Amazon Seeks Brand New Products from Sellers

by: b86fiero

Amazon wants to be THE source for everything ~ and is well on it's way to accomplishing that goal.

Good enticement to get all of the up-to-the-minute-must-have merchandise on the site.

What's eBay doing to attract the same?

by: maxmad

Sure thing Amazon I will get right on it,

And I am sure after 6 months when Amazon collects all the data of what sells and what doesn't they will have a nice full data base to use to stock and sell the items themselves.

by: Number 6

eBay's busy purging 'stagnant listings'...

"Courtesy notification about yours stagnant listings

Hello [name withheld]

This is a notification to let you know that this Thursday ebay will be ending any listings you may have listed that have not had a sale in 2 years. This is to remove stagnant inventory from ebay  and to encourage sellers to make changes or adjustments to their stagnant listings to make their listings competitive or relevant, and to help increase your sales on items that are not currently selling."

Unfortunately, most items for sale on eBay are 'stagnant listings' because eBay hides them in search, they haven't any customers wiling to shop on the site anyway, plus every seller not making a loss is having to price his/her goods higher than anywhere else due to ebay's greedy fees, 'free shipping' and 'free returns'.

eBay's pricing itself off the internet by skimming more and more from sellers, so it probably doesn't matter what it does now - it hates its sellers, has very few customers, and continues to think it can take even more from the sellers it still has.

by: RL15

amazon continues to kick greedbays ass and they do not copy other sites to do it.

coming soon to fleecebay..."Brand New Products"

by: pace306

While Amazon is wrong about 1000 things - the 1 thing its right about is - if you want to succeed in ecommerce - you MUST move boxes.

Its not hard, its not complicated. The more varied your inventory (like eBay in the old days where you could find almost anything) and the more people you show it to, the more sales you will make.

Meg said it - even a monkey can drive this train ... and she was right.

BUT, Monkeys are smarter then Wenigs so .....

Amazon also isnt stupid. In alot of cases, they make more on the fees from the 3p sellers then they would make if they sold the item - so its a smart move to make.

Getting back to eBay, theres nothing wrong with wanting to ADD new products etc via UPCs or what have you - but REPLACING (your older goods) is just stupid - and thats whats happening NOW.

Selling vintage clothing isnt the same as selling NEW clothing, and the same thing with electronics and many other things.

Put back the 14 day returns, stop going to war with your sellers, fix Seller DUD and MAYBE things will get better ....... or it will be a stormy day the day 3Q profits are announced.

by: sasikat9

Well folks I would guess the Ivory Tower in San Jose is abuzz with an idea. Fleabag will announce the same thing in about 3 days, thats after they get all the fine print in order. Fleabag has never had an original idea in years. Their arrogance is laughable.

by: Jerad

Seems like AMZ is more worried about domination that profit. Apple puts them to shame in profit. But Amazon still always has capital to work with. Their stocks are gaining on 2K even though they are down 18 billion. Amazon sometimes confuses me. Why would anyone want to buy up a theater chain? Like I said they only think I can figure is to try and dominate the market on everything. But I think that is not a realistic goal in the long run.

by: Number 6

Jerad
"Amazon sometimes confuses me. Why would anyone want to buy up a theater chain?"

Amazon makes movies now, and has streaming of them online.

I suspect Amazon might be looking ahead to playing its own movies in theatres if they become a big player in the game - hard to imagine them taking on Hollywood, but stranger things have happened.

by: Carol Is Here

They lie, people, they lie.

They will get you to send things in, tell you it is free, and like they did before, suddenly start charging you. It is serfdom.

The money they make will be in charging gullible people to warehouse things. (except the Chinese, who will get special deals lol)

As bad as Ebay is, Amazon is the real problem for small and medium American sellers.

Wall Street wants their retail monopoly, total control, and that means destroying small/medium US business.

They tell lies and I am worried that people will figure out too late that a retail monopoly like this is a bad thing.

Amazon has NEVER made money on retail. They make their money from selling AWS, Amazon web services, the cloud.


They have no special ability. They are promoted by Wall Street who tells you in media it owns that they are wonderful so you will swallow a monopoly and let them get away with it.

by: Carol Is Here

"hard to imagine them taking on Hollywood, but stranger things have happened."

It won't be taking on.

Colluding, more like it, because traditional Hollywood is in trouble and they want to maintain control.

They don't want to share lol.

by: Carol Is Here

"And I am sure after 6 months when Amazon collects all the data of what sells and what doesn't they will have a nice full data base to use to stock and sell the items themselves."

Exactly.

While they charge rent on the items that gullible people continue to ship in that Amazon makes invisible.


