Goodbye, Amazon February 19 2025

When I went on my traditional post-holiday studio break, I turned off my Amazon and Etsy storefronts. When I got back from my trip, I turned Etsy back on, but I left Amazon shut down.

After some careful thought, I've decided that I won't be selling on Amazon any longer. Why? Mostly, I feel Amazon no longer represents the kind of marketplace I want 33 Books Co. to be associated with. I believe in high-quality products, sold at a fair price, made responsibly, and Amazon is failing on all three, and I don't want to be a part of it any longer. 

Here are a few of the issues as I see them.

Poor Quality Goods. When I first listed my goods on Amazon a dozen years ago or so, there were maybe one or two other companies selling tasting journals. Now, there are dozens, most of which are poorly-bound, poorly-printed, poorly-designed facsimiles of my book or one of my very few peers. Ignoring intellectual property issues, they are made to order in overseas factories by workers paid who-knows-what, under who-knows-what working conditions, and shipped across literal oceans to your door at who-knows-what environmental cost. Amazon has become a race to the bottom, and I won't play that game, because to "win," means cutting corners on quality.

Fees. I've written before about the unreasonably high fees Amazon charges to businesses like 33 Books Co., and that is unquestionably one of the primary reasons I am leaving this marketplace. Here's an illustration I created in 2022 explaining Amazon's share of a sale, and the situation has only gotten worse since. I believe Amazon takes an unfairly high percentage of sales for doing very little work. 

Accuracy. Amazon uses a kind of collage approach to product information, based a mashup of listings generated by anyone who says they have that product to sell. If your cousin Jimmy somehow gets his hand on a seller account, he can list my products for sale there even if he doesn't actually have them in his hot little hands (see "Dropshippers," below). And while Jimmy may make a great potato salad, his knowledge and attention to detail when communicating about my products is less than stellar. Are my books hardback? No! But Amazon insists they are because Jimmy listed it that way in a moment of mayonnaise-inspired mayhem. Misinformation about my goods was rampant on Amazon, and I won't be part of misleading customers. Their seller and listing systems are critically-flawed, and I'm done trying to correct it.

Dropshippers. You are definitely paying too much for branded goods on Amazon. Why? Shady middlemen. There exists a group of people who game Amazon's seller system, listing goods well above retail price (aka MSRP) that they never see, touch, smell, or even ship. When a customer purchases from one of these middlemen's Amazon listings, the middleman goes to a manufacturer web site and purchases the goods at MSRP, and has it shipped to the end customer. Legal? Yes. Ethical? Ask a monk. But it is costing consumers money. Buy direct from manufacturers, or a local, authorized brick and mortar, who has invested in the manufacturer in the form of inventory and marketing. More money in your pocket, more money in your community.

Workplace Safety. The Amazon fulfillment center nearest my house has the dubious distinction of being one of the worst workplaces in Oregon with regards to workplace safety. Amazon's focus on speedy fulfillment and delivery is costing human workers in the form of injuries, some of which are permanent or even fatal. I try to do it quickly, sometimes even the same day you order. But there's no such thing as a "notebook emergency," or at least not one worth risking people's lives for.

Hating on Amazon is a rich source of content, and I could go on for pages more. But these are the highlights, and I hope you'll make your own choices about how to spend your dollars. My recommendation is to support the businesses that support you, and do so directly. When your kid needs a raffle prize for the soccer team, is Amazon going to donate? Probably not. Does Amazon pay taxes? Sometimes. I will tell you, 33 Books does.