[jrockway]

Sometimes I wonder if we just do these wars so that companies can raise prices and when the war ends, not lower them. Do we ever see "oil prices are down 3.5%, we are lowering our prices by 3.5%"? Never. "But the free market will force someone to do this to gain marketshare." But Amazon is the only Amazon, so I doubt that will happen.

[crazygringo]

> Do we ever see "oil prices are down 3.5%, we are lowering our prices by 3.5%"? Never.

Companies lower prices all the time. It's the competitive market at work. They just don't tend to say why, because nobody cares about the reason, so it's not necessary.

E.g. snack prices are coming down, to pick one recent example: https://www.npr.org/2026/02/03/nx-s1-5697941/pepsi-prices-ch...

But it's human bias to notice when things get worse, but not when things get better.

[jeromegv]

Absolutely in a competitive market.

There’s an argument to be made that Amazon has so much of the online buying market that’s it’s not competitive and can likely get away with increasing price. And I tend to agree with that

[crazygringo]

Walmart.com is a major competitor to Amazon, including for third-party vendors. So are brands choosing to sell direct. Lots of people regularly compare prices like that. And tons of people use Google Shopping for price comparison.

Amazon is in an extremely competitive market. They can raise prices for fulfillment because everybody has to because everybody's fuel prices are going up.

[Loughla]

I disagree. There are many other sites to buy anything you find on Amazon. If they raise prices and don't drop them, but other online retailers either don't increase or lower after they do, Amazon loses.

People Google things they're going to buy. Or at the very least they go to other places they're familiar with like Walmart (for the US).

[tt24]

There is an argument to be made yes, but not a particularly good one.