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Amazon Is Kicking All Unauthorized Apple Refurbishers Off the Site (vice.com)
In a new agreement between tech giants Amazon and Apple, shoppers will soon see a selection of the latest Apple products on Amazon.com. This is not good news for everyone. Motherboard: John Bumstead is a computer refurbisher who, every year, saves thousands of laptops from the shredder. He buys MacBooks en masse from electronics recyclers, fixes them, then sells them on Amazon Marketplace or wholesales them to vendors who do the same. Friday morning, Bumstead got an email from Amazon informing him that he'd no longer be allowed to sell Apple computers on the platform, thanks to a new agreement between Apple and Amazon that will only allow "authorized resellers" to sell Apple products.
"As part of a new agreement with Apple, we are working with a select group of authorized resellers to offer an expanded selection of Apple and Beats products, including new releases, in Amazon's stores," the email says. "You are receiving this message because you are currently selling, or have previously sold, Apple or Beats products. Your existing offers for those products will soon be removed from Amazon's online store in the United States. Please contact Apple if you would like to apply to become an authorized reseller on Amazon." As the email notes, this is part of a new agreement between two of the largest companies in the world that will allow Amazon to sell new Apple products around the world; in exchange, Amazon agreed to let Apple pick-and-choose who is allowed to sell Apple products on the site.
"As part of a new agreement with Apple, we are working with a select group of authorized resellers to offer an expanded selection of Apple and Beats products, including new releases, in Amazon's stores," the email says. "You are receiving this message because you are currently selling, or have previously sold, Apple or Beats products. Your existing offers for those products will soon be removed from Amazon's online store in the United States. Please contact Apple if you would like to apply to become an authorized reseller on Amazon." As the email notes, this is part of a new agreement between two of the largest companies in the world that will allow Amazon to sell new Apple products around the world; in exchange, Amazon agreed to let Apple pick-and-choose who is allowed to sell Apple products on the site.
This is why we hate monopolies.
In the internet sales business, Amazon has effectively become a monopoly.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
we see a lot of stories about how Amazon really doesn't care about people selling actual counterfeit goods on their platform.
Apple eats YOU
Seems like (ought-to-be-unlawful) collusion to put paid to competition to me.
They're the only people you can sell through.
Isn't this partially illegal in some states - amazon should be treated as some form of common carrier and maybe regulated if it's starting to pull sh*t like this?
You buy a computer, sell it, and now Apple and Amazon say you can't resell it?
Umm, WTF?
So, who amongst geeks or hardware hackers needs Amazon or official Apple Macbooks? Refurbished Macbooks are aplenty on ebay, as always. Similarly, macos Mojave works on cheap linux-using laptops in vmware with some tweaking.
I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
How is this even legal under Right of First Sale?
The machines were sold legally, bought legally from their prior owners, and therefore his property to sell.
Apple can't legally say what you're allowed to do with your own property, and unless he's claiming these are new out of the box machines and not refurbs, on what legal basis can they deny him this right?
Amazon sells plenty of used things, so they can't claim they don't allow that.
What is so magical about a refurbished Mac that Amazon and Apple can legally collude to prevent the perfectly legal sale of a used machine?
This sounds like bullshit to me.
So who still owns a fucking Apple product? I never have. Fuck Apple
There is always Ebay and Aliexpress and a number of other sites. So there will be some inconvenience but not an end to all sales.
Did he try to become an authorized reseller? Sometimes certification programs are a breeze, sometimes they are deliberately designed to cut down on competition.
This article is useless and doesn't provide the sufficient information.
It's better for the world to dump these old unusable computers into third world countries where they
can be soaked in toxic acids to recover minuscule amounts of gold, with the carcass then chucked onto smoldering heaps of poisonous waste and acrid fumes.
Think different.
Allowing others to sell used/refurbished hardware is certainly less profitable than being allowed to sell new stuff yourself.
These refurbished are free to set up their own storefront and sell their product. No one is owed the traffic that Amazon provides.
