this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2026
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Do you really think that Amazon should be allowed to set prices outside their marketplace? That's wild.
For the same thing sold on their marketplace, yes. Literally you are voluntarily agreeing to use a private marketplace, you should agree to all their rules or just stop using that marketplace.
Amazon isn't a public service. They aren't a Farmer's market run by the city. They aren't a sidewalk. If you would like a public version of Amazon that doesn't have those restrictions and would be cheaper for literally everyone, advocate for that. But until a public alternative exists then yes, Amazon can and should impose whatever rules it wants. Alternatives will appear if it becomes too restrictive and the platform will die.
That's insanity. Under those terms, most suppliers would be at the whims of platform owners.
Microsoft asking Valve for a 50% cut? Sure. Google delisting a website because the owner criticized their CEO? Absolutely. Amazon telling you to sell at a loss or not sell at all? Why not.
Congrats, you found one of the many problems with the concept of capitalism.
Yes. That is how all that works. Because they are all private companies and it is voluntary to use their services.
If you think those services should be neutral, congrats, you're advocating for communism. I think communism is pretty cool and there should be a state-run online marketplace that is entirely non-profit. But you seem to think you should or could force companies to be that public entity. That's not only not realistic and not how the world has ever worked under capitalism, but it's just simply a bad idea. Look at the USPS for why you should not have a private entity perform a public service.
I disagree. There are plenty of success stories of companies being forced by governments to act in the best interest of consumers, from adopting USB-C to removing lead from gasoline.
You are conflating very different things here, I'm afraid.
I'm really not. You want a neutral marketplace that just provides a service without a profit motive. That's what it comes down to. Because any service that requires a profit will naturally protect that profit, and that includes excluding suppliers that are actively sabotaging it.
No, I want marketplaces to operate in good faith and following the law. Don't think that's so much to ask.
Materially & historically speaking it absolutely is too much to ask, sooner or later someone inevitably gains enough wealth to rig the game, the only way anyone in history has ever managed to get anything resembling good faith out of "marketplaces" has been at gunpoint