[hackerlight]

> They farm out manufacturing to China and logistics/warehousing to Amazon

You miss the key distinction. The former part of that equation is competitive, the latter part isn't. A guy who sells firepits can't be expected to create a competitor to Amazon. Amazon has complete monopolistic pricing power. Whenever a company is in that position, they will abuse it.

[sfifs]

No telhey can distribute in Walmart Home Depot or Lowe's or equivalent. Amazon is just a more convenient way to distribute and will probably charge you less than the others :-)