Over the years Amazon has received lots of scrutiny from the public; however one area that is often overlooked is the third party sellers on the platform and in particular, how they get access to financing; small businesses who sell on Amazon often have no other option but Amazon for funding since sellers don’t have access to goods once they are in the warehouse; other unique aspects of the way Amazon stores products makes it even more difficult to attribute inventory to a seller; for these reasons third party sellers aren’t able to access asset-based financing; Amazon Lending has been in operation since 2011 to serve the need of their small businesses; however little is public about the program; this article delves into some of the alternative lending options that exist today and a negative view into Amazon Lending ‘trapping’ third-party sellers into financing. Prospect
