I'm just glad that Amazon has competition. I love them, and I don't want them going the way of the Comcast-style behemoth.

Google Fiber is going to change that. I can't wait.

There's already a lot of dirty things Amazon does -- try selling in the same sector as them. You can't compete with a company that is willing to take tens of, sometimes hundreds of millions in losses for years just to ensure 10 years down the road, they have a controlling interest.

It is still different. Comcast got to where it is by buying out competitors and with a monopoly in providing cable within a city. There is no choice to shop for alternatives in many cities. With Amazon, there are multiple competitors. It is just that Amazon is willing to take little or no profit on an item.

Hmm... one problem they have already is their brand name. "11 Main" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

Yes it is a terrible name. First thing they need to change.

yes it does

What would differentiate 11main (or any other Alibaba property) from offerings in the US? Amazon probably has quite a few people locked in with Prime and their Kindle devices (I know I wouldn't switch e-book providers) so I wonder what exactly would 11main do better?

Not sure yet. 11main.com in particular has a more "local" feeling to it style-wise. I find it aesthetically pleasing to look at, instead of the blocky old look/feel of amazon.com.

I think 11main.com is only their first recon assault wave. More will come.

Alibaba is the parent company for a lot of child companies -- they have an equivalent for most of our major US companies[1]

It's a little intimidating when you realize the scale these guys are playing at.

[1] http://qz.com/206283/all-the-western-companies-youd-have-to-...

That is a sobering article. These guys blink at a product, and their user base is instantly more than the entire population of the US. I wonder how much longer the US can afford to fiddle with ridiculous things like debt ceilings, immigration, birth control, needless foreign wars, etc., when a behemoth like Alibabi is poised to overrun the world in a decade. Once China gets over the whole fascism thing, the future appears to be theirs.

Amazon has slowly been raising prices, so Alibaba could come and undercut prices but where Amazon has it's best advantage I think is in it's lightning fast delivery. Something that takes more time and infrastructure to compete with.

Absolutely correct --

The little known secret - products on amazon are often more expensive than found elsewhere. They charge a 15% - 30% commission fee per item sold, so majority of retailers raise their prices when listing on amazon. The category my company sells in has a 20% commission fee, so we raised pricing by 25%, and our volume of sales on amazon was not effected.

If you find a product you want, and a decent price on amazon -- try googling the seller's name/brand and see if their website comes up... the same item will likely be there cheaper.

We've found that people trust the amazon platform so much, they get blind to pricing. Most also don't realize they are not buying from amazon directly - but often a 3rd party seller. Most large sellers don't use the FBA either (where amazon warehouses your products for you, for a fee).

Also, recently amazon changed their minimum commission structure -- to be a $1 minimum for any product sold under $6. This effectively destroyed the penny book sellers, as well as many other industries that sold cheap but high-volume products (like my company does). So... now we've changed to sell more quantity per unit sold on amazon (case/pack sizes). So now, effectively there are no "cheap" $6 or less products on Amazon.

I know their prices are average, or slightly more expensive, however, it's convenient. For example, say I need a pair of sunglasses, a fan for my computer, a new frying pan, and SD card for my camera. I go to Amazon, find the products I need, and place a single order.

That's much easier than trying to locate these items on a handful of different websites, signing up for new accounts and payment systems. It's also easier than going shopping downtown, finding a few items, but not the others, which means I need to place an order online either way. And if I need to place an order online, I might as well get everything on Amazon, so I qualify for free shipping.

Amazon didn't post a $800m loss last quarter. They estimated next quarter a loss between $400-$800m (mainly for employee stock compensation)

Fair enough. I was attempting to make the point that they can post an $800 million loss and not sweat it. ;)