FEUDALISM has risen again, but in the U.S.

by: Carol Is Here

"But Amazon still always has capital to work with. Their stocks are gaining on 2K even though they are down 18 billion. "


Amazon has NEVER made money on retail.

They make money on AWS, Amazon web services, the cloud.

They use that to finance creating a retail monopoly.

Monopolists are hard at work and it takes time, but when they  get it done (with the help of gullible people swallowing the media promotion and helping them do it) then everyone is in real trouble, small/medium sellers and buyers alike.

It will be a dictatorship.

by: Troy Stiffler

After their July 1st changes, I believe press release is misleading.

Amazon trays low traffic listings the way eBay does. They will restrict your FBA account if you have too many products that takes longer than six weeks to sell out. Do NOT trust their welcoming tone.

Amazon is not your friend in ecommerce. I know you guys hate eBay. But amazon is not the answer. Amazon works the same way. They suspend accounts based on a few customer complaints. And they do not want your long tail inventory. They are both predators.  

by: RKTOYS

That was my take on it too.  Amazon is absolutely awful to work with.  The fees are even higher than eBay and they are constantly trying to lure you into FBA where they can screw you even harder.  When Amazon helps a customer to steal from you even with proof of delivery, you can't even vent on the forums because it's all one giant Stockholm syndrome convention over there.  They're monsters and I avoid them unless they're having a fire sale.

by: donald

I'm with Carol,

Amass-on is a Monopoly in the making. And at our expense!

by: Chicago48

The ONLY way it can be "new" "created new" is if it's Handmade, and they already have a category for that.  Sometimes these website execs make me * crazy * with their ideas.

by: Chicago48

@Carol, also remember -- AMZ is good at stealing and replicating goods that they sell competitively.  Think about AMZ basics label, or the batteries.  If you come up with a "new" product, AMZ will steal the design and sell it themselves.  No way.
I also believe AMZ is having problems stockpiling its warehouses.  Notice they are not building new WAREHOUSES?  I give it about 2 more years and we'll see them closing WAREHOUSES down.

by: Troy Stiffler

Amazon is building many new warehouses. We have one opening in Tucson. And I believe that Bakersfield just opened. I've also been to a smaller "hub" that's being built in Phoenix (in addition to their several warehouses in West Phoenix).

I don't have a big problem with buying on Amazon. I order from them and am generally happy. My problem lies with their interaction with third party sellers. They're predators, and should not be trusted. If you have a product, stock and sell it yourself. Market your website.

Do not base your business plan on Amazon, or it will backfire. Treat them as a secondary channel. Use FBA with utmost prudence (including watching for lost products that you never get reimbursed for ... it happens A LOT). Budget for Amazon's poor packaging, lost merchandise, and "window shopper" buyers. FBA is not a good solution for most sellers.

You also have a budget for the eventual account sabotage (bad feedback, false authenticity complaints, etc.) that comes to pretty much every account.

Also remember that, if you have a popular private-label SKU, it's only a matter of time before Amazon Basics offers the same product.

Be very cautious, and do not trust them.

I won't go into too much detail. But Amazon cost me around $10k out of pocket and two months of labor (which is A LOT to me) after their July 1st FBA changes. My whole business outlook was changed. All stemming from an executive decision. It's the exact same way that eBay does it ... out of touch executives make decisions that prey on the livelihoods of small businesses. Ebay and Amazon are the same type of company, with the same type of management. Do not trust them.

by: val2525

@Number 6, I don't know what category you sell in, but stagnant listings in the clothing categories are mostly from sellers who slap up listings on GTC and then leave them forever because the listings are free with their store subscription. I agree with eBay's move to toss the old dreck and get fresh inventory in clothing. When it's brought up to sellers that they should consider tossing the old stuff, they all use the same excuses. "There are new buyers on the site every day and they don't know my stuff has been listed forever." Or "well, it's not costing me anything so I'm leaving it up". Another good one is "I'm willing to let my old stuff sit so it can be found by just the right buyer." That last one might work for vintage or a wedding dress, but not for the average clothing item on eBay. Buyers DO notice the stale listings and it drives them away.

by: SANT1N1

Even if Amazon doesn't create their own ''Amazon Basics'' brand of whatever new products are selling well, I'm sure their Chinese ''partners'' will be more than up to the task, lol.

For years we've heard the ''Amazon doesn't want to be in the storage business, they want to move product'' lectures, but with all the fee increases they soon will be, like it or not, in the warehouse biz. They seem unable to grow/restrict their way out of the dilemma of diminishing storage space with all the willing fba'ers out there. Let's see how high they can jack the fees till the flood subsides.