This is tantamount to a craft brewer complaining he can't put his beer in Walmart's aisle coolers.
Not quite. Amazon has been pushing their platform for years as a safer alternative to eBay.
To use your example, this is tantamount to a craft brewer complaining he suddenly can't put his beer in Walmart's aisle coolers after Walmart encouraged him to put them there for years.
Apple reigns in the renegades.
I'd rather these guys gang up and sue Amazon and Apple for a lot of money. They deserve what is coming their way.
Time for some trust-busting, Sherman Act style. Where's Theodore Roosevelt when we need him?
Yes, a person can set up their own storefront, there will always be ways for dedicated customers to find a supplier. However, as a supplier who, I don't know, wants to make a living, this kind of power to cut you off 99% of the market is really devastating to people for whom it isn't a hobby.
Getting a terrific lightly used MacBook Pro which is highly usable for 1/3rd the price of new is easy.
Apple & Amazon's decision is just going to put more items on eBay and result in EVEN BETTER pricing.
Slashdot readers who would never buy an Apple computer bitching about Amazon not selling certain Apple computers. How rich!
Sure got beaten to the punch on that one, but it kinda makes this a non-story, no? Once again, content providers aren't the problem. They're a dime a dozen.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Call them "APFEL" , shave off the logo, and done!
A little metal-work on the case, and it's a new "APFEL" product.
Amazon and Apple unite to create a new Standard Oil.
I'm quite pleased to see this. Apple playing games is only going to hurt them in the long run.
So I'm very happy to see Apple tightening the screws on their gear, making it harder to get your hands on their garbage. Feed them all to the shredder, I say.
Keep it up Apple, continue to be unfriendly to your customers, ratchet it up, keep pissing people off. It makes me delighted.
Sue sue sue sue!
Yes, your shipping costs will increase I guess since you won't benefit from Amazon logistics, but I mean, the difference in costs will be big enough to warrant even the laziest of consumers to visit your own online store.
you clearly never bought anything from amazon.
Anyway, All this does is kill apple off faster, since the result will be less people buying apple products, there will be less people to recommend apple products. typical vicious downward cycle of a company in the decline phase of the business cycle.
Yeah, because brick and mortar stores never switch suppliers or change the product they carry. Are you serious?
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Oh. So the story says that Amazon is going to start standing behind the products sold through third parties? That's great. Oh wait. The article says nothing about that and Amazon will happily mix the inventory of legit sellers with those who sell knock offs. Then they leave the refund and return process up to the seller. There are a bunch of Amazon sellers working out of their garages.
Amazon takes no risk here and stands behind nothing. This is just one large corporation helping another. For money.
Lots of people get by with this kind of thing on eBay and are quite happy to do so. I don't see eBay kicking off so-called "unauthorized" resellers, and they aren't exactly the small guy.
Don't start quoting statistics that are wildly made up unless you want to look like an idiot. Amazon doesn't have the power to cut anyone off from 99% of anything, except maybe Amazon-exclusive customers (of which I'm sure there are incredibly few).
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Not quite... this is tantamount to a craft brewer complaining he suddenly can't put his beer in Walmart's aisle coolers after Walmart encouraged him to put them there for years.
We're talking about the market for secondhand Apple computers. I suspect the market for secondhand beer is substantially smaller.
That's not what the first customers of the Apple 1 computer thought. And I would think those guys would be your heros, Apple Fanboi !!
Except that there is no monopoly here. These refurbishers are still free to market their product on any other platform up to and including eBay.
Except Amazon is now 49% of all online sales. That means, it's as big as all of the other retailers-- combined.
At 49% they have considerable monopoly power. Not as much as 100%, a complete monopoly, but not negligible.
Are you really saying that eBay is about to go under because Amazon?
Unless somebody stops Amazon: yes.
I'm pretty sure that Amazon gets to choose what products are listed in their store, just the same as any brick and mortar gets to choose what goes on their shelves.
