Get the latest tech news

Amazon’s Latest Seller Squeeze. A controversial policy would effectively charge sellers when Amazon’s logistics team loses or damages their goods. It could enable Amazon to undercut rivals with its own brands.

A controversial policy would effectively charge sellers when Amazon’s logistics team loses or damages their goods. It could enable Amazon to undercut rivals with its own brands.

Others wondered if Amazon’s ongoing federal antitrust cases, which involve high third-party seller fees combining with the platform’s lowest-price guarantee to raise prices across the economy, had something to do with the company backing off. The expectation of weaker regulatory scrutiny in the coming administration could make the moment ripe for Amazon, at least in a targeted way, to start taking out high sellers on its platform. And even if it doesn’t start building knockoffs, acquiring manufacturing information can help Amazon in other ways, like enabling it to go back to suppliers and demand lower costs, as Walmart does consistently.

Get the Android app