You would have a point if not for Amazon's exorbitant fees which it expects to be absorbed by the seller and then requires that seller to set the same prices everywhere.
This is clearly manipulative and is regulated outside the US.
This is clearly manipulative and is regulated outside the US.
The issue is that when you pay only that basic referral fee, you won't make a lot of sales. You have to pay more to actually make those sales, which amounts to ~46%. Advertising, fulfillment, and other fees. You have to pay for all of this while being required to keep your price "fair," so you have to raise prices on other platforms to stay afloat.
You could just ignore selling on Amazon altogether, but in the US that's rather unrealistic at this point, and they know that.
If Amazon is charging that while also offering advertising/product discovery services that traditional distributors wouldn't offer, it sounds like a bargain based on what you're describing.