You may be "pretty sure," but if they have monopoly power, then no, they don't. Or, they shouldn't: that is what antitrust laws are about, and a monopoly making a deal to only sell one vendor's (more expensive) product is exactly why we have antitrust laws. Read some history.
What are you advocating for here, compulsory product listings from randoms who switch out fans and disks?
I am pointing out that monopolies are bad and destroy the free market.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
I expect Apple, as the agreement to permit Amazon to buy from Apple, in exchange Amazon had to remove any retailers Apple found offensive.
I would expect the same contract if eBay was to become an official Apple retailer.
It's the reason in any large retailer selling Apple main line products, received from Apple, has them in their own sales space.
Fuck Apple, Fuck Amazon.
Companies tampering with free market don't need my money.
aaaaaaa
Just run your sink faucet; that's your second hand beer, refurbished (by your local water utility)!
I buy from there all the time, both U.S. amazon.com and amazon.jp in Japan, what are you talking about? Been a customer for 18 years
Apples customers that make them money don't buy used out of warranty things, this is irrelevant to Apple market that makes billions of dollars.
Apple is profitable, outlook is good.
How hard is it to do an ecommerce site today? What, does it take minutes to set up? And, is it really worth giving Amazon 30% of gross? Set up a website, and ignore Amazon. We do that, and we do just fine.
I don't respond to AC's.
Not quite. Amazon has been pushing their platform for years as a safer alternative to eBay.
Yes... which is why Amazon is moving to get rid of these shady AF resellers who are peddling totally unknown quality mech they found in some dumpster and slapped a new part on.
If Amazon is going to bill themselves as the safe alternative to Ebay, they need to act the part. Unauthorized refurb units do not align with that goal.
I usually don't buy that type of thing from amazon anyway.
Not quite... this is tantamount to a craft brewer complaining he suddenly can't put his beer in Walmart's aisle coolers after Walmart encouraged him to put them there for years.
We're talking about the market for secondhand Apple computers. I suspect the market for secondhand beer is substantially smaller.
You're right: we're specifically talking about secondhand Apple computers. But the bigger picture is that Amazon specifically made a selling platform for people to sell anything. Heck; in TFA it says the guy ships his refurbs to an Amazon distribution facility to take advantage of their logistics. And so years after people set up these business, Amazon rips the entire thing from under their feet.
there is no problem here, plenty of other places that guy can sell his things to those who like that stuff.
Except there's not. Show me another online platform where a seller can ship a bulk load of good to a huge warehouse and have that platform take care of shipment and delivery. Amazon has a massive logistics infrastructure that sellers can take advantage of.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This is tantamount to a craft brewer complaining he can't put his beer in Walmart's aisle coolers.
No.... this is tantamount to officials from your local flea market coming up to your permanent booth that you've been selling from for years informing you "We're going to have to close you down, because you've been selling reconditioned brand X products, and we've signed an exclusivity deal with brand X that only businesses authorized by brand X officials can sell brand X products at this market.".
This SEEMS like Antitrust, because Amazon != Apple, and Amazon is in the business of allowing 3rd party sellers to sell pretty much any kind of product on their website, which only a few general exceptions.... this is Not normal like Walmart refusing to allow a 3rd party to stock goods in their store. The Amazon marketplace is more like eBay..... it would be like Apple signing a deal with eBay requiring eBay to remove/block listings for all Apple-branded products unless the seller is pre-approved with Apple as "permitted to sell".
There goes.... not only all the legitimate used/refurbished equipment, But generic replacements for things like Macbook power adapters, non-Apple-OEM adapters, lightning cables, thunderbolt cables, etc.
Hold your horses right there. Amazon is a retailer's monopoly. Apple creates a monopoly in who can repair hardware and if the customer has a right to repair hardware independently. Now what they have is a collusion. This is called a cartel.
You are so used to cronyism that you have been blinded by the money someone's paying you to write bad comments. Snap out of it.
Not quite... this is tantamount to a craft brewer complaining he suddenly can't put his beer in Walmart's aisle coolers after Walmart encouraged him to put them there for years.
