Ripping you off Stage 3
Amazon still delivers convenience, but surplus for shoppers and small sellers has eroded—sponsored placements crowd organic results, fees and ad spend pressure merchants, and Prime bundles lock habits. A textbook stage 3 platform squeezing many sides at once.
- Since
- 1994
- Category
- Commerce
- VC-backed
- Yes
- Public
- Since 1997 (NASDAQ: AMZN)
- Website
- amazon.com
- X
- @amazon
The promise
Its first promise, and how much is kept · Scoring
60% kept
“Earth’s Biggest Selection”
Why it’s rated 3
The criteria it meets, with sources · Method
- Alignment 0 of 3
- None
- Lock-in 1 of 4
-
- L2 Data, library, or purchases
- Extraction 2 of 7
-
- E1 Pay more for the same Mar 13, 2026
- E4 Hidden costs and dark patterns Sep 25, 2025
- Decline 0 of 3
- None
Result Two or more extraction criteria, or lock-in plus at least one, so stage 3.
News signals
Sourced reporting, tagged by strategy
Mar 13, 2026
Amazon replaces Prime Video ad-free add-on with pricier Ultra tier
Tier fragmentationAd expansion
Mar 10, 2026
Judge blocks Perplexity's AI agent from shopping on Amazon
Self-preferencingEcosystem lock-in
Sep 25, 2025
Amazon to pay US$2.5 billion to settle FTC Prime subscription allegations
Dark patternsRegulatory risk
Oct 7, 2024
U.S. antitrust case against Amazon to move forward, judge rules
Market consolidationSelf-preferencing