Selling on Amazon

ShadowAssassin

ShadowAssassin

CAGiversary!
Anyone here sell on Amazon? I know very little about it.

1. Any info on seller protection from buyer scammers?

2. Total commission Amazon takes from sales?

3. Anything else one should know? Like if the seller changes his mind and decides he doesn't want the item, will Amazon side with the buyer like eBay would?

 
I've sold on Amazon for some years now, I started with old textbooks from college, but have sold pretty much everything from games to cell phones.

Their commision is about the same as ebay, I dont have the exact specifics, as it depends on the item being sold, but it has always seemed about equal to ebay + paypal fees. You can google it and find the Amazon seller page for those.

They do have an annoying 30 day return window (implemented in the last few years) but you can at least charge a "restocking" fee.

 
I sell on Amazon; mostly books, games, and DVDs. I've also recently sold some stuff on eBay, so I feel I can comfortably compare the two.

Their commission is higher than eBay's, especially for sub-$5.00 items, but they don't do crap like include shipping in the commission rate, and, as soliddragon said, you don't have to deal with PayPal fees. You can also charge more for items on Amazon than eBay and still have around the same average total sales, so it works out. The only issue I have with them sometimes is that the shipping credit you receive for items like heavy books is sometimes not enough to cover the actual shipping, but at other times, like with games/dvds in standard cases, you'll have money left over. I'm sure others have advice on how to deal with the former situation.

Once, an item I sold got lost in the mail, and I had to refund the buyer. USPS returned the item to me later; it was in slightly worse condition from the handling, but it wasn't that expensive to begin with. I haven't had any major problems with Amazon buyers (or Amazon packages shipped USPS) otherwise.

 
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You also deal with more idiots when selling on amazon, and anything can be returned within 30 days, no exceptions.

I sold a Wii mario kart bundle and gave two emails repeating what i had in my description(just console, game,cords and controllers, no box/instuctions/wii wheel) and the person wants to return it cause i didn't include the instructions and wii wheel

makes me :/

 
It's been a couple of years since I sold on Amazon. I stopped because there are too many scammers. Amazon does not accept USPS Delivery Confirmation as proof of delivery. So, scammers will say they didn't receive the item. Amazon will take the money away from you and there's nothing you can do about it. Has there been any changes to this policy?

 
I don't sell on Amazon but I don't like the fact that every item doesn't get it's on page and instead gets bundled up with an Amazon listing or whoever is the best match as a 3rd party.

As someone who buys on Amazon a lot (although I don't buy a lot of used items) I find it cumbersome to have to go to the "see other sellers tabs" and read a few sentences about what may or may not be included and unless something has changed recently they don't include pictures.

 
ecwfan said:
It's been a couple of years since I sold on Amazon. I stopped because there are too many scammers. Amazon does not accept USPS Delivery Confirmation as proof of delivery. So, scammers will say they didn't receive the item. Amazon will take the money away from you and there's nothing you can do about it. Has there been any changes to this policy?
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If they don't accept DC and need to ship with signature confirmation on every item or use UPS or FedEx for a tracking number, the shipping credit probably doesn't even come close to the actual cost of shipping. If that is still the policy, that alone would make me not want to sell anything on Amazon.

 
theking20 said:
You also deal with more idiots when selling on amazon, and anything can be returned within 30 days, no exceptions.

I sold a Wii mario kart bundle and gave two emails repeating what i had in my description(just console, game,cords and controllers, no box/instuctions/wii wheel) and the person wants to return it cause i didn't include the instructions and wii wheel

makes me :/
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Amazon clearly states that what you put in the details must match the condition you choose. Even acceptable condition items can't be missing major components like cords or controllers.
 
ecwfan said:
It's been a couple of years since I sold on Amazon. I stopped because there are too many scammers. Amazon does not accept USPS Delivery Confirmation as proof of delivery. So, scammers will say they didn't receive the item. Amazon will take the money away from you and there's nothing you can do about it. Has there been any changes to this policy?
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I got screwed out of a $150 book that way. I've never sold there again.

 
I too have stopped selling on Amazon... had a blu ray listed, put in the description that it was missing the dvd copy, and was ONLY for the blu ray... well the guy complained and ended up getting to keep the movie AND get his money back... Amazon said you couldnt sell incomplete items like that... guess that means anytime I have a combo pack with a digital copy missing, I am not allowed to sell it?

Funny coming from the company who sold me a special edition used copy of dead rising 2, with almost everything missing but the case and game...

Amazon caters to the buyer while screwing over the ones who truly make them money... fuck them

 
Sold for the first time on Amazon over the weekend and I have a quick couple of questions. How long does it take for the payment to get posted to your account? Also payment always get sent to your bank account correct?

Also off-topic but Amazon related how long does a trade-in take to get processed?

 
Log in to your seller account. On the right will be a Payments Summary. Click the $ amount under balance and it will tell you when the money is scheduled to deposit. It will deposit to the account you connected to your seller account.

