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U.S. Sellers: stay informed and involved on legislation that could impact your business
Last week, Dharmesh Mehta, Vice President of Customer Trust & Partner Support, emailed all U.S.-based Amazon sellers regarding the legislation in Congress that targets a few large technology companies, including Amazon. While it is early in the legislative process, if enacted, these bills would jeopardize Amazon’s ability to operate a marketplace for sellers, potentially resulting in hundreds of thousands of American small and medium-sized businesses losing access to Amazon’s customers and services.
Amazon’s public policy team is working with members of Congress and their staffs to ensure that concerns about how these bills would impact our selling partners are heard.
To stay informed, please sign up to receive updates on these bills and other legislation that could impact your business by visiting https://supportsmallsellers.us. This website is run by Amazon and subject to Amazon’s privacy policy. If you provide your contact information, we will help you communicate directly with your elected officials on this issue in the future if you choose to do so (please note that you must be a seller incorporated in the U.S. with a physical U.S. address to sign up).
We look forward to keeping you informed as we get more information about what this legislation could mean for you and providing you the opportunity to have your voice heard.
194 replies
Seller_yDRDJvuvo7QmG
Why would this impact sellers who make 60% of Amazon Profit that Amazon would not want to lose? Amazon would just be forced to create its own website to sell Amazon products say RetailAmazon and this new company would be a third party seller on Amazon.com and pay fees like every other seller. I don’t think Amazon would remove Third party sellers from Amazon.com and lose that 60% revenue
Seller_rttt1yARiCuPx
I find it sad that this PR announcement and the ensuing website offered no actual information, links to the proposals, or a summary of what is in the bills. While I cannot provide links in this forum:
One of the most aggressive bills, the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, is sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., whose district includes Amazon’s Seattle headquarters. It could directly affect Amazon, which runs a marketplace that serves millions of third-party sellers but also competes against these merchants with its private-label brands.
The bill also prevents platforms from offering a product or service that users must purchase or use in exchange for access to the platform. That provision could spell trouble for Amazon’s popular Fulfillment by Amazon service, where sellers pay the retailer a fee in exchange for warehouse storage and packing and shipping of their orders. Sellers the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee’s Democratic leadership that using FBA gives them better placement in search results, among other benefits.
In a statement after the bills were introduced, Amazon VP of public policy Brian Huseman warned that the legislation would have “significant negative effects” on sellers and consumers. He added that sellers will face steeper challenges promoting their products, which could reduce selection and drive up prices for consumers.
Third-party sales remain one of Amazon’s biggest growth engines. Third-party seller services, which include commissions, fulfillment and shipping fees, increased 38% year over year in the latest quarter. That outpaced growth in Amazon’s own online stores, which rose 16% year over year.
Amazon is fighting antitrust pressure from multiple fronts. In May, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine filed a lawsuit accusing Amazon of abusing its market dominance through pricing contracts with third-party sellers.
So… from what it sounds like - this doesnt hurt small sellers - this hurts amazon’s ability to COMPETE with small sellers.
Sad sad attempt at PR when the information is easily found to dispute the above.
Seller_LuY7EhG6PfzN5
A more honest take:
Online Merchants Guild response to recent statements made by Amazon
Members of the Online Merchants Guild (OMG) have expressed concern about recent statements made by Amazon in response to pending antitrust legislation. Importantly, much of what Amazon has said about these bills is self-serving. Amazon may have led you to believe that these bills threaten the viability of the platform’s FBA services thereby jeopardizing the competitiveness of its thriving third-party marketplace businesses as well as the hundreds of thousands of competing, small businesses across the nation. But the legislation doesn’t say that — Amazon does. Amazon is scared of the accountability that they are facing, you don’t have to be.
OMG is disappointed – but not surprised – at the alarming tone of Amazon’s communications, which, as intended, sent an immediate chill throughout the online community. Please note: This tactic exemplifies exactly the monopolistic market control these types of legislative reforms hope to mitigate or, hopefully, abolish completely. Once again, to be clear. The email you may have received from Amazon purporting to protect your interest as a competing on-line business illustrates the type of manipulative, marketplace behavior that OMG hopes will be eliminated by the pending antitrust legislation.
OMG understands why Amazon contacted you about this pending legislation as it watches its control of the marketplace diminish. We look forward to working with Amazon and all other stakeholders to ensure that any resulting legislation or other regulatory reform appropriately protects the interests not only of the platforms, brand owners and marketplaces, but also the rights and remedies of independent small business owners, their employees and consumers.
Seller_AXuLpb1OPZoIw
Whoever wrote this needs a serious discussion with Amazon’s leadership on basic business strategy communication.
We aren’t going to unite with Amazon politically if the frame of the story is “join us or else”, Amazon is trying to sell a story to 1.5 million arrogant people who will find other ways to traffic their goods.
I don’t think the government wants to destroy Amazon, we all depend on Amazon for many aspects of commercial distribution and traffic. Amazon choosing to hide the risk assessments to the general public will only make more people in positions of power, such as political leaders in congress more antagonistic and distrustful of the Amazon.
For the sake of profit and ensuring a successful deployment of this wonderful platform, Amazon needs to take steps to improve their public communications to counter parties.
Seller_pGsWVIuaCy6Ik
No, FAKE NEWS!!! In no way would legislation in Congress jeopardize Amazon third party sellers.
What it would do is make Amazon separate their business. Third party sellers does not need access to Amazons AWS service. What Amazon needs to be concentrating on doing a better job with Amazon.com and its FBA distribution system.
Seller_5kb4nNko7Oohc
Who is providing the popcorn for this thread? I’m ready to binge watch. 
Seller_TAR4raGcT1rdg
Five months in a row now my website has outperformed my Amazon sales. This month it’s a whopping 70 to 30. Amazon deserves everything it gets, they’ve made it their goal just over the past six months alone to make is harder for a lot of people on here to do business and a lot easier for buyers to get stuff for free. It’s the definition of ironic that now they are coming to us seeking help when seller pleas on the forums constantly go unheard. Anyone whose been here long enough knows Amazon doesn’t care a flip about it’s sellers, so if they are genuinely worried about this then it’s going to hurt them the most. Maybe Karma is finally coming for Amazon.
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