Amazon markets FBA to casual sellers
Did you get this e-mail too? When I opened it yesterday, I was absolutely sure it was a phish, for two big reasons. I'd never heard of anything called Amazon EasySell, and it had a bunch of long, scary-looking links.But I was curious. I didn't click the links in the e-mail, but I Googled EasySell, and by golly there really is such a program. It's just another name for FBA, Fulfillment by Amazon. That's the program where you mail in your books, tapes and DVDs, and Amazon handles the shipping to your buyers.
I guess the average Amazon customer's eyes would glaze over immediately upon seeing the words "Fulfilled by Amazon" but EasySell is pretty obvious.
What does this mean? Is Amazon trying to get rid of third-party sellers? Or is this a sign that FBA is struggling to attract customers?
They're offering a $15 gift certificate if you sign up. But of course you'll be paying fees for handling and storage once you sign up.
The discussion boards at Amazon are already rife with messages from FBA users who complain that Amazon's warehouse sometimes loses shipments or fails to process them promptly or accurately. It seems that Amazon should try ironing out these kinks before recruiting lots more FBA users at the height of the holiday shopping season.
posted by Steve Weber at 12/02/2007
5 Comments:
Yeah, I'm an FBA seller. Well, I should say I'm on hold. I won't send any more stuff to their warehouse because they can't seem to inventory it in a timely manner or not lose things. It's pretty damn stupid to roll it out to the whole world when you can't even get your shit straight together for a handful of other sellers!
Yes I got the E-mail as well, and I am a Pro Merchant--some people were speculating that only small sellers got the e-mails-not so.
Though I'm sure that this will create a *little* unwanted competition on some books where people who have Prime can get their books shipped for free, I'm not too worried as I am also sure that folks will be sending them boxes of penny books too--Seems like everyone I meet thinks that their books are worth so much. .. And then you like at them and 99% of the time they are rubbish.
BWB
I hate to be the one that said "told you so" but I will.
The FBA program was a flop the moment they started drafting the plans for it.
What is scary for the FBA sellers is not if FBA fails, but how will they get their inventory back?
Keep an eye out for Amazon FBA warehouse sales in the near future.
Steve
I shot you an email about this before I realized you blogged about it. Sorry about that. I am not getting routine announcements of your blogs after changing to a different computer.
Hi
Jcorn again. Actually, it is and it isn't FBA - at first. Here's why: Go to their page of price comparisions for the first 60 days.
After the first 60 days (and factor in the $15 as well) it "converts" to FBA and that is when the math get tricky. Amazon actually has a page where they compare two books, same title and condition, and argue that sellers will "improve feedback" due to the program! Also, Amazon notes sellers can theoretically charge more for that SAME book because they'll appear higher on the pages. The total profit? 10 cents more using AMazon's program. They have that page and figures - right there!
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