posted on July 21, 2001 04:10:45 AM new
You people are awesome! I wish you would stay on this board even when the Amazon board gets back online!
I am trying to get the answer to this question, but no reply from Amazon yet: I want to get the merchant account, but do I have to go in an individually cancel each of my current listings? Or is there a way to do it in one step? I do not have them listed in a spreadsheet to upload to a bulk loader. Someone had that idea on the ebay board.
posted on July 21, 2001 06:10:14 AM new
since your marketplace setting is like zshop,amzn must have a way to close the shop so you can reload.
or just have amzn keeps your listing but have them auto relist once you have a merchant account?
i think they should consider programming this feature as more folks want to convert to have the auto-relisting feature and save on 99 cents transaction fee if they sell over 40 books a month.
my question is if you have a merchant account for the books on marketplace,can you start adding non marketplace items in your zshop like collectibles etc
posted on July 21, 2001 07:17:00 AM new
Kezaik I was with amazon (and had the z-shop) before marketplace was created. When I changed to the pro-merchant status I don't rememeber taking anything down and starting over. Although I'm not really a book seller I probably have less than 10 running all the time. So maybe my small status I'm just not remembering correctly.
My guess would be that you would have to do some editing upon conversion as the quality of book, isbn etc? Geez the more I write maybe it would be easier to take it all down?
OK question I can answer : YES if you have the pro-merchant account you can do z-shops with what ever you want. collectibles, books that arn't marketplace accepted, beenies, clothing etc etc....
Angela
[ edited by Pandoras_Trinkets on Jul 21, 2001 07:24 AM ]
posted on July 21, 2001 08:05:24 AM new
To clarify: Amazon says specifically in the "Pro Merchant" information that any existing Marketplace listings must be cancelled then listed again. Once you have the Merchant account, it looks different when you list, for example it asks you where to place the z-shops listing in their subject categories.
The unclear part is, what if you have a bunch of listings, can you just delete 'em all and start fresh, or have to close each one separately?
I had time this morning and got fed up with no reply to my email to Amazon, so I started doing it "by hand". AT least now my best books are on the Merchant account, the ones most likely to sell, so I won't have the 99 cent fee on those. I've done maybe 30-40 out of 100 so can plug along to get the rest done this weekend. [I know, what a pathetic inventory! That's because I sell most stuff on ebay]
Now I just need to figure out what happens if someone buys my book as a "z-shop" item. Does Amazon send me email telling me to contact the buyer? Or does the buyer just pay Amazon via Amazon Payments, like in Marketplace?
posted on July 21, 2001 08:27:58 AM new
The simplest route is once you've got the Pro Merchant account set up, download their blank "bulk loader" template. If you want to actually use the template for your books, then great, just do it.
But even if you don't want to use their bulk loader for your real books, you can upload the BLANK template to them using the "PURGE AND REPLACE" feature of the bulk loader. Once all your old listings are PURGED and the REPLACED with the BLANK template your stuff will be gone.
posted on July 21, 2001 09:35:35 AM new
Keziak - "Now I just need to figure out what happens if someone buys my book as a "z-shop" item. Does Amazon send me email telling me to contact the buyer? Or does the buyer just pay Amazon via Amazon Payments, like in Marketplace? "
You'll get an e-mail similar to what you get for your marketplace sales. The only important difference is that with Z-shops, you set the shipping rate, whereas with Marketplace you get the $2.23 allowance.
Generally speaking, unless you are using auctions, there is no NEED to contact any Amazon buyer- they all use Amazon 1-click payments. But at least unlike Half.com you do have the option! I usually do send a "Your item has shipped" form letter.
posted on July 21, 2001 11:47:58 AM new
Yes, you do need to relist all your items. While I was switching over, I often had things sell that hadn't been closed and relisted yet. Agggh! There went 99 cents! It was good incentive to get them switched over, though.
I don't use the bulk loader for anything at all. I've heard many too many stories from fellow sellers who have trouble with it. I like listing things one by one, yes it takes a LOT longer, but I can see -exactly- what's going to be listed, and often catch my own mistakes that way. I've been doing this since about April 1st and now have 2110 listings.
I'm pretty careful about where I sort my things. Some people don't take the time to find the right 'niche' in the zshop listing menu they give you. I want to be considerate of my fellow zshop merchants who use those listings paths responsibly to help buyers find things in zshops, and I also find it helpful when I'm trying to remember where I filed a book. I can look at which category I listed it in originally, and that often gives me the nudge to go find it.
posted on July 21, 2001 02:42:28 PM new
All of your existing Z-Shop listings will have to be deleted and then relisted as a Marketplace listing. The Marketplace form has a box to be checked which then also lists the item as a Z-Shop item. So you get double exposure. There is no easy way to get around this, but if you don't delete your Z-Shop listings you will be billed for them.
The main advantage to Z-Shops only listings is that you have more room in the description field to describe your item. On Marketplace you are restricted to 70 characters. Also, the fees are a bit less, and even less again on Auctions. The main advantage of Marketplace is visibility...the books sell. So you end up taking the extra fees into consideration when pricing the item.
Selling books, music, videos, art on the internet...Thank you for your business! Marilyn
posted on July 21, 2001 07:11:04 PM new
The question has been answered, but YES, you have to cancel ads and relist. I list each ad - one by one also - and had to close a LOT of ads both when I signed up for Pro-Merchant and again when I signed on for 1-click (100s of ads).
The easiest way to do this in my opinion is to open two different browser windows - I use Netscape browser(twice) it is friendlier to work with. I tried Internet Explorer & Netscape, but Internet Explorer did not work well cutting & pasting when I was backing up.
Cut from one screen (old z-shop or marketplace) - paste to the other (new marketplace or z-shop) - cancel the old z-shop/marketplace ad - back up and start over. Because you have opened NETSCAPE twice, you can back up without affecting the other ad.
I use 2 Netscape windows when I move items from one auction (Ebay/Yahoo/Amazon) to another. It is good to refresh stock items by moving them from one place to another. Amazing what will sell when it first appears on a different auction/z-shop/marketplace.
posted on July 22, 2001 09:27:51 AM new
watafind: yep, that's basically what I"ve been doing. I have a box left here, maybe 30 books. What a lot of work. 2 of them sold before I could change them over, oh well! I was very happy this morning when I got a bunch of notices from Amazon that some had just expired...one less step for me.
Someone made a comment about ease or lack there of in navigating Amazon. I find it very confusing, personally. I suppose it's like anything else in the world of computers: having lots of choices and options is great, but the complexity increases drastically.
Interesting, though. I sometimes search for certain specific topics to find books to buy for resale. I might find page after page of offerings, but the prices will all be too high for using that tactic. Same with half.com. Once in a while I luck out and find a bargain on Yahoo or even ebay itself. But so far the DESIRABLE books are still relatively high priced on the fixed-rate sites, which I imagine speaks to either seller savvy or the market [cheap copies are snapped up].
It was good incentive to get them switched over, though.