Sold By China Amazon DTC - Tax Foreign DTC Sellers

Economy
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The rise of foreign sellers on Amazon presents challenges to US commerce, necessitating government intervention to ensure fair competition and protect consumer rights. This discussion is distinct from the ‘de minimis’ value issue. The focus here is on regulating foreign based direct sales practices on Amazon, Temu Shein, and online in general, not on adjusting import thresholds for the De Minimis Value.

Governmental steps like taxation or regulation on foreign Amazon sellers are essential for economic equity, consumer protection, and national security. Some potential solutions to address this:

Prohibit Direct-to-Consumer Sales From Foreign Owned Companies. This would force these companies to go through American distributors, potentially leveling the playing field.

Implement a Significant Tariff: Alternatively, imposing a substantial tariff, like 300%, on all direct-to-consumer sales from foreign entities could discourage price undercutting and ensure these companies contribute to the US economy in a more meaningful way, akin to domestic businesses.

  1. Economic Fairness

    Level Playing Field: Foreign sellers often benefit from lower costs, skewing competition. Government taxes or regulations could adjust this imbalance, promoting fair trade.
    Combatting Unfair Practices: From review manipulation to IP infringement, foreign sellers engage in practices that distort the market. Stricter enforcement would foster genuine competition.

  2. Consumer Safety and Trust

    Quality Control: The risk of counterfeit goods is high with unregulated foreign sellers. Regulation would ensure products meet US safety standards.
    Restoring Trust: Misleading information and fake reviews erode consumer confidence. Government oversight could enhance transparency and accountability.

  3. Economic Security

    Local Job Support: Every dollar spent on foreign sellers through Amazon is potentially a dollar not spent on local sellers products that support US jobs and economies. By encouraging domestic seller purchasing through policy, we can bolster local economies, preserve jobs, and reduce dependency on foreign manufacturing.

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Selling on Amazon is HUGE in China. In fact, by our own research, Chinese sellers make up over 63% of all third-party sellers on Amazon. And the number of Chinese businesses selling online to foreign consumers continues to soar – in 2023, cross-border e-commerce from Chinese sellers grew at 19.6%.

Sellers from the United States by comparison make up just 34.8% of all third-party sellers.

It’s also estimated that there are 1,500,000 active sellers on Amazon. So by doing some simple math, there are likely close to a million Chinese third-party sellers on Amazon.

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This a huge issue!

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Selling on Amazon? The harsh reality is that really doesn’t matter who sell via Amazon, their business model only works for Mr Bezos. The % charged for what sells there is high due to the fact that the fee is based on the final dollar amount in addition that the seller pays for the credit card processing fees (regularly is 3%) also pays for shipping costs and there is always the store membership.

By the way, here is a link to the Yale law university that LINA M . KHAN wrote about the Antitrust https://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/jf/KhanAmazonParadox.pdf

And how dangerous they can be and ruin someone’s life , show on Glenn Beck https://youtu.be/tzg4roqawbY?si=0TJLTMMv8_dpg9p7

At the end Amazon made the money for basically just listing the items and the seller made just a bit . In addition to all that Amazon likes to compete with the people who sells via Amazon (not a fair system at all) .

The Chinese sellers there have a great advantage since their cost of goods sold is much lower than if one pays here for a similar item.

So, why do I say all that? Before Amazon or even Ebay we had many little stores all over the country and small businesses who made their decent profit and we all thrived. Because of Amazon is so bad that car dealers and auto parts stores even wholesale warehouse don’t want to stock because there is always someone selling there for almost cost, I know this because I had an online store and I’ve gone out of biz …

Amazon should be regulated in such a way that when one sells there the cost of goods sold have to be accounted for (taken off the ticket) and should also be a limit on fee charged.

They shouldn’t be allowed to compete against their own sellers and the credit card processing fee shouldn’t be so high either since it is all based on volume. Same goes for shipping costs, all based on volume.

It is also said, when selling on that platform because is so popular that what someone lists there is globally seen, To that I can tell you this, having a proper online web site or e-Commerce store it also can be seen globally, so why go via a marketplace and give away profit?

Anyway, I never sold on Amazon and I do not plan to ever. I know I am not the only one thinking this way so, either regulate them or totally dismantle that biz model and if Amazon wants to sell then just let be same as any other biz with no one else selling via them.

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