anais
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posted on January 29, 2001 03:51:02 AM new
I started selling at Amazon Marketplace when they started the program. I didn't like having to relist 500 plus books every 30 days so I joined Pro-Merchant. No one ever told me that once I joined the Pro-Merchant that my listing would show in Z Shops and not Marketplace. In fact, I was told they would show in both places. NOT TRUE. I was still selling so I let it go.
Yesterday I was going back over my sales and noticed that my selling has slowed down some and that when I do sell it is always a book I just listed like in the past week. None of the older listings were selling. (Although I don't have a lot of books listed, I was selling 50-60 a month) This morning I decided to do a search on 20 books out of the 380 I have listed.
ONLY 1 BOOK OUT OF THE 20 SHOWED UP when I searched the title through the main menu. And furthermore where are the Marketplace books?????? None of the titles I searched showed the usual Marketplace listings?????
This is BAD! Is anyone else having problems at Amazon!
Anais
[ edited by anais on Jan 29, 2001 05:33 AM ]
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retrolink
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posted on January 29, 2001 05:13:40 AM new
Hi
Me too
I have about 550 books listed. It is my understanding that I list under marketplace and pay the higher rate than the z shop because I am getting better placement. After reading your comment here I checked some of my listings and found the following. [1] many book that I am paying for the marketplace prefered listing are only listed on the z shop. [2]Many of my books that appear on my open books list on the seller account screens do not appear in the amazon marketplace or Z shop listings at all [3] I am also getting more sales listed as unconfirmed with amazon. When I request verification from amazon or a direct email to the consumer I am getting no response at all. There is a distinct possibility that in regard to the listing error that Amazon is doing thsi without our permission, that being, listing a amazon marketplace book under only the Z shop and then charging the amazon marketplace listing fee rather than the z shop fee and second that there is a major computer glitch somewhere that is costing me money. I hope its the glitch rather than Amazon playing games with thier integrity. I emailed them on Mon Am and if I get a response that makes sense I will relate that to the newsgroup here. Anyone else having problems like this? By the way I am still having regular sales at the same time but I spent a lot of time listing these other books and do not want to continue if Amazon is going to do this to me all the time.
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anais
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posted on January 29, 2001 05:25:05 AM new
Hi Retrolink,
None of my books are on Marketplace and what is really strange is that Marketplace listings seem to be gone. Period. The Z-Shop tab on the main page is gone too. I put in some very common titles that I know were listed in Marketplace and when I search that title all I get is Amazon's listing and a box that asks if I have one to sell. AND sometimes the Z-Shop listings would show.
By now I have searched for 50 plus books I have lsited and only found 6 of them in the Z shop listings.
I would like to call attention to this problem to a bigger audience. I may start a thread over at the EO.
I am very upset this morning. :>(
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retrolink
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posted on January 29, 2001 05:31:54 AM new
I just checked a common paperback book like mary higgins clark. I pull a search on amazon marketplace books. Only the new one from Amazon came up. No usual mention of also available at etc. Somethings wrong..I feel a screw going into my body. I hope I do not have to go back to 100% halfcom again. This could be a nightmare.
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anais
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posted on January 29, 2001 05:43:34 AM new
Ouch! Me too Retro. Those screws hurt. I have been like a maniac over here at my computer since 5:30 A.M. checking my listings and trying to see just one marketplace listing. They aren't there. :> And what's worse most of my listings don't even show up in Z-Shops either. Bummer!
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enchanted
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posted on January 29, 2001 06:40:51 AM new
Same problem here with over 500 books listed, all of a sudden they are all Z shop listings. Before 99 percent were markeplace listings.
Marketplace seemed to disappear during the Superbowl. I checked my listings as it was ending and all of a sudden they are identified as Z-shop listings.
Of course I input them all as Marketplace listings, which means, no custom title, no featuring fee, and no links to the ISBN's were input so basically no one can find my ads except by near chance in Z-shops.
I am hopping mad right now and if I was a person who spit, I'd be spittin' mad. 
