posted on October 26, 2000 11:26:11 AM new
Hello everyone! Just when I decided to try selling outside of eBay's doors and have been weighing my options (i.e. Yahoo or Amazon or both or....), I come to this board and and am even more dismayed than before. I went to Yahoo and it looked "just alright". I went to Amazon and it looked a bit better.
I came to this board to ask questions like, do you consider it important to Amazon customers that you take payments via Amazon's payment system? Do you think zShops are working as opposed to auctions? Do you find the need to do both? And do you lead people to your zShop via your auctions?
However, after reading some of these threads, it appears there are some new(?) problems with using Amazon. What next, say I?
Can some of you tell me why (or why not) use Amazon? What did they recently do that everyone is so unhappy with? I would have kept reading but, I got stuck on a thread that I found very hostile and, subsequently, very unappealing. If I could just get some straight facts, I'd be very appreciative.
singingeagle
(authentic Native American arts & crafts)
I sell on eBay and Amazon. Recently started a zShop for the holidays to see if it would fly.
Yes, I think it is important to take amazon one click payments and others- make it convenient for the customer.
ZShops or Auctions ? I think they appeal to different types of customers and you would just have to try and see.
I will be putting links in both my auctions and zShops to each other-though haven't yet.
A lot of folks don't like the new tab set up.
Should you sell there ? I can't answer that. Seems some things sell well and others don't.
The selling pace will probably not be as frenetic as eBay is, but neither is the effort.
I see it as one more piece of the whole picture.
Try some auctions, if it seems worthwhile then do a zShop and see where it leads.
I will attempt to answer any other questions you have, but must let you know, that I ask a lot myself- it's a different site and it works differently than eBay or Yahoo.
Best of luck !
Rick
http://www.viastra-enterprises.com
posted on October 29, 2000 03:55:32 PM new
I sell on eBay and Amazon.
What I like about Amazon is it's low-maintenance if you sell items that you restock. I have everything on auto-relist.
My customers almost always pay with Amazon.payments.
Crosslinks work for me. I'm disappointed that the number of crosslinks is being reduced to three.
Amazon definitely is a secondary source of money for me.
Give it some time. I'll go a couple of weeks without a single sale. Then, just as I'm getting discouraged and thinking about packing it in on Amazon, BAM! I'll have a run of sales that keeps me going.
For awhile, only my zShop saw any action. Lately, auctions (especially take-it price items) are moving.
posted on October 29, 2000 09:16:45 PM new
Amazon has some of the best seller interface available, such as a pretty easy to use batch listings program, cross linking your items to Amazon's retail items, which they just recently "enhanced" by cutting it from 9 links to 3, one-click payments by credit card, flat rate fees for large listings and a very small fee for small listers, and take it price. Their credit card payment worked well and was well received by buyers [when there were buyers]. You also have to bid against other sellers for your items to appear on the first page of categories etc., instead of coming up in order of closing date/time. But be forewarned, you still have to pay your bid price for feature costs even when you are outbid, they just move you farther down the listings until you are no longer even on the first page.
However, none of these good features make any difference if you do not have sales. For reasons unknown, Amazon made changes to the auction site that sunk the vast majority of sellers. I have a suspicion that someone found the auction sales were cutting into Amazon's retail - used books and CDs, and movies had to cut into their business.
Go to Amazon's main page and see if you can even find the auctions. That should give you a tip as to how bad it has gotten. Also browse through the auction listings, if you can find them, look at the number of listings and the number of bids. There is an option to list the auctions by bid count. This was once a thriving site, I don't know how you might categorize it now.
The best way to judge if a site suits your needs is to look through the categories you would list in. The bid count tells the story - but take the time to also look at the items that have bids, many start a $1, and others never reach reserve.
I was out selling my eBay listings 3 to 1 before Amazon sunk the site.
posted on October 31, 2000 06:22:46 PM new
I have been keeping up with the comments and wish to thank you all, again and again, for the fine help.
Wow......it sounds like the changes Amazon has implemented has really cost the sellers. What a shame because I had high hopes for them. I called them the other day, asking if they put any feelers out prior to making changes and they said, yes, they sent survey(s) to a number of customers (of course, the number escapes me!). I said, when you refer to your customers, you are including your sellers in auctions and zShops, aren't you? She said, well, I mean the customers who visit the site - they're the real customers. I said, your sellers are the "real customers" too because they are very much a part of the whole who bring customers to Amazon's retail site. Good sellers bring good (more) customers. She said she had never thought of it that way. Oh gosh, I hope she was the only one....
Anyway, I really want Amazon to work out. I haven't given up on them yet but, from what I'm reading, I might be coming in a bit late. Nonetheless, I'm going to give them a try and do some more digging in the meantime as well. Cheers!
posted on November 1, 2000 02:31:07 AM new
Not sure she was the only one that thought that way. I still can't determine if the 15% fee for marketplace will now apply to my zShop listings, that will end it there for me, that's more than my average mark up ! Then one click fees as well ?
I guess I'll see next time something sells. When I look at my payment summary, zShop and Marketplace fees are listed as one item, which would indicate that they are now the same.
If so, that is a really lousy blow to deal to the sellers. It also means a lot of sellers will have to raise their prices to compensate-which will hurt sales.
Not ready to role up the rug yet, but certainly going to keep an eye on things.
Rick
http://www.viastra-enterprises.com
