This morning I heard that Amazon is firing thousands of its employees. 14,000 human beings are getting replaced by AI. It's sad to think that our fellow human beings are suddenly having their lives disrupted. Where will they go? What work can they do? How will they pay their bills?

I again wondered how I could deal directly with sellers and avoid the middlemen altogether.

How much does Amazon charge their sellers, anyway? To do business on Amazon, what is the seller's cost? Or on a similar merchant website: eBay?

Ironically, I used AI to get an answer. Here is my summary of the conversation, without all the fluff.

Compare the seller fees on eBay and Amazon for a $30 food item.

Answer: When the seller handles both storage and shipping, the fees for both, rounded off to the nearest whole number is the same: 15%.

Wow, the fees are so high for either service! It's even more than a tithe!

Moses told the people they should tithe their increase to the temple of God, which was 10% of their food (not ever money) but it seems like a reasonable sacrifice to make toward God: 10% of whatever He blesses us with could go toward serving him. Since the tithe was always food, a tithe today could be food given to the poor and to those who feed the poor.

eBay and Amazon charge more than a tithe. How can they justify their fees? They are very profitable businesses, so they obviously charge more than they require to sustain themselves.

Why the tithe analogy? Man must choose his god: either the AI-powered god or the True and Living God. It looks like the price is much higher for choosing the god of this world.... It will cost even more than the monetary fees.... The world will also cost a man his soul.

Sometimes we can share goods and services for free. Sharing and giving, person to person, requires no corporate fees. In the case of food, I personally like the idea of sharing extra food from the garden with others.... Not selling it, but giving it away.