Small Business Amamzon

Amazon might be a massive company, but over 60% of its sales actually come from regular ol' small and medium businesses setting up shop on the site. For the little guys, Amazon offers prime real estate to peddle products. And Amazon needs sellers stocking the virtual shelves to keep shoppers happy.

But it ain't always peaches and cream. Sellers have complained about the rising sticker price to sell there. And that recent FTC lawsuit slammed Amazon for supposedly throwing around its huge size to jack up fees and box out the competition.

Still, most small businesses can't ignore Bezos's behemoth. Even with gripes about costs and power trips, sellers see Amazon as totally vital to push products. And customers clearly love the everything-under-one-roof experience.

The thing is, Amazon's rise has led other big box stores to create their own bazaars for outside sellers too. So small fries suddenly have more places than ever to hawk their wares online. But more stores means more headaches keeping up with each one. Selling in bulk to a store is one thing - now sellers have to obsess over advertising, pricing tricks, and more just to get noticed.

And get this: sellers often compete against themselves across sites! Amazon wants the cheapest price, but other stores can completely change what you wholesale a product for. It's a tangled web.

So while sellers can make good money if their margins are dialed in, the carefree days of casual selling on Amazon are long gone. You gotta play by their rules and put in work to win big now. Even as costs grow, the potential scale still makes it worth it. But you can't just toss a product listing up anymore and kick back...them days are O-V-E-R over.