Really good article and worthwhile a read!
Let the implications of most-favoured nation settle in. If Amazon is taxing merchants 45-51 cents on every dollar they make, and if merchants are hiking their prices everywhere their goods are sold, then it follows you’re paying the Amazon tax no matter where you shop – even the corner mom-and-pop hardware store.
I haven’t shopped at Amazon for well over a decade now, but apparently even I am affected by their business model…
That surprised me. I always try to buy from the manufacturer’s website or official reseller rather than Amazon to avoid such bullshit. Apparently that’s not enough.
If brands selling on Amazon are overpriced, everywhere, could favoring brands that do NOT sell on Amazon help find products with a fair price?
Interesting. Not selling your stuff on amazon could possibly be a selling point for a new business.
I doubt “Not on Amazon” would be a selling point. If merchant have put up with it this far, it’s probably because Amazon bring sales.
If leaving allow selling at a lower price, that would definitely be a selling point. But they would need a solid online store, their own or another markeplace.
I mean, Amazon makes the majority of it’s money from AWS at this point and the store is small potatoes in comparison.
Enshittification.
As soon as a company goes public, they are only concerned about generating money for shareholders.
Providing good service and quality products used to be primary. That’s how economies prospered. Nowadays it’s all about subscriptions, trickery and collecting money. Bad service and little value for your buck seems to be the norm. We throw away unrepairable good products and replace them with new products, by design. Sell, sell, sell (not fight, fight, fight).
The path to a better Amazon doesn’t lie through consumer activism, or appeals to the its conscience. Corporations, being artificial, immortal colony-organisms that use humans as their inconvenient gut flora, do not have consciences to appeal to.
A great argument for efficient regulation.
I came here to say obviously it’s enshitification, only to find that the article is actually written by the Corey Doctorow. Love that guy.
Greed
