Amazon Store - any experience

Have anyone got any experience with an Amazon Store

[derekwong28]

Hi

We have been invited by Amazon to participate in their stores program. Their terms are very attractive, $40 monthly charges and 8% commission. Bearing in mind that this includes CC charges and guarantee against CC fraud.

The only problem is that we are based in Hong Kong and would need to open a US bank account. This is possible but is quite tedious.

I wonder if anyone can share some experience about Amazon stores. How does it fare compare to your website. Does it matches or even surpass sales at your pwn website.

We are getting about 33 sales on around 2000 visitors a day at the moment. I have got a feeling that we may do quite well in Amazon because some of our products are quite unique.

Thanks

Derek

[diamondgrl]

ZShops do not fare very well in Amazon's search results. They are usually listed last, even below snippets found on p. 432 of some random book.

Uniqueness might actually hurt you for this reason. What you may want is something that Amazon is already selling - a book, a camera, etc. and just offer it for less than everyone else. That's because those kinds of items appear higher up in the search results.

[desertjedi]

I won't repeat what I've heard about Amazon regarding opening stores with them as I have not experienced it myself. But opening a store on Amazon, for me, falls under the category of things I've learned never to do on the net based on the experiences of others - and it's a long and, what I consider, valid list. It's a list that sort of reminds of the list of things your Mom told you not to do - like stick your finger in an electrical socket...you've never done it but you know it's bad.

There are so many other good e-commerce solutions out there. Why not look into some? I'm just about to open a new store on Storehost and I'm thrilled with the features it offers and the ability to easily customize it's look. It blows away my Yahoo store in terms of functionality and ease of customization.

Gary

[CernyM]

Depends on the products. We list our clothing with them and the results have been good. We get customers we probably wouldn't reach otherwise for roughly the same cost of acquiring them through our other advertising medium.

[CernyM]

But opening a store on Amazon, for me, falls under the category of things I've learned never to do on the net based on the experiences of others - and it's a long and, what I consider, valid list.

Not sure what problems others have had, but my experience has been almost entirely positive.

For us, Amazon is just a channel like any other. I listed my products, and I get emails indicating what and where to ship goods. Twice a month, Amazon deposits the proceeds into my account. Fairly painless.

It accounts for a relatively small percentage of our sales, but its still a meaningful amount.

[tolachi]

1 sale over 4 months. Not worth the time, it is almost impossible to come up anywhere in the results.

[powerchuter]

we have the no cost option on a few stores and it is a complete waste of time

because even "free" isn't free when you have to pay a staff to keep the store updated (after you paid them to get the products up there to start with)

[iJeep]

They approached us about 1-2 years ago. The percentage rate they wanted was several points higher than yours. Also, they basically wanted to control many aspects of our business that I wasn't comfortable changing for them. I don't think they got many (any) takers in our industry. They were wanting a higher percentage than I make on mant items.

The best thing to do is print out the contract, take it to a very good attourney and have them help you. I spent a few hundred dollars having one read our contract. He basically told me it was my business, but he wouldn't do it unless they changed some of the terms.