The FTC, of which Khan is now chair, contends that Amazon has found a way to push up prices after all, without losing shoppers.
There's no doubt about this. I spent a few months of my life doing FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) before all the white-labeled Alibaba trash dominated the Amazon search results, and it was very easy to find things in the local Target, BigLots, etc. that could be sent into Amazon and sold at 30/50/100% markups, and it would still fly off the commingled shelves.
Amazon got everyone used to the assumption that Amazon prices were the lowest, then introduced the behavioral convenience of Prime, and then slowly allowed prices to float upwards once that Prime behavior was entrained.
The Prime membership has recently reached an inflection point where the value paid is not worth the value received, I just recently let my 15-yr Prime expire for that reason.
Ever since 2017 or so, Amazon is running a global experiment on how far you can drive prices up, and reduce customer service, without loosing customers.
I highly appreciate Khan and what she's doing, it was loooong over due. Driving up prices without loosing clients so is, well, normal I guess? Why would that be a FTC issue?
There's no doubt about this. I spent a few months of my life doing FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) before all the white-labeled Alibaba trash dominated the Amazon search results, and it was very easy to find things in the local Target, BigLots, etc. that could be sent into Amazon and sold at 30/50/100% markups, and it would still fly off the commingled shelves.
Amazon got everyone used to the assumption that Amazon prices were the lowest, then introduced the behavioral convenience of Prime, and then slowly allowed prices to float upwards once that Prime behavior was entrained.
The Prime membership has recently reached an inflection point where the value paid is not worth the value received, I just recently let my 15-yr Prime expire for that reason.