We're talking about the market for secondhand Apple computers. I suspect the market for secondhand beer is substantially smaller.
Depends on what porn sites you visit...
Amazon has been kicking off users from selling on it's site for a while now. Apple just happens to be the biggest one so it made the news.
I used to sell my older computer parts on Amazon to fund new upgrades and purchases but I can no longer sell any perfectly working used parts for many of the companies because of these "authorized" requirements. It applies to all used products and not only refurbished products. For me, it was easier to list it and get a decent sale on Amazon than using ebay or Craigslist but I no longer have that option.
Strange..
Both Apple and Amazon started in garages..
right to repair issue!
Baloney! If our justice system had any teeth or claws these two would be going down for this. Put em in chains right now.
I saw this kind of thing coming for years, on their platform. A long time ago, I used to do a lot of selling via the original "Amazon Auctions" service. It was more or less a direct eBay competitor, where any individual or business could start listing whatever used or new products they wanted to sell, with auction bidding.
Then, that disappeared and all of us were herded to Amazon Marketplace instead -- a service that demanded you list your items for sale at fixed prices, but did help you determine the optimal sale price at least. (It would tell you if identical products were currently listed by other sellers, and if your price was below all of theirs or not. If you were willing to sell at the lowest price on the site, they'd promote your listing to people as such.)
Then, I kept seeing Amazon revising the Marketplace, catering more and more towards big businesses and large volume sellers. You started having to create listings in kind of an inventory grid, that looked totally out of place for an individual selling a few items at a time as a side gig to make some extra cash.....
Finally, they added so many rules and restrictions on sellers, it became unreasonable for the "little guy" to even bother with it. (Essentially, you got kicked off Amazon as a seller if you didn't agree to give any buyer a full refund for just about ANY reason. They could buy your product, switch it out with a defective/worn out and dirty version of the same one, and ship it back for a full refund claiming "Product was not as advertised." They could claim your perfectly good product was non-functional and get irate with you as soon as you tried to email them back to help them troubleshoot it. Again, you had to give them the refund and eat your original shipping costs to mail it to them. And if this nonsense went on a few times within a couple month period? Your percentage of satisfaction dropped to below their acceptable levels, even if you happily handed out all those refunds and lost money trying to sell your stuff. And you'd risk suspension for not keeping up your metrics.)
Since then, they've been pedaling Chinese counterfeit versions of everything from shoes to iPhone chargers -- and only apologizing when someone like Apple catches them in the act, red-handed. Then, Amazon claims "We fixed the problem!" as they move on to the next high volume seller who wants to give it a try. So of COURSE they're gonna cater to Apple on this one. They don't want to get branded the bad guy....
This sounda like restraint of trade. If I can meet Amazon's requirements, and I can show that I am an honest dealer, I should be able to sell on Amazon.
Another shit company to be added to do not buy from them list (Apple is number one on the list)
Mendacem Memorem Esse Oportet
Amazon when it introduced its own Fire tablets and its Fire smartphone booted Apple products from its site. Now I guess they have made up so the third party stuff is gone. Well some of it was really old crappy models that are not even supported anymore. That stuff shouldn't be on Amazon anyway, that old Apple stuff isn't really refurbished that well and at best has a 90 day warranty.
Ali "dwarfs Amazon, its closest competitor, with reported sales of $74.4 Billion for fiscal 2013". And it's only become relatively bigger compared to Amazon since then.
The biggest part of online shopping is not happening on Amazon. They are becoming a niche player in that sphere.
Isn't this partially illegal in some states - amazon should be treated as some form of common carrier and maybe regulated if it's starting to pull sh*t like this?
Common Carrier?!?
LOLOLOLOL!
Boy, you Slashtards are D-U-M-B!!!
