This is why the mall or bazaar analogy make more sense. Kind of.

When you buy things from Amazon which Amazon purchased from a wholesaler, this is the same as going to a retail store. (In recent years, Amazon has become their own wholesaler / manufacturer.)

But what has become more common is the “retail stores” are buying from wholesalers and then listing items on Amazon.

So, if you’re selling pet goods and you pay $2 for a bone wholesale that you’d typically resell for $5, Amazon is cutting into your profit and making it more difficult for you to market your product among competitors.

Although, there’s been a couple times where I’ve gone to a seller’s website and found the same product they had on Amazon for less money. So I wonder if sellers aren’t marking up products that are less competitive to account for Amazon’s cut.