As far as the general public is concerned, Amazon can do little wrong, according to recent surveys. They're just not that hateable.
But a few people are finding more reasons to dislike the retail behemoth: the people who sell stuff on Amazon. At least some of them.
A pair of third-party sellers are suing Amazon in Washington state, alleging the company is holding onto their money much longer than their contracts or the law allows. As first reported in The Seattle Times, the would-be class action suit claims Amazon routinely breaks the terms of its own agreements with sellers, which say the company may hold onto their money for up to 90 days if it believes there's some problem with the seller. The sellers also argue that under Washington state law, Amazon qualifies as a "money transmitter" and must therefore pay out within a legally required 10-day time frame.
Amazon said the company doesn't comment on active litigation.
Meanwhile, some sellers are disgruntled over reported changes to Amazon's fee structure. The company doesn't publicize its "take," that is, the cut it gets when third-party sellers make a sale on Amazon. But a Reuters report says fee hikes over the past year-and-a-half are leading some sellers to consider abandoning the site, despite the access it gives them to Amazon's 200 million customers.
These dust-ups come at a time when Amazon's success appears to depend increasingly on third-party sales, which now account for about 40 percent of the total items sold through the company's website. This seems like a great deal for Amazon. It has a massive technology infrastructure. It's built dozens of massive warehouses. The less money Amazon has to spend on inventory to keep those shelves filled, the lower its costs and the lower its risk.
The only real risk to Amazon would seem to be inconsistent quality among sellers. Amazon has sought to standardize the experience of buying from a third party as much as possible through services like Fulfillment By Amazon, which lets sellers store their goods in Amazon's warehouses and ship them using Amazon's logistics services. Amazon watchers also say the company is stringent with its sellers about customer complaints. Too many can get a seller axed.
It's possible those high standards have led to some of the grumbling. For Amazon, the dependence on third-party sellers and the high margins they represent means a delicate balancing act between making sure bad sellers don't tarnish the company's brand and keeping good sellers happy.
"We do highly value our sellers. We consider our sellers our customers," the company told Wired. "By any measure, businesses that are selling on Amazon are thriving. We really feel confident this is a marketplace where sellers can have a lot of success."