Amazon isn't "99% of the online market". In fact, it is tiny compared to Ali, which dwarfs Amazon, its closest competitor, with reported sales of $74.4 Billion for fiscal 2013"
Might extend that with e.g. "... as a result of an agreement with Anheuser Busch"
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
Are you a complete moron, or just partial? I'm guessing complete.
there are plenty of shipping companies, what are you babbling about? They'll come right to the seller with a man in a little vehicle or a fleet of trucks depending on how much you want to ship
We're talking about the market for secondhand Apple computers. I suspect the market for secondhand beer is substantially smaller.
I dunno about that; Coors and Budweiser are still pretty popular in the US...
...from up here high on my horse.
what am i talking about?
The fact you can buy tons of counterfeit goods from amazon
https://www.forbes.com/sites/w...
but now not legitimately refurbished apple products.
Thou shalt not leave the plantation!
Now where have I heard that before....
Thus the dangers of "doing shit" without having a contract ... Or there was a contract and the change is in accordance with the terms of the contract (or there is a breach of contract in which case damages are specified in the contract or the aggrieved party can sure the other for breach of contract). That one signs a "shitty contract" is a problem for the shitty contract signer to deal with as they are the ones solely responsible for what befalls them.
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/11/09/apple-amazon-new-product-deal/
Sound like a typical scum deal by apple.
apple proudly being a cancer in the tech industry
Hopefully, Apple will continue to push on this, and get Amazon to stop selling all the shabby "Genuine Apple" Chargers that overvolt your laptop, Batteries that last 6 months, Adapters that are barely (or less) compatible (or just plain shoddy), cables that break, etc.
That has gotten SO bad that I don't recommend anyone looking for those items to look on Amazon. It really is THAT bad.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/a...
This is tantamount to a craft brewer complaining he can't put his beer in Walmart's aisle coolers.
No.... this is tantamount to officials from your local flea market coming up to your permanent booth that you've been selling from for years informing you "We're going to have to close you down, because you've been selling reconditioned brand X products, and we've signed an exclusivity deal with brand X that only businesses authorized by brand X officials can sell brand X products at this market.".
Not really. The conversation is more like "In accordance with the contract you signed on [date] we are giving you notice that we are terminating that contract in accordance with the provisions of that contact and that as of [date] you will no longer be permitted to have a booth here. You may however, sign a new contract in which you will agree not to sell brand X products after {date} if you wish to continue operating here."
Clearly y'all have no concept of how the real world works and none of ya have moved out of mum's basement yet.
And still do. Lots of people use Amazon Logistics. You can be someone to ship via Amazon but not sell anything via Amazon. You just ship your product to Amazon, and Amazon warehouses it and ships it. All you have to do is tell Amazon where to ship your item to.
I've bought tons of stuff from eBay that were drop-shipped by Amazon in the end (complete with smile boxes). They didn't have Amazon on the label,
The only thing happening here is that Amazon isn't letting refurbishers sell on Amazon. They're still free to use their logistics services.
And yes, Amazon offers a full suite of services, including customs clearance for product. If it's new product, it needs to be palletized and labelled in a special way before Amazon will break it down into individual units.
I'm a small business owner and one of the things I've always been conscious of was relying too heavily on other companies platforms and services. I don't like Amazon and limit my purchases with them, but don't offer any products via that outlet for a great number of reasons. Primarily them being pure evil and it just generally not being a good idea to let yourself become dependent on other platforms, companies, etc. On other platforms I'm not a big fan of (eBay primarily) we do have some offerings, but limit the items to a handful of popular items from our larger catalog. The vast majority of my companies products get sold through our own web site. My company even accepts crypto currencies because otherwise we're heavily dependent on a limited set of companies for payment acceptance (PayPal, Visa, Master Card, American Express, and Discover). Not to mention it actually doubles our profit margins in some instances because 3% of the purchase price of a product goes to the credit card processors which is less than the profit margins on some items. Lesson to be learned: Stop relying on other companies. Do for yourself what others can do for you and nobody else will own you.
The cynic in me also thinks that the brisk business of selling Apple or 3rd party replacement parts such as laptop screens as well as batteries and screens for iPhones is also going away, right?
I tried every decent and legal way I could think of to resolve the issue w/the business before I rented the chicken suit
Didn't Apple themselves started out from a garage?
