Amazon "Webstores" - don't do it.

[ByronM]

Well, i gave amazons "Webstores" a few months trial to sell some goods but it has since turned into a major disaster.

First of all, i was accepting of the 7% fee and 59.95/month fee because in the long run it would have fit my growth plans and been cheaper than hiring out hosting, support and development staff to do what webstores could do.

HOwever it turns out support is the most terrible support i have ever come accross and NO ONE, i repeat NO ONE knows what is going on there.

For example i signed up as a "amazon webstores" customer ONLY - NOT a selling on amazon or a fulfillment by amazon yet they're charging me the "flat 7%" fee plus all of the "media" Fees that are ONLY listed in the "selling on amazon.com" terms of service and support simply replies "we use the same TOS for all services so we can bill you if we want"

So with that said, don't waste your money on amazon webstores. Support is horrible, billing is outrageous and things change without notice or without regard for the sellers.

I tried "Selling on amazon" and it was the same way. I was told i could input my shipping weight to get it calculated to cover my costs but the "Amazon engine" uses a lower rate according to the general "Winning description" and thus a tv that is 200 points crated at shipping costs is ended up going for 46.00 to ship because someone has a "winning description" of 40 pounds for the tv.

THey refuse to credit me on those charges as well so unfortunately i'm cancelling all my amazon orders and taking my business elsewhere.

[bwnbwn]

I was called by them several times but decided against this due to the cost mainly as they were just to high to justify the time spent to set it all up and unanswered questions I asked that were never fully answered.

Sorry for your loss chalk it up as a learning curve. I have learned before I leapt into anything ask for other opinions, Someone may have prevented you from taking the plunge.

[jwolthuis]

When you use "Selling on Amazon", each item is identified by an ASIN unique identifer, and can be only added once (by whoever is willing to pay $40/month to be a Pro Merchant). The "item weight" can only be entered at that time, and remains there forever (unless "corrected" by Amazon staff).

When you added your item for sale, although "you were told that you could input your shipping weight", you couldn't (only the person who creates the ASIN does that).

But, it really doesn't matter if the shipping weight is accurate or not, because it's only used to calculate Amazon's "shipping credit", nothing more. Your overall pricing formula should take into account the "actual shipping cost minus the shipping credit"; Amazon doesn't calculate actual shipping costs for you. There is no "Amazon engine".

Amazons commission structure, listing fees, and shipping credit calculation are complicated. But there are no hidden fees; they document everything in their online help. After you work-out your "pricing formula" to take everything into account, Selling on Amazon can be a good market to list your products.

[ecommerceprofit]

I wanted to create an Amazon presence a few years ago when they first started rolling out a way for merchants to put their products on amazon.com. I won't get to specific but they were horrible to deal with - acted like they were Gods and I was small fry. I hate how egos take over in big companies - I like their founder and they are quite innovative but I hate snobs.

[ByronM]

jwolthius - i understand about the "selling on amazon" fee structure.. complicated & convoluted but i guess it works for some people.

My biggest gripe was the webstores where support is charging me fees that only apply to goods "sold on amazon.com" and my webstore isn't..

As for "Selling on amazon" If shipping is supposed to be figured into pricing, how are some sellers getting calculated on weight? For example one store can have a tv for 49.95 shipping (The rate i would pay) but the bigger one for 199.95 shipping yet for the bigger one i only get 62.50 shipping.

just doesn't make sense..

and most importantly the largest downfall is the pathetic support.. i mean PATHETIC. canned emails 99% of the time and 3 days reponse. Hell, they freeze my money if i don't respond to my customers in 24 hours! (Even though i say it takes 2-3 days for lead time on my large items)

oh well... its chalked up. Just wanted to say amazon isn't what i had hoped.. terrible as a platform and lousy as a service.

[ByronM]

Well, i submitted a letter to cancel if they wouldn't adjust my fees and well, they canceled. I've never seen service so snotty that they wouldn't work to correct the issue.

They chose to refund my 59.95 monthly fee and i guess i'm to expect my settlement tomorrow instead of having to wait a full 14 days but man.. i'm stunned a company would treat someone like this. Not to mention it took 3 days for them to respond to my cancel or fix my account request.

SO with that, i guess its buyer beware.. i get 59 bucks back but a lot more went down the tubes.

[Essex_boy]

Funny you should say that.... I had a real problem getting money out of them for sales that were made. Several weeks late I recall, hence I sell no more via Amazon.

[tootalldave]

From what I have seen, some sellers are doing really well.
The Amazon program is what you make of it.

I would say that it is easy for a novice to set up, which can give one the impression that it's easy to make money...
The truth of the matter is you do need to do research on what your selling down to the UPC and if it's profiable selling on Amazon.

Yes it's true that the shipping cost have already been determined by a previous seller that listed the product for sell, when we enter our products to sell on Amazon they do give us a total of how much they are going to pay us for a shipping credit and how much they are going to charge us for fees, so before we list items we always check for accuracy in shipping before we list each item.

I would never advise anyone to cut there relationship with Amazon but rather test it on a smaller scale until they find some part that may increase their revenue.

[ByronM]

Its hard to "Scale" anything on amazon when there isn't anyone there to help you do it.

Perfect example, i was selling a tv that had the right weight. A 52" LCD TV, however the item was revised and someone put in a weight of 42 lbs. THe BOX it comes in weighs 42 lbs, its got a built in crate for christs sake.

HOwever the amazon system doesn't tell me the shipping was revised and the shipping "Credit" would barely cover the effort of lifting it up. Its a 220 lb ship weight, printed right on the box.

anyway, thats the bs i went through. I figured my margin, i knew my fixed costs (its easier to manage than ebay to an extent fee wise) but with so many variable that are on amazons favor it just wouldn't work out.

I figure if i'm willing to spend 8-15% of my product in fees i could easily do that in PPC and have people return to my store and not deal with amazon always favoring themselves.

I am curious though how other sellers on amazon do get there own shipping prices.. if everything was based off the default value why is it that other stores seem to get the correct shipping weight?

oh well.. i don't really need to know since its sort of moot after canceling everything but let it be known, service is dissapointing and if you're selling anything of value be prepared to have your money tied up for a LONG LONG LONG TIME.

[karim0028]

I HATE working with Amazon... They have the worst customer service i have ever seen, they cancelled my merchant account and then froze almost $4-500 in sales proceeds and then wouldn't give me my money for almost 4 months and left me holding the bag.. I WILL NOT do business with them again.

Merchant Beware! They favor their customers and screw their merchants.

karim0028