In Case You Missed It – Amazon’s Toll Road

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In Case You Missed It
Amazon’s Toll Road

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance just released a report that details how Amazon abuses its gatekeeper status to profit at the expense of its independent sellers — something that it has managed to conceal in financial reports. You can check out some of its key findings below.

A full copy of ILSR’s report can be accessed here.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Stacy Mitchell
December 1, 2021

“In this report, we find that, over the last two years, Amazon’s revenue from the fees it levies on third-party sellers has more than doubled. In 2019, Amazon pocketed $60 billion in seller fees. This year, its take will soar to $121 billion, our new research finds.”

“Using a variety of fees, Amazon now pockets a 34 percent cut of the revenue earned by independent sellers on its site, our analysis found. That’s up from 30 percent in 2018, and 19 percent in 2014.”

“Over the last few years, seller fees grew much faster than every other major revenue stream at Amazon. They grew faster than Amazon’s own retail sales and faster than its Prime membership program. They even outpaced Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s massive cloud-computing division.”

“Marketplace forms the linchpin in Amazon’s monopolization strategy. This vast stream of revenue allows Amazon to engage in two anti-competitive tactics that are essential to maintaining its dominance in e-commerce.”

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ABOUT THE FREE & FAIR MARKETS INITIATIVE

The Free & Fair Markets Initiative (FFMI) is a nonprofit watchdog group committed to promoting a fair, modern marketplace that works for all Americans. For more information on the Free & Fair Markets Initiative, please visit https://freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org/

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