One opinion I've see is that they use third party sellers to identify valuable product niches to get into. I've read many accounts of Amazon launching their own version of a product and sometimes going as far as suspending or ejecting the seller or sellers with the product that inspired them.
My guess is that there are too many sellers making money on Amazon who take the abuse. To speak up would mean to risk losing your business. So people don't. I see one massive class action lawsuit in the making.
The other Amazon scam has to do with sales tax. Rather than collecting sales tax on every sale they've somehow managed to pass this on to third party sellers. It's as if Walmart had their suppliers become responsible for collecting and paying sales tax at every Walmart location. Which makes no sense.
Amazon should collect and pay sales taxes in every state where they have a warehouse. States are getting cheated out of tax revenue because Amazon plays lose with this and sellers have no clue they are tasked with collecting taxes. A secondary effect is that sellers get into massive trouble with authorities because Amazon doesn't collect taxes for them and does not submit the funds to the sellers. When sellers discover they were made responsible for sales tax they often end-up with a huge bill that nearly ruins them.
My guess is that there are too many sellers making money on Amazon who take the abuse. To speak up would mean to risk losing your business. So people don't. I see one massive class action lawsuit in the making.
The other Amazon scam has to do with sales tax. Rather than collecting sales tax on every sale they've somehow managed to pass this on to third party sellers. It's as if Walmart had their suppliers become responsible for collecting and paying sales tax at every Walmart location. Which makes no sense.
Amazon should collect and pay sales taxes in every state where they have a warehouse. States are getting cheated out of tax revenue because Amazon plays lose with this and sellers have no clue they are tasked with collecting taxes. A secondary effect is that sellers get into massive trouble with authorities because Amazon doesn't collect taxes for them and does not submit the funds to the sellers. When sellers discover they were made responsible for sales tax they often end-up with a huge bill that nearly ruins them.