Amazon is one of the biggest retailers in the world, but this resurfaced story has gained attention for all the wrong reasons.
Marketplace on Amazon was introduced in 1999 as a third-party retailer, allowing sellers to sell products on Amazon and to Amazon customers…for a small fee.
According to Forbes, Amazon charges high prices for this service and if a merchant sells a $50 item, they can expect to pay up to $20 to Amazon to cover sales commission, advertising and delivery.
WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE BANNED AMAZON TRIPOD COMPANY?
According to The Wall Street Journal, in 2010 Pirate Trading sold over $3.5 million worth of Ravelli-brand tripods on Amazon.
In 2011, Amazon reportedly started selling rival products under the AmazonBasics label. In fact, Pirate Tripods owner Dalen Thomas even claimed that Amazon had created their own versions of six of its most popular products.
According to Dalen Thomas, he ordered one of the AmazonBasics tripod and found it had the same design as Pirate Trading’s tripods, and even allegedly used the same manufacturer.
Reportedly, Amazon priced its tripods at a lower price than it cost to even manufacture the Pirate Trading one. Dalen Thomas claimed that it would be cheaper to buy an Amazon tripod, repackage it and sell it again than to get the Pirate Trading’s manufacture to make the original one.
WHY WAS THE COMPANY BANNED?
In 2015, Dalen Thomas said that Amazon suspended sales of all Ravelli products, including Pirate Trading’s tripods.
However, Amazon defended its products to The Wall Street Journal, saying: “AmazonBasics tripods don’t violate any intellectual-property rights.”
Published first at HITC
