Amazon and the Burden of Great Expectations

It proved to be a near-fatal mistake for their small business, which is the family's sole source of income, and employs all four of the couple's teenage and adult children, as well as Mrs. Wilsondebriano's sister and mother. In the Amazon AMZN -0.08% era, selling online is one thing, but actually getting products to customers fast enough to make them happy is something else. It's especially difficult if, like the Wilsondebrianos, a merchant isn't selling via Amazon, but still feels obligated to match the e-commerce giant's promises of free and fast delivery. Their sales plummeted, from upward of $20,000 a month to as little as $3,000 a month, Mrs. Wilsondebriano says. The family had no choice but to pack and ship orders themselves, since they could no longer afford the third-party shipper they had been using.