Amazon 3rd party seller

niggle · 28-08-07

We have been approached by Amazon to join as a third party seller. This means that when someone searches for a particular product, results are listed in price order, if you are in the top (lowest price) three then you have a chance of winning the result.

I am assuming this is a good thing as the arrangement will drive traffic to the site but has anyone got any comments/experiences they would be willing to share with me?

My worries are that when you have established a particular 'winner' Amazon can go in and buy stock of it and sell it cheaper than you, (they don't have to pay the 15% o themselves)

Regards
Nigel

GettingPersonal · 28-08-07

The transaction is carried out solely on the Amazon site so you wont get a huge amount of extra traffic.

It is a great way for Amazon to find out the most saleable products to put on their site, if you bear in mind that they would ultimately like to be the only etailer on the web this is a great way to research their inventory.

If there are quite a few sellers in your sector you will also find that the maintenace of the products is quite labour intensive as the order of the merchants on the page is dictated by the price offered. The cheaper the price the higher you get on the page, this leads to regular price cuts of 1p which can be a bit tedious.

If you have a niche product that no one else sells or can sell then its a great way to get in front of a big audience. If you're selling an easily sourceable commodity then eventually, I believ, you'll get shafted - either by Amazon or another retailer with deeper pockets.

niggle · 28-08-07

Thanks Peter,

Feels like a bit of a catch 22 situation for us, I assume they wont approach every retailer selling shoes but who knows? I sort of feel the same way but feel if we don't we will miss out. They set up a store front for you and you can send flyers but not emails to all customers you send out to.

I am really stuck trying to weigh up the pros and cons :O/ also they want a three year contract!

Cheers

Nigel

GettingPersonal · 28-08-07

Things have changed a bit since I was involved in it then! That really is a big commitment and one which would definitely sway my hand as to whether or not to get involved. I think you've got to ask yourself the question - why don't they just go ahead and do it themselves?