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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.
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.
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.
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.
More to the point, not once have I bought anything on eBay merely because it was cheaper there. I don't even *start* looking at eBay unless Amazon has failed to provide the product.
So, what you are saying is, that you have SELF-SELECTED Amazon, and then have the temerity to call it a "Monopoly"?
Right. Gotcha.
Frankly, I have bought several used Apple products over the years, and not ONE of them have I ever even LOOKED at Amazon. They have all come from eBay. In fact, in my mind:
1. Amazon = First place to check for New stuff.
2. eBay = First place to check for Used stuff.
And I would bet that 95% of all people feel exactly the same. In fact, I really didn't pay attention to the fact that there were whole businesses who sold Used stuff through Amazon.
I think the only Used thing I ever bought through Amazon was an out-of-print Sci-Fi book I wanted to re-read. And, IIRC, that wasn't even a wonderful experience; they sent me the wrong book the first time...