Amazon was given a choice of having "unauthorized refrurbishers" or "first party Apple products". Not a hard choice. They still don't care, but Apple does and can throw it's weight around.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
I'm an online reseller. eBay does cut people off. A couple fake reports against your account and you're gone. Make a mistake on Amazon and you're gone. Now your lively hood is dead. There are other marketplaces, but they don't have anything close to the volume of sales as Amazon and eBay. Both platforms are becoming more and more restrictive and both are becoming more alike. EBay is slowly moving to only authorized resellers as well. Their new buy box will eventually become the manufacturer's slot. Few people click outside of such places to find the second-hand lists. It's a long ways off, but it's coming.
Amazon has been restricting the types of things you can sell. More and more product categories require pre-approval to sell something in them. Though that hasn't seemed to stop all the scammers.
When a company cuts you off, you have no recourse. None.
I buy from there all the time, both U.S. amazon.com and amazon.jp in Japan, what are you talking about? Been a customer for 18 years
Apples customers that make them money don't buy used out of warranty things, this is irrelevant to Apple market that makes billions of dollars.
Apple is profitable, outlook is good.
You must not follow the stock market
But countrerfeit knock-offs do?
There is no market for second hand beer, all beer is available only as rental anyway.
Anti-trust doesn't ban strategic partnerships, it mostly only bans price fixing; and even then only if it harms consumers.
Exclusive deals like this require a monopoly to be problematic, but it also would require use of the monopoly to force the deal; if Amazon had a monopoly on cell phone sales, and they used that monopoly to force Apple to do something that restricted access or raised prices, then that would be an anti-trust violation.
But Amazon doesn't have anything close to a monopoly on cell phone sales, and Apple is the one who wanted the deal! So it is not even close to problematic; no gray areas are even involved.
And anyways, if the refurbs move to ebay, the prices won't likely change. Without a price increase, consumers were not harmed.
They seem OK comingling inventory and releasing counterfit products
I've been a victim of this as well:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Ninte...
called a cartel.
The word you were looking for was "strategic partnership."
A cartel is a horizontal partnership designed to fix prices or prevent access horizontally. Amazon is not a cell phone manufacturer, and this relationship doesn't change the prices of cell phones. It also doesn't prevent access by other cell phone manufacturers. So it isn't close to a cartel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
A strategic partnership can be horizontal or vertical. Here, it is vertical; it is between the supplier of a good, and a retailer. While horizontal partnerships have to tread carefully around anti-trust law, vertical partnerships have very little exposure to that; they only have exposure when a monopoly is used to force some action that harms consumers by raising prices. Amazon is not a monopoly of any market, they're only a market leader; and here they're not using their position to force Apple to do anything. It is the opposite; Apple is such a big presence in the cell phone market that they finally were able to get Amazon to do what they wanted!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
As long as the cell phone carriers are all selling phones directly to customers, and most cell phones are being sold that way, claiming some sort of "monopoly" by a retailer would get laughed out of court.
I don't think the concept of "partially illegal" would survive both the 10th and 14th Amendments.
I hate what the Internet has brought upon the world. Greed at its worst.
Hey! Don't knock drinking hang-over pee until you've tried it!
you wont be able to leave reviews or rating on apples product.
We all know apple cant take criticism and bad press.
Apple started out selling illegal blue boxes to foreign exchange college students that allowed them to make free international long distance calls. Selling tone generator boxes used to steal from the phone company. That was what got Jobs and Wozniak in the hardware selling business, and part of what funded the start of Apple.
Monopoly? Ebay pretty much invented the online 2nd hand (and stolen) resale market. Bumstead should just go back there.
"Anticompetitive"
Or monopsony or whatever the appropriate term is for such an intermediary. Amazon is 50% of all online sales. As big as everything else (including direct sales) put together.
This is enough that not being able to use them is crippling to a business, which is the definition of monopoly for the purpose of antitrust law.
