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Comment by the_local_host | Hacker News Reader

I don't know why you're getting downvoted, this is my experience as well. It's to the point where if it doesn't ship from Amazon, I don't buy it.

The last thing I accidentally bought from a non-Amazon shipper arrived in a semi-destroyed box, inside a too-small bubble-wrap envelope, apparently shipped from someone's condominium (I guess they bought in bulk and repackaged?)

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I guess they bought in bulk and repackaged?

I know somebody who sells stuff at Amazon as a third-party seller. It’s a common strategy to do exactly that: find items that are selling for more than the local store, buy it from the local store and sell it on Amazon. There’s more to it for selecting which products to sell but this is basically how it works. There are people selling courses teaching these things.

Retail arbitrage.

Search for any Costco-exclusive item on Amazon and you'll find exactly this strategy at work, complete with 300% markups on the Costco price.

It's also common for Ikea items, in part because Ikea puts a minimum $50 delivery fee on most items, with no option for parcel shipping.

Absolutely. I'd pay more if I could look at Amazon without any of the third party garbage.

Probably "buyer beware", if you're buying something that expensive then you should look around and not just assume Amazon has the lowest price.

It is not always that simple. Part of the arbitrage can be generic things from aliexpress bought in bulk and shipped from china over 8-10 weeks. The mark up on amazon is partly the fact that the long ship time has already been done.

probably because there's a lot of anal downvoters on HN

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