[BizarroLand]

The problem is being both the platform and a competitor.

They have an inside advantage that no one else on the planet outside of ebay and Alibaba (and its ilk) have.

It entrenches them and enriches them unjustly. They make profit off of their competitors and have the option of destroying anyone who rubs them the wrong way without repercussion. The capitalistic market cannot speak on the matter as there is a monoposonistic gatekeeper on the market path.

[danielmarkbruce]

They started out as the competitor. They have always been that. They opened up their capabilities to competitors. They didn't have to.

[BizarroLand]

They didn't open their capabilities to competitors. That is completely false.

No one who sells on Amazon is a competitor. If you are selling on Amazon you are a customer, and every once in a while, Amazon comes in and starts selling your goods for less than you can because they decided they would make more money without you in the picture.

For a little proof, try to find Ammoon products on Amazon. They used to be everywhere. And the information isn't exactly public but there was a falling out between Ammoon and Amazon and now you can't buy Ammoon products on Amazon, but you can find Lekato and Sumimma and Joyo and Cuvave knock offs of the exact same products, and not long after this happened, Amazon started selling cheap guitar pedals under their Amazon Basics brand.

You may say, sure, whatever, but the primary product Ammoon sold was the cheapest ($35) looper pedal on the market.

Amazon undercut that price (to $26.50) and also booted their closest competitor and biggest customer in the guitar pedal looper segment.

Who would defend that kind of scummy action?

[danielmarkbruce]

In an enormous number of cases Amazon both sells products and the same exact product from a different supplier, and they sold the product before opening up the store to others. That's the definition of a competitor.

The fact that they didn't sell every single product on planet earth doesn't mean they aren't a competitor. They are practically in the "easy to manufacture by a third party in china consumer products" market. If a company adds so little value that Amazon's 5th rate people (The best minds at Amazon aren't sitting up at night worrying about the guitar pedal looper market) can beat them, they aren't adding value. And, one single distribution channel (the amazon website) doesn't define a market (with almost zero exceptions, amazon's website not being one).

[chii]

> And, one single distribution channel (the amazon website) doesn't define a market (with almost zero exceptions, amazon's website not being one).

if amazon captures a large ratio of people buying goods online, i would certainly consider amazon itself a market. But unless they also control some other aspect of the online market, it would be hard to claim they're a monopoly tbh.

_Anyone_ can setup an e-commerce site and sell online. Amazon doesn't quite fully control the hosting, IP and backend servers completely!

[jupp0r]

Where's the harm for consumers here? All I see is that I can now buy guitar pedals for a fraction of the price. Isn't consumer harm the point of anti trust?

[BizarroLand]

Shortsightedness is the harm.

How many companies will not enter the market because of Amazon's monopoly? How many products will never get invented because of the awareness of the system?

And even with this, with a monopoly it is not a race to the bottom. Once the monopoly is in place, you can raise the costs to whatever you want and the market has no choice but to grin and bear it or go without.

Monopolies are never good for the consumer.

[jupp0r]

To me this sounds like competition driving down prices, which is great for consumers.