‘This is how the rich get richer’: Board game creator accuses Amazon of stealing $100K and pushing him out of business

It’s often said that the bigger they are, the harder they fall, but in the world of retail giants, the opposite is true: the bigger they are, the harder they squeeze the little guy. The pursuit of profit seems to trump all else, leaving small businesses and entrepreneurs struggling to keep their heads above water. It’s a sad reality that we have grown accustomed to, but it doesn’t make it any less infuriating when we see it play out time and time again.

Recently, a small business owner named Christian Telesmar (@iamtelesmar) took to TikTok to share his harrowing experience with Amazon‘s fulfillment services. Telesmar had poured his heart and soul into creating a board game called “Disparity Trap,” which aimed to educate players about the significant social issues of our time. It was a passion project funded entirely by his personal savings and profits from stock investments. But what started as a dream quickly turned into a nightmare.

After successfully funding his game through Kickstarter and beginning to fulfill orders, Telesmar decided to use Amazon’s fulfillment services. It seemed like a convenient solution – send your products to Amazon’s warehouses, and they take care of the rest whenever someone orders your game. Simple, right? Wrong. As soon as Telesmar’s game started selling, Amazon began charging him exorbitant fees just to store his games in their warehouses.

When he realized it was becoming too expensive, he tried to pull his games out of Amazon’s storage, only to find out that retrieving his own products would cost him even more money. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place! To make matters worse, when he tried to get around these costs by selling off his stock through other sellers, Amazon held onto his earnings. They told him they suspected some fraudulent activity, but didn’t give him any clear reasons or evidence for this claim.  This situation forced Telesmar to contemplate bankruptcy as he struggled to fulfill debts incurred during this ordeal. 

As Christian Telesmar’s story spread across TikTok, it struck a chord with countless users who found themselves nodding in frustration and disbelief. The outpouring of support for Telesmar was palpable, with many users calling on Amazon to make things right. “@Amazon give this man his inventory and money,” demanded one commenter. 

People were chiming in left and right, sharing their own horror stories. One person talked about how Amazon accused them of illegal activity and held onto over $100k of their inventory and money, even after they went through the verification process and were supposedly cleared. Others suggested hiring an attorney experienced with Amazon seller issues to get this sorted out ASAP. The overwhelming consensus among TikTok users was clear: “This is how the rich get richer and everyone else pays.”

Amazon’s actions are seen as a prime example of corporate greed run amok. But honestly, are we surprised? Just look at the way Walmart has decimated local mom-and-pop shops, or how big tech companies have faced accusations of stifling competition. In 2020, Epic Games, the creator of the popular game Fortnite, filed a lawsuit against Apple. They argued that Apple’s 30% commission on app sales and in-app purchases, as well as its prohibition of alternative payment systems were monopolistic, and harmed both developers and consumers.

In 2017, the European Commission fined Google €2.42 billion for abusing its dominance as a search engine by giving an unfair advantage to its own comparison shopping service. In addition, a Wall Street Journal investigation in 2020 revealed that Amazon employees had used data from independent sellers to launch competing products, essentially using their insider knowledge to crush the competition. And even the European Union launched an antitrust investigation into whether Amazon was using data from third-party sellers to gain an unfair advantage.

While these examples may not be directly related to Christian’s experience with Amazon, they do highlight a broader pattern of large corporations exploiting their market dominance to the detriment of small businesses. But what can be done? Perhaps the most important thing is to raise awareness and support small businesses whenever possible. In Telesmar’s case, you can support him buy purchasing his boardgame directly from his website, www.DisparityTrap.net. He is selling the remaining inventory directly at a discounted rate. Change isn’t going to happen overnight, and it’s not going to happen without a lot of pressure from all of us.