In my experience with the trade-in, it is processed within 3 days of receipt. Usually closer to the third day.

 
yourlefthand said:
Amazon clearly states that what you put in the details must match the condition you choose. Even acceptable condition items can't be missing major components like cords or controllers.
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amazon gave me a copy of Yoshis New Island without instructions and club nintendo code, even amaozn doesn't go by its own rules

:p

haha when i see stuff like this i wonder if anyone will buy it

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00FYIXMHQ/sr=/qid=/ref=olp_tab_new?ie=UTF8&colid=&coliid=&condition=new&me=&qid=&seller=&sr=

 
eBay > Amazon. eBay is a lot less strict and customer service is top notch. As a buyer, Amazon has the best CS out there. As a seller, it's a joke. Trust me.

 
90% of the buyers on amazon i'd say are a better buyer than that on ebay but then you got the 10% that is worse than anything you will find on ebay, I mean some really fucken stupid people. Here's an example of what happened to me last year. I get a return request for pokemon red. Buyer claimed it was counterfeit because it didn't have as much color as her ds games.

 
ajh2298 said:
Sold for the first time on Amazon over the weekend and I have a quick couple of questions. How long does it take for the payment to get posted to your account? Also payment always get sent to your bank account correct?

Also off-topic but Amazon related how long does a trade-in take to get processed?
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If you are a first timer, I think they hold the money for a little while should any problems arise with the items you shipped out, IIRC... I remember selling a shit ton of Lumines PSP games when I started and remember having nearly 1K in my account when I was finally able to make the deposit

 
nJoy7 said:
eBay > Amazon. eBay is a lot less strict and customer service is top notch. As a buyer, Amazon has the best CS out there. As a seller, it's a joke. Trust me.
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This. At different times I was a major seller on both sites but I will never, ever sell on Amazon ever again.

 
Bought an item on Amazon from 3rd party seller and it was said to be shipped on the 10th. The tracking number still says "electronic info received" but no updates.

Does that mean they didn't actually ship it out yet?

 
ShadowAssassin said:
Bought an item on Amazon from 3rd party seller and it was said to be shipped on the 10th. The tracking number still says "electronic info received" but no updates.

Does that mean they didn't actually ship it out yet?
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Most likely but not always. Sometimes if the seller drops their mail off at a contract site or directly with the local sort facility it may not get scanned in as "accepted". It would however start showing movement as it progressed towards the destination.

How was it sent? Express, Priority and First Class should have showed scan by now. Media Mail or Parcel Select maybe not since they move when the bin is full

 
ShadowAssassin said:
First class. Finally updated today. Looks like it wasn't shipped until today.
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I can't speak for AZ b/c I don't sell there but what I lot of sellers do on eBay to keep their top rated seller status (90% of all sales have to have tracking updated within one business day of the sale) is print the label ahead of time, within that 1 business day window and then ship at their leisure.

It works to keep the TRS status but obviously if they're abusive in that regards they'll get punsished by low "shipping time" scores.

 
Yeah, that's happened to me a few times.

The tracking number will be added within 2 hours of purchase it won't update for 3 or 4 days and it'll just say "acceptance" which means they mailed it out and it was scanned.

 
Personally I prefer eBay since it's easier, fees are lower (depends on what you're selling though) and I get my money quicker. But since I've been banned from eBay (low feedback score on communication... I know) I've had to resort to selling on Amazon more. 

Major things I don't like about Amazon selling is their fees for games are higher. $5 fee for a $25 game. That's 20% of the sale even with shipping.

Shipping choices are usually not enough to pay for shipping the item so you're out that money. I recently sold a AC4 LE for $70. I could only list the shipping for $4 but it cost $12 from Amazon to ship. If I was shipping that from eBay, it would have cost me $7.

It takes 2 weeks, no matter what, for you to get your money. On eBay I would get my money immediately as soon as someone paid me.

Only upside to Amazon for me is people are willing to spend more (but that means nothing to me since the fees make me lose more money in comparison) and fees for higher priced items (usually $110+) become less than eBay fees (not sure how that works out but it has for me).

 
I've tried selling on Amazon more than once but never could get anything sold and it wasn't like it was hard to sell things. However all of said stuff sold easily on eBay, no problem. eBay just has more exposure and it seems most people that do buy on Amazon (like me) tend to buy things from Amazon directly new opposed to third party merchants. If it works for you and you have success by all means keep at it but my selling experiences have been better on eBay as much as I despise them. From what I hear they are just as bad as eBay when it comes to screwing over the sellers every time while worshiping the buyers so don't think you'll escape that evil practice by going to them.

 
Not game-related, but not sure where else to ask this.

Has anyone here ever bought food products on Amazon from 3rd party sellers?

Say I want to buy a box of Milky Ways or something. How do I know that box of Milky Ways from the seller doesn't have a "Sell by: March 21, 2014" or something?

Anyway to know if the food is fresh and wasn't sitting around some storage closet for months and is stale or expired?

 
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ShadowAssassin said:
Not game-related, but not sure where else to ask this.

Has anyone here ever bought food products on Amazon from 3rd party sellers?

Say I want to buy a box of Milky Ways or something. How do I know that box of Milky Ways from the seller doesn't have a "Sell by: March 21, 2014" or something?

Anyway to know if the food is fresh and wasn't sitting around some storage closet for months and is stale or expired?
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Besides directly messaging the seller? Nothing else you can do to find out.

But if you do get something like that, Amazon's buyer protection will get you your money back. As crap like that is stuff that they don't tolerate in the listings.

 
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