#Amazon CEO @JeffBezos seemed surprised to hear about Amazon sellers being worried about getting suspended without explanation or communication. That's something we've been writing about for years. Here's a story from 2016: https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/amazon-angers-mom-and-pop-sellers-with-arbitrary-suspensions
The suspension issue got so hot in the Amazon seller community that some folks were even offering Amazon Seller insurance through Lloyds of London to protect sellers from income interruptions if their Amazon accounts were suspended: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-23/amazon-sellers-can-get-insured-by-lloyd-s-for-getting-kicked-off?sref=Zyubqcqc
Then this is a story we did a year ago speaking with long-time Amazon sellers about how their relationship with Amazon has evolved. The bottom line is they give a lot more money to Amazon: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-17/is-amazon-too-powerful-its-merchants-are-starting-to-wonder?sref=Zyubqcqc
Then one of my favorites is the story we did four years ago about the launch of the Amazon Basics laptop stand, which had a striking resemblance to another laptop stand that had been selling well for an independent merchant on the site: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-20/got-a-hot-seller-on-amazon-prepare-for-e-tailer-to-make-one-too?sref=Zyubqcqc
This didn't come up in the hearing yet, but it's an important issue: complaints that Amazon sellers have to use its logistics service in order to be visible on the site, which some said drives up costs: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-08/amazon-merchant-lays-out-antitrust-case-in-letter-to-congress?sref=Zyubqcqc
This is another story that highlighted how Amazon benefits as owner of the platform when selling products that compete against similar items sold by independent merchants: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-16/amazon-doles-out-freebies-to-juice-sales-of-its-own-brands?sref=Zyubqcqc
Then this is a story that highlighted how Amazon's policies were encouraging merchants to raise their prices on Walmart so they wouldn't lose Amazon sales: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-05/amazon-is-squeezing-sellers-that-offer-better-prices-on-walmart?sref=Zyubqcqc
This #BigTechHearing has prompted quite the walk down memory lane. :)