latterly , there ’s been a lot of antitrust chatter surrounding the big five technical school giants . originally this month , Apple was under the microscope for itsstrict restraint over the App Store . This calendar week , it looks like it ’s Amazon ’s turn . According to late report card from theWashington PostandVox , it looks like the Federal Trade Commission is keen on investigating whether Amazon ’s been unfairly undercut rival with its Fulfillment by Amazon and Prime services .
On Saturday , origin told the Washington Post the FTC and Department of Justice had struck an agreement to quietly part responsibilities regarding competition oversight . While theDoJ get Google , the FTC reportedly shout out dibs on Amazon .
As to what caught the FTC ’s eye ? Vox summons a seed say the FTC is quietly gathering entropy from Amazon ’s rival in three areas : Pricing for Amazon ’s Fulfillment By Amazon ( FBA ) service , Amazon undercutting its own vender , and Amazon Prime megabucks .
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First off , FBA . It ’s a logistics religious service where Peter Sellers can store their product in Amazon warehouses and have Amazon handle the packing , transport , and client overhaul . What you may not know is vendor can also utilize it to send items trade on other sites like eBay or Etsy . In fact , Gizmodo come across this as part of our ‘ Goodbye Big Five ’ serial . Reporter Kashmir Hill tried tocut out Amazonand rather ordered a intersection off eBay … only to have it get in an Amazon box .
The job is n’t necessarily FBA itself . It ’s the pricing anatomical structure . Vox report Amazon charges 75 percent more if a marketer ships to a customer who buy from a vie site . So while a marketer pay $ 4.76 to pack , ship , and handle customer service for an item weighing between one to two pound on Amazon , the same item be $ 8.75 on their own fund , Etsy , eBay , or another commerce site .
The other two issues portion out with Amazon undercut competitors on Marketplace and through Amazon Prime . With Marketplace , the disputation rivet on whether its fair for Amazon to create over 100 of its own brands to compete with small - to - midsize third - party seller . As for Prime , client can pay off a flat fee of $ 119 per yr to gain access to welfare like one - Clarence Day shipping , TV shows , music , and store . The issue is that smaller service do n’t have the same advantages that Amazon does , and may have to charge for each servicing on an individual basis . Furthermore , it ’s not well-defined if Amazon needs to , or in reality does , profit off of its annual Prime membership fee . If that ’s the case , then bundling the services together may only serve to undercut competitors .
This slots into the ongoing discourse in Congress about greater examination for tech giants , as well as whether they should be broken up — specially among Democrats . Most notably , Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren recentlyproposed a planto break up Facebook , Amazon , and Google as they exert “ too much power over our economy , our society , and our democracy . ” ( Warren has alsoadded Appleto her tilt of targets . ) The design has garner support from RepresentativeAlexandria Ocasio - Cortez , while other political leader have propose their own takes . Last yr , Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders called for increasedscrutiny of Amazon , while Senator Amy Klobuchar suggested adata privacy billthat postulate aim at freehanded tech .
[ Vox , Washington Post ]
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