Stage 3: Ripping you off · Commerce

Dominant marketplace: Prime lock-in, ad load in search results, and third-party seller fees show clear tilt toward extraction.

Food delivery marketplace with fees stacked on restaurants and riders; convenience for diners, thin margins and policy fights everywhere else.

Mature marketplace leaning on promoted listings, managed payments, and seller standards that favour scale over hobbyists.

Craft marketplace with rising fees, offsite ads, and pressure on sellers to absorb marketing and transaction costs.

Merchant platform still oriented toward independence, though app ecosystem, payments, and enterprise upsells add lock-in over time.