[xnx]

This is not a theory of market competition that I've heard before.

[kasey_junk]

It’s also an usual use of the term arbitrage

[nok22kon]

you will not want 20 different accounts at 20 providers, you'll have one at a "token arbitrage" provider - OpenRouter

drop-shipping is a form of arbitrage

[nok22kon]

basic supply/demand

demand moves to cheaper providers, they ran out of capacity and increase price

literally why "commodities" are "commodities" - the more interchangeable a product is the more exposed it is to supply/demand mechanics

[xnx]

Agree. The less "stuck" a customer is to a given provider, the more that prices should equalize between providers.