I'm about to call their 800 number and let them know in excruciating detail exactly how I feel and will post the results later.
enchanted
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anais
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posted on January 29, 2001 06:46:17 AM new
Well I just got off the phone with a rep! what a frustrating experience!!!!!!
First of all, she claims that they took the Z-Shop tab off the main page months ago. Now in order to find Z-Shops you have to go to the store directory and under z-shops it advertises rare books but nothing about used contemporary books.
She also advised me that in order for my books to show up in both z-shops and marketplace I had to make two separate listings!!!!! I pointed her to the listing page where it says that books will show up in both places for the Pro-Merchants. She stated that she didn't know why that page was like that! HUH?????
She didn't have any idea why half of my listings aren't showing up in either place.
Someone is going to call me back!
[ edited by anais on Jan 29, 2001 06:56 AM ]
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anais
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posted on January 29, 2001 06:52:27 AM new
I'm waiting for you enchanted. Hope you had more luck then I did. What a mess.
Anais
Live,Laugh,Love
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enchanted
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posted on January 29, 2001 07:53:25 AM new
I just got off the phone after a long conversation with a customer service rep. it was initially frustrating when it became apparent he had no idea what I was talking about. However, I led him through the process of searching for a book that I had input as a Marketplace item and proved to him it was only showing in Z-shops. Not only does this violate their own statements on the Marketplace listing page, it will drastically reduce my sales which would still go through at 15 percent commission.
The Amazon listing page says "Your Amazon Marketplace listing will appear with the same item at Amazon.com. In addition it will appear at Amazon Z-shops."
This is currently not true as NO Marketplace items are available on item pages.
He offered to "submit a report to tech help" reporting this problem and see what they say. I told him that quite frankly it wasn't good enough, and that I'd like to speak to a supervisor. He told me his supervisor didn't know anything about it either (?) and tried to brush me off.
So then... I told him whatever he told me was going to be posted right here for the other sellers to see, and was he sure I couldn't talk to someone else?
He became agreeable to pursuing it further and went down the hall to talk to his supervisor. According to the supervisor this is a technical glitch that they only became aware of at 9:30 am eastern time, and they will reprogram to correct it.
Quite honestly I will believe it when I see it and not before, knowing the history of previous unannounced changes at Amazon Auctions and Z-shops.
I certainly hope that I do not have to manually relist all my books, and also hope they have not merged Marketplace into Z-shops without telling us beforehand.
I suggested that they place an announcement on the Amazon seller board if it truly is a technical glitch which is being worked on and will be corrected. In terms of seller relations this would go a long way to calming the worries.
I will check that board to see if they post anything.
I also agreed with the customer service rep that I was going to call back every 24 hours until it was corrected.
please post anything y'all find out to this thread. Thanks!
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borgt
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posted on January 29, 2001 07:56:45 AM new
I've been considering switching from Marketplace to zShops. I currently sell about 50 books per month, but I'm hoping that number will grow.
Well, in the middle of this mess I inadvertently pressed on the "Join zShops Now" link, thinking there would be some TOS to agree to and confirm. Nope. One click and I've subscribed!
For those who've made the switch, how has it affected your sales? It seems that the Marketplace listing being right there alongside Amazon's new book page is the prime location. To be honest, I don't know if I've ever really looked at a zShops listing when Amazon had a copy in stock or there was a Marketplace copy listed.
Did I make a mistake?
[ edited by borgt on Jan 29, 2001 08:05 AM ]
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anais
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posted on January 29, 2001 08:06:25 AM new
Borgt, I would say so but then you have to take into consideration that I am very unhappy right now with Amazon.
They no longer have the Z-Shop Tab and books are hard to find. Most of my books listed in the Z-Shops aren't even showing up. But for right now there aren't even any Marketplace books listed.
Maybe someone else will come along that will be more posiitive for you. Right now Amazon is having lot of trouble!
