posted on September 17, 2006 12:50:38 PM new
we've recently converted tons of items over to Amazon Z STORES and having great luck on it....especially with cd's, vhs, and books...main reason we like it is NO LISTING FEE..and the money is there when someone hits the submit button.....NO STUPID PLAYING GAMES on non paying bidders and---- Paypal DBA Ebay ----getting another cut if the bidder actually decides to pay you.....but 1 question....How does Amazon make money on 1 cent cd's or videos ?....Sellers can't make it on shipping fees becauses Amazon sets those rates.......For that matter ..HOW DOES THE SELLER MAKE ANY MONEY ?
posted on September 17, 2006 03:21:50 PM new
theres no way the seller can make money on the fixed price : example VHS $2.89 shipping........it's $1.59 for media mail and if you factor even a padded bag to put it in ???........still makes no sense how any party makes anything at 1 penny.......
posted on September 17, 2006 04:59:47 PM new
Jay: I sell some books on Amazon. I'm not clear about Zshops. Is this different than just selling my book in their marketplace? I know that Amazon charges $1 PLUS 15% on the books I sell. Not sure how Zshops works.
posted on September 17, 2006 06:20:43 PM new
I believe they're the same thing......hope your book sales are doing well....but if you sold them for 1 cent----how would Amazon get 15% of that ?
posted on September 17, 2006 06:46:42 PM new
Zshop items can be made visible on Marketplace,but if it is sold on Marketplace ,you have to pay 15% commish and zero transaction fee (if you have a zshop).
If you dont have a zshop,then it is 15% commish and 99 cents transaction fee,which eats up most of that 2.89 shipping fee.
This discussion of why people sell books,VHS for so little has been discussed to death at AMZN chatroom-
say a person works in a print shop and pick up throw away copies for nothing,they will list it at 99 cents and ship with a regular envelope and make money on shipping.
Some buy books in large lots and pay storage fee,they have already made their money on some books and would like the others to 'disappear' so they can make room for new books as they dont want to pay extra for storage.
Some are just lonely people who crave emails from AMZN.
posted on September 17, 2006 07:53:42 PM new
I have 1,000s of items on AMAZON. The way to make money on Amazon. 1st, sign up for the PRO MERCHANT account ($40/mnth)...this waives the 99¢ transaction fee they charge for each item. Basically sell MUCH MORE then 40 items per month, this lowers your fee cost per item. (ex. 120 sold items/mnth..cost per item 33¢). Now as for the 01¢ items...I sell SEVERAL paperback romance novels, which were bought at roughly 2 or 3¢ a piece. This can be shipped at 1st class--NOT media--at a MUCH lower shipping rate(quicker delivery). The "key" to selling books is WEIGHT, HEAVY/THICK books will cost more to ship, sometimes more then the s/h fee Amazon charges. International is also a money maker (esp. Canada), Amazon charges MUCH more to the buyer for shipping(again, careful of weight). Another key factor for $$$, Pro Merchant accounts lets you list virtually anything with a UPC code...from baby bottle brushes to hose nozzles to water filters. PAYMENTS are quick, money transfers to your bank account can be done as much as you want, feedback is there, but no big concern as with eBay.
posted on September 18, 2006 05:32:44 PM new
At this point, I have about 75 listings on Amazon, not enough for me to want to pay the Pro-Merchant $40 a month - yet. But I've been pleasantly surprised that my sales just move along, maybe one every two days or so.
However, I like the idea of listing anything, not just books, with a UPC code.
[ edited by roadsmith on Sep 18, 2006 05:33 PM ]
posted on September 18, 2006 07:29:25 PM new
Thanks rhpepsi for your spin on it.......I too have the pro merchant account at Amazon and am very happy with selling results there.......we're slowly breaking away from Ebay more everyday.......you would have thought they would have taken better care of their sellers........it's now way too expensive for sellers who sell lower ticket items and way too complicated.....can you imagine trying to train someone thats never dealt with it before ?
