posted on February 9, 2006 03:54:01 PM
Hi, all. Finally had an Amazon book buyer complain - "where's my book, etc. etc." Below is my message to Amazon and the balderdash response I got from them. (I know this is an eBay issue too.)
1. "I have a buyer in Hilo, Hawaii, who's upset because a
book I shipped via media mail on January 11th hasn't arrived yet. I
will answer his e-mail in a few minutes (basically, shipping media
mail to Hawaii is slow boat to China, can take 6 weeks.
>>
>> BUT MY QUESTION TO YOU FOLKS IS, do you warn buyers in Hawaii that
media mail is slow? I've never seen a method whereby I could warn a
buyer in advance in case he wants to use another shipping method.
It's a real problem, and a friend of mine had this same thing happen
to her yesterday, with a buyer in Hawaii. Thanks."
2. "Dear Adele
Greetings from Amazon.com.
Shipments to Hawaii are considered domestic shipments. As such, the
order should arrive within the estimated delivery time for domestic
shipments, which is 4 to 14 business days after shipping, sometimes
as long as 21 business days.
You may ship your items using any method you would like, so long as
the method you have chosen will fulfill the order within the
timeframes for the method the buyer chose. For reference, these
estimates are also available in our Help pages for buyers:
posted on February 9, 2006 08:10:59 PM
If you value your feedback, ALWAYS upgrade anything going to Alaska or Hawaii to Priority Mail.
If you lose a couple of dollars on the sale, it's still worth the upgrade just to save trouble. There aren't THAT many Hawaii and Alaska buyers that it becomes a problem.
Dr. Arcane, revelator of mystical secrets http://www.drarcane.com
Got questions about the secrets of the universe?
posted on February 9, 2006 09:04:33 PM
Thanks for the phone numbers.
And, Dr. A, you're probably right about upgrading anyway. It just fries my grits to give a buyer something that hasn't been paid for. But you're right, there aren't that many buyers in Hawaii--at least not for me. I've never had a complaint about shipping to Alaska, but haven't had many of those, either.
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posted on February 9, 2006 09:38:56 PM
Speaking of eating fees when sending out books, does anyone know if/when Amazon plans on boosting the shipping fee that they pass along to sellers when a book is sold? They have been passing $2.26 to the seller for each book sold ($5.05 for Priority Mail), but now that the postage has obviously gone up as of Jan. 8, I was hoping that Amazon would be increasing the fee to help with the added shipping cost.
posted on February 10, 2006 10:30:18 AM
kshoops: As I recall, the shipping allowance is now over $3.00 - something like $3.14 or $3.41.
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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but $3.49 is the amount that Amazon charges the Buyers, but they only give $2.26 to the Sellers. They pocket the $1.23 difference. Plus they take the 15%. Plus they take either 99 cents per book for non-merchant members or $39.95 per month for merchant members.
Amazon's got the best racket going. Bottom line is this: It used to be that every time you sent out a book weighing over 3 pounds, you are taking a loss on shipping. The $2.26 that Amazon was giving you covered your expenses as long as your book and envelope didn't weigh over 3 pounds.
NOW, however, since the shipping charges for Media Mail went up down at the Post Office, sellers are losing money on shipping for even books that weigh less than 3 pounds. It's utterly ridiculous that Amazon hasn't raised their shipping allowances yet.
Obviously, they are pulling the wool over a lot of peoples' eyes because they make it look like they are giving sellers $3.49 per book. They are NOT. They're only giving you $2.26 and pocketing the rest.
posted on February 10, 2006 02:57:33 PM
Amazon email from a recently sold book... Looks like I got 3.49 for shipping....
----------------------------
Buyer e-mail:xxxxx
Time of sale: 04-Feb-2006 04:26:09
Shipping speed: standard
(Please note Media Mail should only be used for standard shipping on Books, Music, Videos, DVDs, Computer Games, Video Games, and Computer Software.)
Amazon commission: ($2.93)
Additional shipping credit: $3.49
--------- Your earnings (in your Payments account): xxx
-------------------------
Bottom line...after Amazon takes their cut are you happy with the amount you got for the book? If I can sell it for more on Ebay it goes on Ebay...if I can get more for it on Amazon it goes on Amazon.
I probably sell between 25 -50 books a month on Amazon. It's a nice alternative to eBay.