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borgt
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posted on January 29, 2001 08:11:08 AM new
anais, I understand right now listing anywhere on Amazon isn't worth the effort. I guess my question should include, "When Amazon is working normally"
anais & enchanted... thanks for keeping us posted!
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enchanted
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posted on January 29, 2001 08:17:31 AM new
borgt and anais, my husband just called Amazon again and emailed me, this is what he said:
"I TALKED TO CUSTOMER SERVICE and TECH GUYS. Apparently they cut the link to Marketplace while doing the upgrade. I ask the question" Is this feature for seller going away?" and got the answer "Absolutely not it is too successful for everyone involved !". They are working on it but did not have a fix time
for it."
This is the most positive thing I have heard so far today. I sincerely hope they fix it.
Anais, I pay the $40 per month merchant fee that automatically signs you up as a Z-shop seller but 99 percent of my listings wer Marketplace. It was still a good financial deal and if things go back the way they were, it will be a good deal again. I only use Z-shops right now for the books that can't be listed through Marketplace.
Quite frankly I have no idea whether I'll change my strategy or not. I'm waiting to see what happens with this latest wrinkle before I make up my mind.
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canvid13
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posted on January 29, 2001 08:18:45 AM new
Amazon is becoming very scary. They recently yanked two very large sums of money from my Amazon payments account.
What really bothered me is the heavy handed way they did this. Both times were on Friday afternoons and of course there was nobody around to discuss this with?
I was given the address of their corporate office.
This is very frustrating as I have over 2000+ auction listings and over a 100 marketplace?
Is Amazon pulling the plug on us??
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enchanted
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posted on January 29, 2001 08:25:02 AM new
I don't think they're pulling the plug canvid but it does seem that changes are afoot, doesn't it?
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anais
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posted on January 29, 2001 08:38:10 AM new
Borgt, I have had listings at both places for quite awhile. When Amazon is working okay I've had great success selling my books. I can never figure out where the buyer has found them though. At Marketplace or Z Shops. I feel the double exposure is good at any rate.
Enchanted, Thanks for keeping us updated. I got another call from a rep and she basically said the same thing. I'm hoping they get this fixed soon. I also feel like there is some changes coming about and with Amazon that is always so scary!!!!!
Canvid, Wow, that is scary. Did they ever tell you why they removed money from your account? At least that hasn't happened to me.
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borgt
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posted on January 29, 2001 09:03:43 AM new
anais, if I understand you correctly you will often list the same book at both? Does this happen automatically (i presume not), and do you have to remove it from the Marketplace when it sells in zShops (and vice-versa)?
Thanks for the help...
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valeriet
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posted on January 29, 2001 09:12:59 AM new
borgt: If you are selling 50 books a month on Marketplace, then you will save $10 a month just by joining the Pro Merchant program, even if you don't use your z-Shop at all.
Everyone else: Welcome to the wonderful world of Amazon. The tabs have been gone for quite a while. Support has been bad for quite a while. Tech support has been less than technical for quite a while.
That said, I have seen Amazon take down this feature before and they have always put it back. Recently they promised "improvements" (an ominous word at Amazon) so I suspect that they are in the process of implementing them now.
There are discussion boards at Amazon.remarq for sellers and a Seller Announcement Board that has not yet been posted to by Amazon.
--
http://www.valeriet.com
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anais
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posted on January 29, 2001 09:20:54 AM new
Borgt, As a pro merchant (39.99 a month) when one lists a book in Amazon Marketplace it is automatically placed in the Z-Shop also. The upside to this is that you no longer pay the .99 listing fee for the Amazon Marketplace and your books automatically re-list every 14 days. So if you sell more then 40 books a month you end up saving a few dollars.
When a book sells either place, Amazon is suppose to automatically close the book in Z-Shops and Marketplace. I've had to watch this closely though because at times that doesn't happen. I had two situations where a book I sold did not get cancelled and someone else then wanted to buy it. I check my books every week to make sure what is suppose to be closed is really closed.
I hope this helps.
