at any time, for any reason

That's why you READ THE CONTRACT before signing it, because they can't do that unless it is in the contract. It's the whole point of a contract.

Now, if you don't like the terms in the contract, negotiate. Yes, you can negotiate. Yes, you are entitled to negotiate. Yes, you are a sucker if you accept the other party's opening default contract.

Or perhaps "don't get into a contractual relationship with someone much more powerful than you.

But that's exactly the point of the system Amazon set up. They don't want to deal with UPS/USPS/etc.

I once had a contract with a very large and powerful corporation. They violated the terms. They laughed at me. I sued them and won.

Contracts work, they're a great leveler.

P.S. The breach was so bad, my lawyer took the case on contingency.

I'm curious: did they violate their contract terms, or did they violate terms that you negotiated onto them.
The latter.
Having negotiated thousands of contracts in my career, and litigated several dozen times when things didn't work out, I hope cruel experience never dulls your enthusiasm for how contracts should work, as opposed to how it all does work in practice.
It's even worse than that, Amazon will razzle-dazzle you with that "amazing growth" potential, but they likely don't highlight the fact that you are entering into a monopsony franchise. Except it isn't at all like FedEx, where the franchise is the route--for Amazon, they get to decide arbitrarily what, where, when, and how you deliver to whom, all while dictating your employee's pay and everything about your equipment.

How is anybody supposed to craft a business plan when Amazon can't guarantee what sort of business you're gonna do, and also change it for whatever reason they like?

I am altering the deal... pray I do not alter it further [MANIACAL LAUGHTER emanates from THE FLYING FOX]