Report

Should I Use Amazon?

amazon.com·Analyzed 2 hours ago·Based on 12 sources

Depends

Use Amazon for cheap commodity goods and fast delivery.

Fine for cheap stuff and speed; risky for big buys — review distrust, pricing lawsuits, account attacks.

Confidence: Medium

≈4/5

G2 seller rating

883 reviews

Shopper cost

free to browse and buy

300M customers

Attack-warning reach

Forbes, Feb 2026

211,500

Glassdoor employee reviews

company-culture signal

Value for money

FTC alleges secret ad surcharges; Guardian reports price-hiking tactics

Ease of use

Ubiquitous and familiar, but some users call it 'unusably bad now'

Feature depth

Vast catalog, seller tools, reviews system with ML filtering

Support quality

Multiple support channels exist; ConsumerAffairs lists service complaints

Security posture

Account-compromise warnings and credential-abuse attacks reported

Pros

Rated ≈4/5 by 883 G2 reviewers as a seller platform^²
Large catalog and logistics; case-study claims world's largest selection
Many consumers remain enthusiastic
Uses models to filter fake reviews and ratings¹²

Cons

FTC and 22 states allege a secret ad surcharge scheme^⁶
Guardian reports internal emails on tactics that hiked prices^⁷
Some users say the experience is 'unusably bad now'^⁴
Shoppers increasingly distrust Amazon's review system^⁵
Forbes warns 300M customers about new attack campaigns^⁸

Gotchas

highFTC lawsuit alleges hidden ad surcharges that can inflate what you pay^⁶
highAccount takeover reports are common; compromised accounts fuel crypto-mining attacks¹⁰
mediumReview trust is eroding; users report doubting star ratings entirely^⁵
mediumSellers report painful pricing-error debits; strike-through pricing rules confuse shoppers

Best for

Bulk commodity purchases
Fast-shipping needs
Sellers wanting massive reach
Price-comparison shoppers

Not for

Buyers needing trustworthy reviews for big purchases
Ethical or values-driven shoppers
Budget shoppers wanting price transparency
Anyone unwilling to manage account-security risk

Companies that could

Walmart^⁴Uses Its own marketplace instead

Pricing

Shopper

Free

Free account to browse and buy
Per-item prices vary by seller

Seller — Individual

Per-item fees

Pay per item sold
Suited to low-volume sellers

Seller — Professional

Monthly subscription

Two-plan structure per Amazon
Suited to high-volume sellers

Security

No confirmed amazon.com breach in sources, but active account-attack warnings and credential-abuse campaigns are reported.

Attack warnings affecting ~300M customersForbes reports new Amazon attack warnings targeting an estimated 300 million customers.^⁸
Compromised credentials weaponizedForbes reports an uptick in attacks using compromised Amazon credentials against infrastructure.^⁹
Hacked accounts used for crypto-miningA reported AWS breach saw hacked accounts powering major crypto-mining operations.¹⁰