Amazon will herd Marketplace sellers into new "Selling on Amazon" program

News from Auctionbytes about a change in Amazon's third-party selling program. In nutshell, Amazon is ending restrictions for its various types of selling programs -- such as media sellers and Merchant@ vendors. Everyone will be herded into a program called "Selling on Amazon" and will have more freedom to sell in different categories.

Here's the scoop at Auctionbytes:

Instead of classifying merchants into Marketplace sellers who could sell Books, Music, Video and DVD (BMVD), and Merchants@, who could sell in non-media categories, it is putting all sellers into its "Selling on Amazon" program, and differentiating based on sales volume.

An Amazon.com spokesperson confirmed this, and stated in an email, "Previously, when a seller signed up for a media category (BMVD) they were limited by these categories. Sellers no longer have to make a choice between media and non-media to sign up and sell on Amazon.com."

However, the terms for media and non-media sellers will be different. Get the details here at Auctionbytes.

Another case of Amazon making major changes to its selling programs with no apparent discussion among sellers, or even much notification. I'm guessing it took Auctionbytes editor Ina Steiner about a week to pull enough teeth at Amazon to find out exactly what was going on. Kudos, Ina!

Michael Jackson tops Amazon's 'Top Out-Of-Stock Products Report'

Michael Jackson is topping the charts again -- this time, a new list of the most sought-after (but unavailable) books on Amazon.com.

Did anyone else receive the below e-mail Wednesday night from Amazon, at amazonservices-emailer@amazon.com?

The subject was "Amazon.com Top Out-Of-Stock Products Report," something I've never seen or heard of before. I am guessing that Amazon Pro-Merchants are receiving it, but it seemed to have come out of the blue. Looks like something eBay would have done in its prime. It's a list of out-of-print books, mostly technical tomes.

Another mystery: For the first three books on this list, I walked through listing the ASIN in "New" condition but didn't see a "Buyer's Waiting" flag. Has Amazon disabled this feature? If these are the books in the most demand, where are the waiting buyers? And the prices?


As usual, I was able to download a 90-day Buyers Waiting report here. However, when I tried to list one of the ASINs in the report (0126272603), Amazon's page reported "no current offers." Hmm.

Here's the entire text, I've added hyperlinks and the picture:

We regularly review the products our customers look for on our website. The products listed below are some of the top products in the Books category that customers were interested in during the last month, but are currently unable to purchase because there was no available inventory on our website as of 07-29-2009. Although inventory levels can change quickly from the many sellers on our website, we wanted to let you know about this customer interest.

ASIN, Title
1. 0312923503 , My Family, the Jacksons

2. 0976889196 , Thriller 25th Anniversary: The Book, Celebrating the Biggest Selling Album of All Time

3. 0716700298 , Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment


4. 0020063105 , Of Blood and Hope


5. 072169358X , Anatomy in Diagnostic Imaging


6. 0768907039 , Master Court Officer Exam 9e (Arco Civil Service Test Tutor)


7. 1579479006 , AMA Physician ICD-9-CM 2008, Volumes 1 and 2 - Compact Edition


8. 1570035172 , Understanding David Foster Wallace (Understanding Contemporary American Literature)


9. B000J0NAYY , Cop Without a Badge the Extraordinary Undercover Life of Kevin Maher


10. 0007230133 , Leviathan


11. 0615263836 , Eat For Health Mind and Body Makeover With Eat Right America Food Scoring Guide (Three Book Set)


12. 1932613137 , PE Sample Questions and Solutions: Mechanical Engineering (Book)


13. 1599716283 , Complete Exercises


14. 0323006582 , Nuclear Medicine Case Review


15. B001IVY2CC , Dutch 3: The Finale By: Kwame Teague (Teri Woods) (Dutch III: The Finale By: Kwame Teague (Teri Woods), Dutch I, II, III)


16. 1557997802 , Paper Tube Zoo


17. 0982080700 , Get Better Sound


18. 1440414831 , Millionaire REO Real Estate Agent: The Secret of REO's, BPO's, and Short Sales


19. 0966835239 , The Handbook of Rife Frequency Healing: Holistic technology for cancer and other diseases


20. 0131732889 , World Civilizations: The Global Experience, Ap Edition


21. 1593953518 , 3845 - Puppy in Squares Lock and Key Diary


22. B0018TVEAW , Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One


23. 0789317605 , Lunar: A Glow-in-the-Dark Calendar for the 2009 Lunar Year


24. 0910608709 , Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index


25. 1552977536 , The Flooring Handbook: The Complete Guide to Choosing and Installing Floors


