“One of his popular fire pits costs $200, of which Amazon takes $112 for its commission, warehouse storage, delivery and advertising.”
Amazon’s average cut of each sale passed 50% in 2022, the sixth straight year of increases. Without AWS, its retail business would have posted a $10 billion operating loss. Raising Prime prices on shoppers is risky, so Amazon squeezes the 2 million sellers who get 80% to 90% of their sales there and have nowhere else to go. Its spokesperson calls the logistics and ads optional, and the sellers know better.