> I've been thinking this for years now, that the free-for-all for 3rd party sellers would eventually erode trust and make Amazon less appealing. But it hasn't collapsed yet and they still keep growing.

I think this has more to do with a lack of meaningful competition than anything else. I'd happily go back to 1-2 week shipping if I could order from a more trustworthy source. I've only had a few total duds from amazon and they were all under $50 and not worth even returning, but I accept that I'm basically rolling the dice with every amazon purchase at this point.

> I do appreciate that the low-trust, 3rd party world exists. It gives me more choice as a consumer, and the alternative is that most of these items wouldn't be available on Amazon at all.

I'm largely fine with it 100, assuming that amazon is wiling to refund or replace anything I buy that turns out to be crap. That gives them an economic incentive to do at least the most basic policing of people selling on their site.