26. 0898867614 , 75 Scrambles in Washington: Classic Routes to the Summits


27. B001ESQSTO , Human


28. 0899576877 , Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible: New American Standard Bible : Unlocking the Riches of God's Word


29. 0618916296 , The Americans


30. 0147503205 , The Complete Greeks and Romans (Penguin Classics Complete Collections)


31. 088685203X , TOEFL Test Preparation Kit (Book, CD-ROM, and 4 Audio CDs)


32. B001SASEDG , Sports Illustrated Superbowl XLIII Commemorative Pittsburgh Steelers, 2009


33. 1589944631 , Talisman: The Magical Quest Game; Upgrade Pack


34. 1886433100 , Vitamins and Minerals from A to Z With Ethno-Consciousness


35. 0375426051 , Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, Deluxe Edition (Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (Deluxe))


36. 1596871172 , The UV Advantage: The Medical Breakthrough That Shows How to Harness the Power of the Sun for Your Health


37. 0935702962 , Quantitative Seismology


38. 0721604838 , Sabiston Textbook of Surgery Board Review


39. B000QRYCTW , 101 Razor-Sharp Blues Guitar Fill-In Licks (Book and CD) (Red Dog Music Books Razor-Sharp Blues Guitar Series)


40. 1550223151 , The Hellmouths of Bewdley


41. 0794505635 , German (Flashcards) (German Edition)


42. B001RAXE8W , Fallout 3: Vault Dweller's Survival Guide


43. 0545127254 , Geronimo Stilton Set, Books 1-32 (Lost Treasure of the Emerald Isle; The Curse of the Cheese Pyramid; Cat and Mouse in a Haunted House; I'm Too Fond of My Fur!; Four Mice Deep in the Jungle; Paws Off,


44. B002CQYMR2 , The Sims 3 Collector's Edition (Game Guide) (Includes Mouse Pad, Poster and In-Game Pattern)


45. 0439867789 , A to Z Mysteries Complete 26-Book Set (The Absent Author, The Bald Bandit, The Canary Caper, The Deadly Dungeon, The Empty Envelope, The Falcon's Feathers, The Goose's Gold, The Haunted Hotel, The Inv


46. 1933492155 , Lift Off: Air Vehicle Sketches and Renderings from the Drawthrough Collection


47. 0313284245 , 100 Key Documents in American Democracy


48. B002673JXU , Fast Track to Free Money Cd! Debt Cures


49. 1846169550 , Dark Fire (David Rain)


50. 0967279704 , Lemegeton - The Complete Lesser Key of Solomon


If you need assistance listing your products, please visit our Help Guide:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=1161236


Thank you for selling with Amazon.com

Sincerely,
Amazon Services

Online bookselling roundup for Saturday

Believe it or not, the textbook selling season is just two weeks away! News from Amazon Seller Support:

Find out more about selling textbooks during Textbook Season by attending our July 29th Webinar on Selling Textbooks on Amazon.com (10:00 am PDT). We’ll cover lots of topics that will help you sell textbooks. The webinar is only 30 minutes and includes a question-and-answer period at the end.

In addition, we’ll extend the Q&A to the Ask Amazon Forum for two hours immediately after the webinar. This is an opportunity for you to ask questions about selling textbooks and get responses in real-time from a member of our Textbook Selling Team. No need to sign up to join the Ask Amazon Forum. Just come on by, learn about selling textbooks and perhaps ask a question or two.

In the same vein, Amazon has launched an official Textbook selling blog with news and tips for sellers.

Recession isn't painful enough for you? eBay, Amazon and Internet Sellers: Get Ready to Collect and Pay Sales Tax in all 50 States.

High Value Orders and Security on AbeBooks. Interesting tidbit I stumbled onto. Check out the summaries of high-value sales on Abe.

A seller's thoughts on the (many) eBay misteps.

More changes coming to eBay item pages.

Amazon sellers: Product ads now accept 30 data fields.

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Steve Weber is author of The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site

and Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

Bookselling roundup for Monday

Amazon hosts Second Life job fair. I've had two cups of coffee this morning and I'm still not sure I understand this, or how it's related to selling. More information the Amazon Web services blog.

Amazon adds two order-management features: Concessions and Seller Memos.

Amazon tweaks feedback-management tool.

eBay traffic takes nosedive.

College bookstores decry online selling.

The Netflix of textbooks.

Retro, recycling and secondhand are cool.

Bookseller finds original copy of U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Bookseller of Kabul now bookseller in UK.

Making good with used books.


