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Amazon faces potential break-up as FTC finalizes antitrust lawsuit | The FTC is getting ready for the big one (www.techspot.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Amazon faces potential break-up as FTC finalizes antitrust lawsuit | The FTC is getting ready for the big one::undefined

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

More than half of Amazon's sales come from third-party merchants who this year started paying an average of over 50% commission on every sale, up from 35.2% in 2016, the result of it raising Fulfillment by Amazon fees every year and increasing storage fees.

While paying for Amazon's logistics and advertising services is optional, most merchants consider these, especially advertising, a necessary part of doing business. Moreover, the FTC has reportedly amassed evidence that Amazon disadvantages merchants who don't use the services by giving them lower placements.

Capitalism at its finest... I still remember when Amazon was just a humble online bookstore. How times have changed.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No doubt this is slimy, but does it make Amazon a monopoly? It seems like a tough case for the FTC to win.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Contrary to popular corporatist disinformation, anti-trust law isn't just for literal control-100.000000%-of-the-market "monopolies." Any company (or colluding group of companies) large enough to unduly influence the market can be subject to it.

That's why it's called "anti-trust" law, not "anti-monopoly" law.