It's one thing to see that unbleached toilet paper is selling well, and getting a supplier to sell you a store brand version. But it's completely different to see that a particular office stand is selling very well, determine that it has a 20% margin, and have someone build an identical product which you sell 5% margin.
If you look at many Amazon Basics products, they are clear ripoffs of existing products. To the point where they are indistinguishable from the images. I was looking for a Lodge braisier just yesterday and saw that AB produced an identical product, down to the unique blue color Lodge uses in their enamel.
I guess you could go through the trouble of suing Amazon, assuming you had the resources. But then you'd be booted from the platform and they'd still be selling your knockoffs for years.
I think it's fine if Amazon sees that cast iron cookware is selling well and decides to enter that market. What's not fine is to blatantly steal the design of the best selling product in a category, then make your ripoff more visible on your site. At least make an attempt to differentiate the product.
> "It's one thing to see that unbleached toilet paper is selling well, and getting a supplier to sell you a store brand version. But it's completely different to see that a particular office stand is selling very well, determine that it has a 20% margin, and have someone build an identical product which you sell 5% margin."
Those two sound like the exact same thing to me. There is no real difference.
It even happens between electronics manufacturers; you'll see a company noticing a competitor's product is successful, dissecting it to figure out the manufacturing costs and estimated margin, and tailoring its product line to provide a competitive product.
(Aside from all that, I though HNers didn't believe in IP?)
A. Amazon doesn't know what seller margins are. They can't because they have no insight into what sellers pay for the products, only what the products sell for.
B. The main reason that products, in general, look alike is because they're all being produced at the same 3 factories in China. And for lots of products, there's no reason to deviate significantly from the house design that the factory offers.
In what way does Amazon know the backend margins that any other store wouldn’t?
They don’t. Amazon isn’t being asked to produce a product for a vendor then taking that and selling it themselves, that would be wrong. This is Amazon doing exactly what other stores do, seeing what sells well and making their own version.
I suspect that's more coordinated - you get the own brand which is generally cheap and cheerful, then the premium brands. I suspect there's some oversight there though.
I think the real question to ask is whether or not Amazon has a monopoly and whether they are abusing it to gain an unfair advantage over the producers of the stuff they sell. I mean when you mention other stores, I don't know if you mean this but I'm picturing e.g. a grocery store - where I come from there's usually three competing ones in the neighbourhood. They will all sell products from a premium brand, alongside their own (cheaper) store brand. But the premium brand is usually available at all competitors at similar prices.
mywittyname|5 years ago
It's one thing to see that unbleached toilet paper is selling well, and getting a supplier to sell you a store brand version. But it's completely different to see that a particular office stand is selling very well, determine that it has a 20% margin, and have someone build an identical product which you sell 5% margin.
If you look at many Amazon Basics products, they are clear ripoffs of existing products. To the point where they are indistinguishable from the images. I was looking for a Lodge braisier just yesterday and saw that AB produced an identical product, down to the unique blue color Lodge uses in their enamel.
I guess you could go through the trouble of suing Amazon, assuming you had the resources. But then you'd be booted from the platform and they'd still be selling your knockoffs for years.
I think it's fine if Amazon sees that cast iron cookware is selling well and decides to enter that market. What's not fine is to blatantly steal the design of the best selling product in a category, then make your ripoff more visible on your site. At least make an attempt to differentiate the product.
ThrowawayR2|5 years ago
Those two sound like the exact same thing to me. There is no real difference.
It even happens between electronics manufacturers; you'll see a company noticing a competitor's product is successful, dissecting it to figure out the manufacturing costs and estimated margin, and tailoring its product line to provide a competitive product.
(Aside from all that, I though HNers didn't believe in IP?)
toasterlovin|5 years ago
B. The main reason that products, in general, look alike is because they're all being produced at the same 3 factories in China. And for lots of products, there's no reason to deviate significantly from the house design that the factory offers.
SlowRobotAhead|5 years ago
They don’t. Amazon isn’t being asked to produce a product for a vendor then taking that and selling it themselves, that would be wrong. This is Amazon doing exactly what other stores do, seeing what sells well and making their own version.
Cthulhu_|5 years ago
I think the real question to ask is whether or not Amazon has a monopoly and whether they are abusing it to gain an unfair advantage over the producers of the stuff they sell. I mean when you mention other stores, I don't know if you mean this but I'm picturing e.g. a grocery store - where I come from there's usually three competing ones in the neighbourhood. They will all sell products from a premium brand, alongside their own (cheaper) store brand. But the premium brand is usually available at all competitors at similar prices.