# Does Elon Musk Really Want to Start an Amazon Competitor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Selling on Amazon\ **Created:** [October 19, 2026, 12:04pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/does-elon-musk-really-want-to-start-an-amazon-competitor/7651 "2026-10-19T12:04:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SellerFeller](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/sellerfeller/32/7364_2.png) [@SellerFeller](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/SellerFeller)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 12:04pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/does-elon-musk-really-want-to-start-an-amazon-competitor/7651/1 "2026-10-19T12:04:09Z")
Musk seems more of a buyer than a builder when it comes to entering new industries, so perhaps he’d buy a small Amazon competitor and infuse it with cash and technology (and rename it to “ShopX”). Watching the “Amazon experience” swirl down the drain for both sellers and buyers, I’d certainly welcome a legitimate domestic competitor that is friendlier to sellers and more suspicious of certain east-Asian sellers (I know, not guaranteed, but one can hope). I wonder who would even be a worthy acquisition target. > **[Elon Musk wants to start an Amazon competitor after Grok bot users say the...](https://finance.yahoo.com/small-business/articles/elon-musk-wants-start-amazon-220000094.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAATRhq_hNvyOIGXySQ1TJN64TbWZescaDAmaa2dV2YLigbmn9Y7N0Q7RcG-5dFBiAGDwWTfP3RmI331T9a02jXE9cuF0i0y-YC7boeKHT8OG1Ur6NSHnrTvAUCNgTqKNOMEd3EJEH_4rRwHTI-q0ZT-SbvyCSgJPcsD4e6E2FDoR)** > > As AI agents redefine online shopping, one expert warns that Amazon’s decision to block them could open the door to a new rival, and Musk may be ready to seize the opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![papy](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/papy/32/7639_2.png) [@papy](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/papy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 4:04pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/does-elon-musk-really-want-to-start-an-amazon-competitor/7651/2 "2026-10-19T16:04:06Z")
> [@](#): > > _Amazon, however, has been blocking multiple AI agents from accessing its store — including Meta’s Muse — which computer scientist and entrepreneur Paul Graham believes could be a costly misstep._ > > _“Amazon banning agents is the first opportunity I’ve seen since Amazon was founded for a startup to create an Amazon competitor,” the Y Combinator co-founder warned on X roughly a week before Musk’s comment. "People will want agents to buy stuff for them._ See, once again, people don’t understand Amazon’s money-making strategy with its online store. It is _not_ simply “selling stuff”. That’s just what brings people to the site. But once the people are there, Amazon plays a million little games to make money off of those shoppers, _ **even if they don’t buy anything** _, because shoppers click and view and search. _ **Every single consumer action on Amazon is an advertising fee and/or consumer data point to inform other/future fees.** _ > [@Yay or Nay on AI?](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/yay-or-nay-on-ai/270/500): > > Because Amazon has the same AI personal shopper concerns as we puny small 3Ps: that fewer (human) eyeballs on the listing, the page, the ADs, the videos, the promotions, the “also recommended,” the social proofs/pressures (“Buy soon! Limited quantities! 33 people have this in their cart!”) will crush the bottom line that depends on so much more than merely turning a profit off one sale, of one item, from one shopper, that one time. > … > But now, Amazon is feeling its own mortality because AI redirects customer loyalty from platform to…the AI agent itself… Amazon makes no _extra_ money off of AI agent shoppers, unlike human shoppers. Their whole strategy is bot-blocked with AI agents. ---
**Author:** ![HobbesIsMyTiger](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/hobbesismytiger/32/8000_2.png) [@HobbesIsMyTiger](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/HobbesIsMyTiger)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 5:19pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/does-elon-musk-really-want-to-start-an-amazon-competitor/7651/3 "2026-10-19T17:19:57Z")
Even if buyers go with an AI, they want it to be _their_ AI, not someone else’s. Alexa isn’t blocked (as far as I know.) ---
**Author:** ![lake](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/lake/32/66_2.png) [@lake](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/lake)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 6:18pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/does-elon-musk-really-want-to-start-an-amazon-competitor/7651/4 "2026-10-19T18:18:00Z")
Amazon, following the Apple model, wants its business to be a closed ecosystem, and Prime makes that possible. They can afford to give up all the business from buyers who are not Prime members to make that achievable. If he can sell enough stock, Musk will start any business. He and Jeff share the ability to manage stock market participants in good times and bad. ---
**Author:** ![Pepper\_Thine\_Angus](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/pepper_thine_angus/32/56_2.png) [@Pepper\_Thine\_Angus](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/Pepper_Thine_Angus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/does-elon-musk-really-want-to-start-an-amazon-competitor/7651/5 "2026-10-19T18:35:05Z")
Reading the headline and reacting: ![robert-downey-jr-iron-man](https://sellersasksellers.com/uploads/default/original/3X/0/c/0cb8472a33fd67d4f224d1b9a30f376eb2fef6e1.gif)