----------------
Steve Weber is author of The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site

and Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

Barnes & Noble red dot sale: 50 percent off & more

Barnes & Noble offers "thousands" of titles at 50 percent off and more. Sales is on now in the brick-and-mortar stores (look for books with the red dot) and online at bn.com. Just got the e-mail from B&N advertising this. Looks like B&N needs to raise more cash by the end of the month. Have seen some recent stories about B&N cancelling some new bookstore openings. In many cases, those plans have been cancelled simply because the new shopping center project where the store was to be located has been killed, due to the problems in real estate.

How to track down sources for used books.

Julie & Julia bookseller display contest.

Glitch at Amazon Adantage sends bogus order cancellations to book vendors.

The small town bookstore path.

Utah bookselling legend dies at 88.

Barnes & Noble hires away eBay's search guru.

New or used, there's a lot of options.

Connecticut bookstore adds home consignment.

Amazon 'Charge When Ship' becomes mandatory this summer

Amazon is encouraging its Marketplace sellers to opt into a program it calls "Charge When Ship" requiring sellers to confirm shipment before buyers pay for purchases.

In an announcement, Amazon is encouraging sellers to opt into the program now. According to Amazon's list of Frequently Asked Questions, the program becomes mandatory sometime this summer. No date was given.

In Charge When Ship, if the seller doesn't confirm an order's shipment within two business days, Amazon automatically sends "late shipment" e-mail notifications to the seller and the buyer. Then, if the seller doesn't confirm shipment within 30 days, the order is automatically cancelled, and the buyer is refunded.

When sellers confirm a shipment, they'll be able to indicate the shipping service and tracking or delivery-confirmation number -- although tracking numbers aren't mandatory. Pro-Merchants will be able to upload a text file to confirm multiple shipments at the same time.

My take on the program: Overall, it should be positive because it provides buyers with an experience more consistent with orders filled by Amazon. For example, I currently receive e-mails from buyers who are confused that they can't look up the shipping status or tracking number through Amazon's Web site, even though I provide this information in a shipment-confirmation e-mail. Presumably, "Charge When Ship" allows buyers to view the shipment status in the same way they view orders fulfilled by Amazon -- and if that's true, it should result in fewer inquiries from buyers regarding shipping status.

For sellers who aren't already signed up for the program, my personal advice would be to wait a few weeks. This will allow Amazon to work out any possible kinks in the program, and for third-party software providers to transition to begun supporting the program.

One remaining concern I've seen on Amazon's seller boards: What happens if a buyer's credit card is declined after the seller ships? Amazon doesn't really address this in the FAQ. Hopefully, a pre-authorization is obtained at the time of the order, confirming that the funds are available, and the card number and expiration date are in order.

Another observation: Charge When Ship puts additional pressure on drop-shippers, because the FAQ further emphasizes that sellers shouldn't list items they are unable to ship within two business days.

Bookselling roundup for Wednesday

Remember this little guy? The pictured pup was the longtime pet of Amazon's chief engineer, who brought him to the office each workday. For years, Rufus' picture was displayed on Amazon's "not found" page. That was in the days of Web 1.0, when other sites would reply cryptically, "Error 404" (not found). Instead, the pooch appeared, asking, "Looking for Something?" It was a little touch that made Amazon seem so ... human. Now Rufus has passed on.

A great tutorial: How to determine the edition number and printing of a book.

Optimize your listings for Amazon searching and browsing.

Berkeley bookstore says it can't afford retail space.

Toronto bookshop survives without computers.

Amazon launches used item buyback service

As if the competition among sellers of used items on Amazon wasn't fierce enough, Amazon is getting into the game itself. They've launched a trade-in store for DVDs.

It's the same type of setup you see at many textbook buyback sites -- you get credit for about half of what the item usually sells for used. For example, if you wanted to trade in Heroes, Season One, Amazon credits you $6.75 (This DVD retails for $59.98, and Amazon sells new copies for $45.99. Used copies go for about $12.)

Here's how Amazon publicizes the buyback program: There's an expanded buy box with a trade-in here button (see the picture below). When you "trade in" an item, Amazon gives you a prepaid shipping label, and when they receive it via the Postal Service, your account is credited in the form of an Amazon gift card. So you don't get any cash, just credit toward buying stuff at Amazon.

Amazon has also started a video game buyback program.

Wow. Assuming Amazon likes the results of this program, it's only a matter of time before they expand into used books. One more problem for third-party sellers to deal with. In addition to the sputtering economy and Amazon's proliferation of free shipping offers, this could be the most troublesome. Not only will sellers be competing directly with Amazon for sales of used items, but Amazon will be diverting the supply of used items to itself, driving prices down.

Here are more gory details.