News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Italy fines Amazon record $1.3B for abuse of market dominance. Parent comment

Re:Italy fines Amazon record $1.3B for abuse of market domin... by mattashii on Thursday December 09, 2021 @04:56AM (#29495585)
... But isn't this FBA <> free Prime shipping relation the point that the CMA of Italy believes to be problematic?

I understand the CMA's point from a markets perspective: why would / could the relation between the customer and a different seller impact the prices of shipping for a different seller on the same platform? Prime is primarily a transaction between the customer and Amazon [the shop], for cheaper products and free shipping for their products; allowing it to impact the customer<>seller relationship of third parties could be considered illegal bundling.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Italy fines Amazon record $1.3B for abuse of market domin... by sokoloff on Thursday December 09, 2021 @06:22AM (#29496200)
The 3rd party seller opts into this bundling as a benefit to offer their customers, though, right? No one is forcing seller X to use FBA or Amazon’s platform at all; they’re doing it because customers prefer it now that they see what’s possible.

To me (in the US), Prime was magical when it first rolled out. It lowered the friction and raised my expectations for online commerce in general. When other players followed suit, my life got even better. Now, someone charging $20 to get me a package “maybe next week; you’ll get it when you get it” is wildly uncompetitive rather than being the accepted standard.

[ Parent | on HN ]