Anais
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canvid13
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posted on January 29, 2001 10:06:12 AM new
My videos on Marketplace are all gone too. I just called support. They told me that the tech guys are working on it.
My thought though is where we'll have to relist all these Marketplace listings again?
Zshops is pretty useless, at least from my experiance. Marketplace is ok situationally.
Grr.....
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anais
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posted on January 29, 2001 11:33:02 AM new
Just a heads up you guys. I am not receiving S/H allowance on my sales either. No shipping allowance, I guess because everything is being sold out of Z Shops. What a burn. They take a percentage and now we have to eat S/H. Back to the phones, I guess.
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valeriet
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posted on January 29, 2001 02:06:13 PM new
Bruce Moore finally posted on the Seller Announcement board at Amazon.remarq:
Some Amazon Marketplace listings are currently not appearing on our retail site. These listings still appear in zShops, and in sellers' storefronts. Our technical team is taking immediate action on this issue. Another announcement will be posted to this location as we work toward resolution of this issue.
--
http://www.valeriet.com
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canvid13
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posted on January 29, 2001 03:07:42 PM new
Hi Valerie,
What's the url for this??
Jamie
canvid13
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valeriet
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posted on January 29, 2001 05:16:50 PM new
It is hard to direct because it uses dynamic urls. To get there go to Amazon Home Page > Friends and Favorites > Discussion Boards > Auctions, ZShops, And Marketplace > Seller Announcements
Make a bookmark at "Auctions, ZShops, And Marketplace" and you can check both announcements and the Seller Connection board.
Good luck!
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canvid13
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posted on January 29, 2001 05:37:37 PM new
Thanks Val,
I did a search and found it earlier. Very strange looking and working message board. Definately not built for simplicity.
Jamie
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borgt
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posted on January 29, 2001 07:30:20 PM new
"Some Amazon Marketplace listings are currently not appearing on our retail site. These listings still appear in zShops, and in sellers' storefronts. Our technical team is taking immediate action on this issue. Another announcement will be posted to this location as we work toward resolution of this issue."
In this case I don't think that 'No News is Good News'
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anais
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posted on January 29, 2001 08:30:51 PM new
Borgt, Talked with them again a couple of hours ago and the rep said that they are having trouble indexing. Sounds to me like we may have to relist. But.....I may be over reacting! At this point, I'm tired!!!! Maybe we will wake up tomorrow and it will be okay.
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robertburkejr
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posted on January 29, 2001 08:34:00 PM new
Amazon first raises their auction fees sky high, then the promenent auction link to my listings disappeared from new item pages. My business instantly lost 80%.
SO I delisted my auctions and listed them in Amazon's new Amazon market place which now takes 15% on top of the fees I already pay. My Items started to sell again. Now the links to marketplace items have been removed from new item pages. Today I sold just one Item! (I have over 2000 listings)
I really hope this is just a "technical issue" as stated on this board. If not I am done with Amazon. They roll out new site design without notice then pull functionality after they get us to post our stuff.
It's not right! Do you think they will give us any fee breaks due to the fact that their Quality Assurance is obviously sub-standard?
To top it all off their message boards are down! I wonder if their were to many complaints for their liking?
I am really getting frustrated. PLEASE AMAZON, just make it easy for customers to find our products, and stop changing things!
A lot of us work hard on this and depend on the income!
Frustrated,
Robert
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anais
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posted on January 29, 2001 08:48:10 PM new
It's too late for me to recount my horror stories but I hear you Robert! The problems just go on and on. I have talked to Customer Support three times today and its pathetic. One customer rep didn't know what marketplace was but insisted that he could help me with my problem. I was livid by the time I got off the phone!
I'm frustrated also,
Anais
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robertburkejr
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posted on January 29, 2001 08:52:22 PM new
What is the cutomer support number. I am a pro-merchant subscriber. If your don't want to post it email me it to [email protected]
I am in Quality Assurance. I would be hanged if a feature just stopped working in production. I don't understand it.
Robert
http://www.theworstoftheworst.com
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