Major Third Party Sellers Drop Out Of Amazon Marketplace

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Major Third Party Sellers Drop Out Of Amazon Marketplace [internetretailer.com]

Consumers can no longer buy products from Macy’s Inc., Buy.com Inc. and Gap Inc. on Amazon.com Inc., as each of the three retailers has decided to pull their products off of Amazon.com’s marketplace in recent months.

“We didn’t want to give them information on product pricing and sales that Amazon could potentially use against us,” says Neel Grover, president and CEO of Buy.com, No. 32 in the Top 500 Guide. Buy.com, which stopped selling through Amazon in October, operates its own e-marketplace for third-party sellers and has a strict policy of not competing against them, he adds. Amazon does often sell the same products as retailers selling through its marketplace.

[Propools]

Wingo, however, says that many retailers selling on Amazon have been concerned that Amazon can use information on their product sales to assist the merchandising and marketing efforts of Amazon.com and other retailers selling through Amazon.com. Another concern is that Amazon could use retailers’ product information to deal directly with their product suppliers and cut the retailers out of the selling loop, he adds.

Doesn't this same fear hold true with any other business in which you run your business or a portion of your business on this kind of platform? If not, it deserves being closely scrutinized.

[Rugles]

Another concern is that Amazon could use retailers’ product information to deal directly with their product suppliers and cut the retailers out of the selling loop,

This has always worried me.

[JohnRoy]

That's good news for the smaller merchants. Let the big ones go on their own...

[Digmen1]

Ive only got a small stand alone site and I have always stayed away from Amazon due to the fact that I have heard they will compete against you.

So looks like I was correct.

[jwolthuis]

... stayed away from Amazon due to the fact that I have heard they will compete against you.

Amazon competes with your stand-alone site every day. How does "staying away" improve on that?

[Key_Master]

Th difference is you are paying Amazon to compete with Amazon on Amazon's home turf.

[jwolthuis]

you are paying Amazon to compete with Amazon on Amazon's home turf.

I sell a hundred-or-so products on Amazon, and a thousand-or-so products on my stand-alone site. (I also sell on eBay, Sears, Bonanza, etc).

Of those hundred products, about half have other sellers, either Amazon or third-party, a mix of Prime and non-Prime.

Although Amazon is technically "competing against me", and I'm "paying them" a commission, I justify that payment based on the customers they bring to me. They run a very fast, popular website that gets a ton of traffic, and that's certainly worth my commission payment.

What's the downside? They sell a few more widgets than I do. I didn't incur an expense because someone bought from Amazon instead of me. It costs me nothing to list with them (I'm not a Pro-Merchant). In fact, the sales and profits I get from Amazon make it worth the trouble to list products with them. I make money.

If Amazon can put a few thousand in my pocket, I'll forgive them for competing with me, thank them for their high-traffic website, and take my wife out for a nice dinner tonight, paid for with my Amazon profits.

Anyway, that's my view of Amazon.

[camorra]

Ive only got a small stand alone site and I have always stayed away from Amazon due to the fact that I have heard they will compete against you.

So looks like I was correct

I have to agree with a previous poster. You are competing with giants like Amazon(and Ebay)everyday and they have a lot more search engine muscle than you do. Therefore, as you cannot beat them as a small trader, you may as well join them.

With regards to Amazon, they are now the major 3rd party selling platform. I have run an ecommerce business for several years, from the boom times to the current state of affairs. My company sells on ebay and Amazon, as well as having several standalone websites. I can tell you that our Amazon sales have eclipsed ebays for some time now. The quanity and quality of the sale is far superior to ebay (i.e. More items, sold for more money). The only little inconvenience with Amazon, is that you get paid every 2 weeks.

Therefore, if you have the oppotunity to sell on Amazon or Ebay, I recommend that you do. Just get your sums right, so that you make a profit, and compete!

[ItsAllBallBearings]

discussing this topic is a lot like religion and politics, but here goes anyway...

I'm of the mindset to stay away from Amazon. Imagine if your competitors came to you and asked to sell on your site. In exchange for your traffic, you get a cut of their sale and every little bit of sales data. One of their products selling well? Perfect, go direct to their supplier, buy them out at extra low costs, and undercut everyone online. Looking for trends in categories you might want to enter? No problem, your competition has just handed over all that data AND paid you to take it.

The lure of a quick, easy buck on Amazon is like a moth to the fire. Enjoy it until you get burned into a crispy oblivion

[ecommerceprofit]

When Amazon first started their marketplace they wanted me to sell on their site - I was excited until I saw their contract. They had the right to use my images and I wanted to strike that part out of their contract and they refused - they had the right to use my images. All that work I did...forget it...

The guy I was negotiating with did not like me after that and we got into an argument. Glad I made the decision seeing what happened. I would not do this to another business - could not live with myself to use them like that...but you know what...now that I'm in a new business I would not have a problem joining them. They already have undercut everyone in just about every industry...mine as well join them.

[dpd1]

I always liked Jeff, and I think he did a great job building the company. And I've also enjoyed using them. The concept of being able to buy all sorts of different products in one sitting is great, and in my mind, that was the beauty of the whole concept. But in the last few years, I've started sensing some greed creeping in. I don't dig the multi warehouse thing. I really don't understand why they did it... Most likely to save money somehow. But I don't think it makes things better for the customer. It just complicates orders. I ordered something the other day, and a guy from their new delivery service threw the box 40' up onto a balcony with a big thud and walked away. I found many other complaints about them in their forums. And they started using these guys, why? They most likely already get the best shipping rates known to man. So they get somebody worthless who's going to tick off customers, to save that extra buck a delivery or something?

When companies start doing stuff like that... that's when you know they've started to fall into that; 'we're bullet proof... everything we do is genius' mentality. And a big reality check is usually not far behind. One company here or there isn't going to make a dent. But if they start getting a rep for greed... hundreds of companies collectively will.

[jwolthuis]

... a guy from their new delivery service threw the box 40' up onto a balcony

Amazon has their own delivery service now? Impressive.

[Digmen1]

I'm very small, and being overseas could not get on to Amazaon.
I have a new unique product and would be worried about them trying to copy them if sales went well.

So as a small company I don't trust these big companies.

But, yes hats off to Jeff Bezos, he had the original vision and stuck through with it, even though they lost money for years.