This is where you're wrong. It is not illegal to have a monopoly, but someone like Amazon who has one is under additional legal obligation to deal fairly and not abuse it. That does not apply to "any brick and mortar" store which has a competitor across the street.
Wrong. Woz and Jobs selling blue boxes predates the creation of Apple and didn't provide any funding for the company. Apple was formed to sell the Apple I and funding came from Mike Markkula.
If you think Amazon is âoethe only choiceâ online youâ(TM)re wrong or lazy. If you think Amazon is evil, the right and moral and ethical thing to do is to vote with your wallet and spend at least some effort to shop elsewhere. If you canâ(TM)t be bothered to even do that, you are part of the problem and part of the same force that allowed Walmart to destroy so much in the last generation. Take responsibility. If youâ(TM)re not showing your disapproval of evil companies by withholding your business, you are the problem.
"partially illegal" - Some of the things they do is illegal, but not all.
I don't like government interfering everywhere, but i would say that if a company gets tax-breaks and other types of benefits from the government (ie all of us) then that company should be held to a higher standard..
From what i have read/heard Amazon has received quite a few tax-breaks and been fast-tracked for building-permits..
Laws/taxes should be the same, and written to not give extra benefits to any group, for everyone independent of if you are a regular employee or a tiny 5 person firm or 500000 employee company.
http://web.ku.edu/~eceurope/hi...
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
Amazon has been doing this type of thing for years. It's news with every new group they shove under the bus. though it really shouldn't be.
Crap like this plus they stopped allowing 3rd parties to sell Amazon gift cards a while back (that means no Amazon purchases with Bitcoin). I'm done, bye bye Amazon!
The sad thing is, they probably won't even notice the loss of business. This company needs to be reigned in.
Amazon can pick and choose who they work with. Just like Apple donâ(TM)t have to sell Google software on the App Store. Open your own storefront and stop whining.
what am i talking about? The fact you can buy tons of counterfeit goods from amazon https://www.forbes.com/sites/w...
but now not legitimately refurbished apple products.
RT other FA about this, fool. This is about no longer being able to buy from non-legit refurbishers, but instead only from authorized resellers.
Put an easily removable label over the Apple logo and sell them as a Crabapple PC?
No sig. Move along - nothing to see here.
Yeah I've been procrastinating on making it to the hardware store for some button cells... could buy them on Amazon but half a chance they'll be dead or counterfeit these days.
Amazon sells lots of things billed as "refurbished" and most of them are not refurbished by the manufacturer.
This case deals with their refusing to sell non-Apple-authorized refurbished Apple products, and only that.
*livelihood
Y'all and mum in the same comment? Which part of the Atlantic are you currently living in?
This is great news for good old fashioned small businesses that don't like to operate under Amazon and prefer sales direct on their website. Besides isn't NewEgg the place to buy refurbished electronics? Amazon would only deliver the laptop in a thin bubble wrapped envelope dropped onto the concrete in front of your home.
The market for secondhand beer is also a monopoly, but just a local one that handles all secondhand liquids; i.e. the local sewer and water treatment systems.
So they cut people off for being bad actors (or at least reported as such).
eBay doesn't cut off entire classes of folk, which is what TFA is about. Try to keep up.
Not quite... this is tantamount to a craft brewer complaining he suddenly can't put his beer in Walmart's aisle coolers after Walmart encouraged him to put them there for years.
We're talking about the market for secondhand Apple computers. I suspect the market for secondhand beer is substantially smaller.
I think you'll find your local sewer company has a monopoly.
Woz and Jobs got started in business producing devices for sale by selling Blue boxes. That they later decided on the name Apple Computer when they started making the Apple 1 means they then adopted that as a company name.
In a strict legal sense they were separate entities. In the sense of getting a start producing and selling gadgets the Woz/Jobs duo started out selling blue boxes.
They couldn't very well put a brand name on their Blue Boxes even though they had a thriving business making and selling them, so technically they weren't a 'company.' They were contraband devices, which was why it was lucrative to build and sell them.