| Amazon Prime isn't the same as Costco Membership unless you ignore everything beyond "richer customers are willing to pay for it". Costco makes its profit off its membership. Amazon Prime offers a product at less than cost and then shifts that cost onto its manufacturers. After all if I am paying Amazon for Prime shouldn't Amazon pay for the difference between more typical free shipping and two day shipping at minimum? Isn't that what the payment is for? The reality is Amazon Prime is more akin to a loss leader and Amazon realized it could use its market position to avoid inflating it's price to reflect that loss by putting pressure on its partners. Of course whether this is legal is an open question obviously but it certainly isn't the same as Costco using a membership as a profit source. Walmart vs Amazon is more nuanced as the difference gets into market overlaps. Should Amazon be able to force you to use its fulfillment service to use its website (which is generally illegal for drop ship style setups like Amazon who doesn't take ownership). So Amazon is certainly rubbing against a "you can't force bundling like that". The question is whether their "forcing" you in the way their website heavily focuses on Prime. |