Its amazing that Amazon has gotten away with this for so long without being hammered with antitrust violations.
The idea that a marketplace could turn around and sell their own products that directly compete with third party sellers is insane. Come to think of it, I assume Walmart would fall into this problem as well.
Not every retailer's primary service is allowing anyone to sell whatever in their stores.
Amazon is more similar to a flea market organizer that sets up their own massive both. They can put their items in front of customers first and decide what to sell based upon what they see people carry away.
FTC's whole yearly budget is under half a billion, Amazon and the rest can very easily throw more lawyers at a problem.
You'd think the government would be the Goliath in this battle, but it's the other way around. FTC is more of a nuicanse than an actual problem, and it's gonna remain that way for as long as FTC keeps operating on a shoestring budget.
Right, just like anybody can spin up their own copy of Myspace.
Monopolies most frequently form over either cornered resources (not the case here) or network effects (bingo).
What network effects? You type in www.sellerX.com, click pay, and receive purchased item. Zero other entities involved other than buyer and seller, which means no network effects.
The idea that a marketplace could turn around and sell their own products that directly compete with third party sellers is insane. Come to think of it, I assume Walmart would fall into this problem as well.