Comment by PaulDavisThe1st
3 years ago
At some point several years ago, Amazon actually tried to compete with Mcmaster and others selling in this niche. They had a sub-site or something like that, I think it was called "Amazon Pro" and it focused on nothing but the sorts of parts and fittings that Mcmaster sells. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as Mcmaster, and it sank (AFAICT) without a trace.
Amazon bought a company "Small Parts" in 2005, they were a knock off of McMaster. This was probably to make sourcing fasteners easier for Blue Origin.
I referenced Small Parts in another post. They weren't really a McMaster knockoff. They specialized in physically small items while McMaster carried everything industrial.
I still have an 8"x10"x0.062" 6061 aluminum sheet I bought from Small Parts probably 15+ years ago, still in the plastic wrap. Don't even remember what I wanted it for :-)
EDIT/UPDATE: apparently it was called Amazon Supply, later "upgrade" to Amazon Business, and now sunk without a trace, it seems.
Amazon pro failed badly due to mismatch of service levels. Raptorsupplies.com is a similar one that's purely non-US though.