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Toy Sellers Can Return To Amazon
from the e-commerce-battles... dept
Nearly a year ago, many were surprised when Toysrus.com sued Amazon.com claiming that their contract specified that the only toys on Amazon's site would be supplied by Toysrus.com. The complicating factor was that Amazon allows individual sellers to sell their own goods on the site -- and there was no easy (or reasonable) way to tell people they simply couldn't sell toys. It didn't take long for Amazon to think about the situation and realize they were probably better off dropping Toysrus.com altogether, selling toys on their own, and continuing to let independent sellers sell on the site. So, to try to get out of the contract, they countersued, claiming Toysrus.com did a terrible job of picking the best toys and handling inventory management. While a judge granted an injunction to Toysrus.com last year and told the two sides to sit down and work out their differences, an appellate court has thrown out the injunction entirely and said Amazon can continue letting its sellers sell toys. The court says that the original judge on the case didn't actually consider the specific contract language that was in dispute -- which would be somewhat strange, if true. Either way, this clears the way for toy sellers to move back onto Amazon.com for the time being. Of course, what was silly about all of this was that there really was no benefit at all to Toysrus.com in doing this. If they kicked toy sellers off Amazon, they'd just go elsewhere (such as eBay or Overstock) and build up business on those sites.
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Er
Of course, what was silly about all of this was that there really was no benefit at all to Toysrus.com in doing this. If they kicked toy sellers off Amazon, they'd just go elsewhere (such as eBay or Overstock) and build up business on those sites.
Compare these two pages turned up by searching amazon.com for Hot Wheels: one a collection of 20 Hot Wheels cars, the other a book about Hot Wheels cars. This case is about the line in the second link which reads "28 used & new from $7.25" under the list price of $29.95. Toys R Us doesn't want Amazon to allow that link for toys, because it does translate into lost revenue for Toys R Us. Sure, the sellers go elsewhere, but the buyers don't necessarily do this. How much hassle is it worth to save a few bucks on a present? I can: drive to a toy store hoping they have it in stock (much hassle), I can look on eBay hoping I can find the right item without being swindled or extremely delayed (some hassle), or I can go to Amazon, save some money, choose how I want it shipped, and get it gift wrapped. Essentially amazon sells itself on convenience AND price, and seeing as they're still around we have to assume people are believing them enough to send them dollars. I never heard of Overstock before today, and chances are none of my friends has either, but they have all heard of Amazon.
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