I've been disentangling my purchasing habits from Amazon, but I don't know too many other people who are.
See Walmart for an example of this. They force manufacturers of otherwise decent stuff to make lower quality versions of products to sell only at Walmart, just to lower the end price.
Considering that Walmart is one of the largest companies in the world, this seems to be a winning tactic.
Everything else will be as cheap as can be bought (so probably 90% of purchases).
But you can know the exact price before the purchase.
People are optimizing based on the information they have.
yall probably know rule 34, but I'm pretty sure there should be another rule of the internet: "if a product exists, it will be counterfeited on amazon". just try taking a look at how many people on the amazon sellers forum have their businesses/brands seriously harmed by the myriad of counterfeiters on amazon.
i also recommend this write-up for more perspective on the extent and nature of fraud on e-commerce platforms: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/20_0124...