Amazon Cheats Time to buy direct and support small businesses

“Why do Amazon products show up everywhere in their search results?”

If you’ve ever wondered that, we now have the #leaked answer for you.

Amazon India secretly used Amazon sales data to copy successful products from other sellers. In addition, Amazon rigged its search results to appear in the top 3 for all keywords for which it has products.

This is why big corporations like Amazon cannot be trusted. What can you as a consumer do?

The biggest stand you as a user can take against unethical business practices by Amazon to suppress and harm smaller brands with smaller marketing budgets is to  support these very sellers. Start by actively looking out for and purchasing from smaller ecommerce stores and marketplaces. We can recommend buying Indian ethnic wear from Trendia, a brand from Hyderabad that hires underprivileged staff and also supports many charities and ships to all over the world including the US, UK and Europe.

Other than marketplaces, once you know what you want to buy, look for ways to place an order directly on the brand’s website. Amazon takes a commission on every purchase which eats into a small company’s profit margin. Here’s a little hack I use for my own shopping.

I use Amazon as largely a discovery platform — search for products on Amazon, but locate their seller and then get in touch with them directly. Not only do I get a better deal this way sometimes, but also feel happier on supporting a small business. For example, last month I was looking for jewelry sets, I did a search on Amazon, zeroed in on the product I liked and then I located the seller through the seller information on Amazon, and then went to their website, found their contact number and managed to place a custom order for a jewelry set and at a discounted price! Shady? Well, Amazon is hardly the paragon of ethics here so I think I can get away with trying to use my clever ways to circumvent amazon and buy direct from a brand.