The Amazon tax

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Amazon’s growing reliance on paid search placement is criticized as a hidden “tax” on both merchants and consumers, since sellers must buy ads even for their own products and then pass those costs on through higher prices. Commenters describe Amazon’s marketplace as increasingly cluttered with ads, low-quality or counterfeit goods, and poor search, comparing it to broader “enshittification” trends across tech platforms and app stores. Proposed responses range from stricter antitrust enforcement and ad regulation to individual boycotts and shifting purchases to local retailers, specialist sites, or alternative e‑commerce platforms.

Amazon Search, Ads, and the “Tax”

  • Many describe Amazon search as “almost unusable”: heavy ad load, poor relevance, ignored filters, and buried brand-name items.
  • “Sponsored” results dominate first pages; users feel forced to scroll through ads before organic results.
  • Several workarounds:
    • Change sort to “Best Sellers” or “Price: Low to High” and filter by Prime.
    • Use uBlock Origin or bookmarklets to strip sponsored items.
    • Use Google with site:amazon.com or an LLM to find items Amazon’s own search won’t surface.

Monopoly, Market Power, and Regulation

  • Some say “monopoly” is overused; you can switch to Walmart, Target, etc., so Amazon is just a successful business.
  • Others argue Amazon is a natural monopoly–like platform with massive network effects; ads are classic rent extraction once dominance is won.
  • Proposed remedies: enforce existing antitrust laws, break up large firms, progressive taxes on revenue/size, caps on ad-derived revenue, or mandatory worker ownership percentages.

Quality, Counterfeits, and “Enshittification”

  • Widespread reports of: counterfeit goods, quality fade, fake and bribed reviews, “garbage dropship” brands crowding out reputable ones.
  • Discovery is worse over time across many platforms (Amazon, Etsy, AliExpress, app stores); “enshittification” is a recurring term.
  • Some note Amazon appears to nerf search quality to increase ad spend; others call this conspiratorial and say evidence is unclear.

Consumer Strategies and Alternatives

  • Many are reducing or abandoning Amazon: using local shops, brand-direct sites, Costco, eBay, specialty retailers, or comparison sites.
  • Others remain loyal due to logistics: fast, predictable delivery, lockers, easy returns—especially valuable where local retail or delivery is weak.
  • Some report Prime shipping quietly degrading in rural areas, making Walmart or even random eBay sellers faster.

Debate Over Advertising’s Role

  • One camp: search ads on a dominant marketplace are a pure tax that distort rankings, favor deep pockets, and raise prices.
  • Other camp: ads solve cold-start and discovery for new products; equivalent to paying for shelf space or co-op marketing in brick-and-mortar.
  • Strong disagreement over whether a “best” product exists and whether such products are “entitled” to sales; some criticize the article’s economics on this point.

Analogies and Spillover Examples

  • Comparisons to:
    • Grocery shelf fees and endcaps.
    • App Store search ads where brands must bid on their own names.
    • Google Search and Maps showing paid results over best/closest options.
    • Historical airline systems that favored their owner’s flights.
  • Consensus that across platforms, ad-driven ranking increasingly conflicts with user interests.

AI, Future Intermediaries, and Skepticism

  • Some hope agents/LLMs will act as user-side optimizers: “buy me the best X,” bypassing enshittified search pages.
  • Others predict the same incentives will apply: AI responses will be influenced by whoever pays, reproducing the Amazon/Google problem at a new layer.
  • Open models and competition are cited as possible (but uncertain) checks on this.