Zoverstocks

squack

Crikey, poems now ... well, best of luck, He who dares wins, Rodney, and all that ...

As an Amazon/Play trader, if you can provide a faster delivery service than zoverstocks

keep an impeccable feedback rating

specialise in the harder to find items (zoverstocks don't necessarily have a copy of every item available)

be more descriptive and honest in your listings than they can be for each individual item

and above all buy your stock at the right price!

consider whether it's worth selling anything for less than £4 or £5 (even if the item cost you next to nothing, would you make anything after fees/postage?)

Also don't get into a price war with them, you will never win.

Price your item fairly, and when theirs sells for silly money the next buyer will most likely buy yours.

There are other business traders on there apart from Zoverstocks,and margins are very tight.

Prices of many titles have fallen dramatically over the past couple of years plus you have the personal sellers just having a clearout of their unwanted items.

rstubbs1

How do they make money selling CDs for 1p on Amazon? After deducting Amazons fees, they can't make enough to cover the postage. Especially if they're buying them through Music Magpie in the first place, who seem to offer a minimum of 30p per CD to sellers.

I reckon I can't make any money selling my own CD's for less than £1.00 on Amazon. If a CD is worth less than that, I sell it to Music Magpie and they seem happy to pay 30p for it.

squack

the 1p cd's (and dvds) on amazon come about through their computer pricing system undercutting everyone else until they hit the minimum 1p price. Obviously they make no profit on these ones but in the interests of dominating the market they can afford to take the hit. The majority of the items they sell go from about £3 upwards, as for the fees they pay to amazon, as the major player in the second hand cd and dvd market I would be very surprised if they haven't negotiated a lower fee per item than the average personal type of seller (anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this point please)

ergonomically_unsound

I now add the following to all my listings:-

"****Pro Sellers are killing Playtrade by using computer generated software to undercut small sellers! Free £1 coin with game making it cheaper than the Pro Traders above. … .↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ Game will be posted First Class Royal Mail same or next day. Mon-Fri"



Better sending a £1 coin than not getting a sale at all!

squack

ergonomically_unsound wrote: »

I now add the following to all my listings:-

"****Pro Sellers are killing Playtrade by using computer generated software to undercut small sellers! Free £1 coin with game making it cheaper than the Pro Traders above. … .↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ Game will be posted First Class Royal Mail same or next day. Mon-Fri"



Better sending a £1 coin than not getting a sale at all!

nice one, why not a 20p coin or even a 5p coin though, you will still make a sale (and more money) by just being a few pence lower (that's why zoverstocks and their ilk always price 1p lower). also if the item gets lost in the post or the seller decides to return it then you haven't wasted a whole quid coin. As long as you are near the top of the first page on the listings so potential buyers can spot your "FREE COIN" in the text about your item, then you will get the sale.

chance1000000

Zoverstocks seriously need to be checked out by trading standards because did you know that they are selling the identical item on amazon and play.com?? so for example they maybe only own 1 item when they list that same item on both sites, try buying them both, you will find most of the time zoverstocks will either refund 1 or delay 1 in the hope that the other gets sent...How is this correct exactly??? also if they are a big business etc why on earth are they totally wrecking the online market on other peoples sites, lets change play.com to zoverstocks.com and amazon.co.uk to zoverstocks.co.uk..I mean ok these 2 sites wont do anything due to money that they are making but all the other sellers are going to go elsewhere to sell and there will be no new sellers as this will put them right off....so these 2 sites in reality are losing money in that way. The childish undcutting program needs to be stopped as everysite will be more competitive. I lowered and purchased about 100 games from him and the nintendo ds games were ok, ps3 games ok but the rest of his items are not upto scratch..I have already reported him to trading standards and as I have the evidence and they said they will put it with the rest of the complaints as I was told from them that there are plenty of them..

they do not communicate well either and he would probably benifit more by selling on his own website instead of taking of others...why on earth some of you are backing him is beyond me. Im not fussed about being competitive by people undercutting by 1p and vica-versa but these childish programmes needs to be stopped, if not then all you people will never be able to sell on play or amazon, I think everyone needs to pay a subscription fee when he is getting extra when everyone must be treated the same...and many people really need to open their eyes a bit more...he is ridiculous

squack

yes we seem to have sleep walked into a situation where zoverstocks have become the major player in the market, as many have realised though, the price cutting software which makes their business dominate the market, is also their achilles heel

chance1000000

Yep I agree about the software...what is the only way of solving this is all sellers get one of these softwares (contact amazon or play for help if needed) meaning that everyone will be undercutting eachother, zoverstocks wont stand a chance and will go elsewhere and play and amazon will notice the mess there site is in and will ban the use or they can accept that there site as been taken over by honest sellers and turned the sites into online pound shops, this idea is extreme but what else is there if play and amazon are not listening to complaints. Could you imagine if every seller did this and got the programme aswell. But this is the problem there are not enough sellers willing to do this hence why he is still on.

Trading standards have said that I can report him on a few things and depending on circumstances and what has been agreed between sites and zoverstocks that the sites can be done for not treating people equilly as sellers all pay £20 for the same service.

You can get zoverstocks on: selling items not to hand over multiple sites with wrong quantity (you can only sell new pre-orders that are not to hand)

also cutomer service is poor, trading standards allow 3-4 days but is give or take for this due to commitments but constant poor communication will be looked into.

He lists everything the same "very good" condition when quite a lot as obviously not been checked properly before listing so on a lot of his items are in "not as described" condition meaning he is misleading customers.

I rang play.com a few times and will not listen to others but have said that they will listen if trading standards or simular are interested so maybe play.com have something to hide, i dont know, His idea has sprung a few ideas of my own, I live in lancashire and was going to advertise the same thing exept only local accepting games and will trade in slightly higher than zoverstocks which means I could then sell for silly prices and beat him, although I will be annoying more honest sellers what else is there to beat his system, also he will lose business in lancashire. I feel sorry for the full time sellers who depend on sales, I work full time and I am a part-time seller but I would be knackered if I was relying on online sales only. If anyone is going to take to trading standards or are willing to help eachother then I can help if I can, im not an expert, just looked into zoverstocks and got info by testing his customer service and got items etc. Remember we might be peeved off with the situation but its not zoverstocks we want kicked off, just the automated programme thing to be banned and let zoverstocks compete like the rest of us and he has a right to sell like everyone else just not having any special treatment and the use of these programmes

squack

yes the problem is that when you carry 30,000 or 40,000 different titles like zoverstocks there is no way you could be checking the going rate for individual items, they would need a team of 10 people on computers 24/7 going through all their listings.

if they altered their software to MATCH the lowest price rather than always going 1p cheaper then they would still be competitive but would lose a percentage of sales because people would buy from a 100% feedback trader who is the same price and maybe can deliver the item a few days faster; thus their business model would no longer work.

it has become a cut throat do eat dog market on amazon marketplace and play trade due to the aggressive slashing of prices, ultimately the consumer may lose out due to lack of choice.

fair play to them, zoverstocks/music magpie are a business not a charity and have no responsibilty to smaller traders, the pricing system is automated but I can understand that it feels like a personal attack when your price is constantly undercut by a penny

chance1000000

squack wrote: »

if they altered their software to MATCH the lowest price rather than always going 1p cheaper then they would still be competitive but would lose a percentage of sales because people would buy from a 100% feedback trader who is the same price and maybe can deliver the item a few days faster; thus their business model would no longer work.

So basically they haven't got the confidence in themselves that they are a good business then and this must proove the desperation to sell if this programme is needed. Like I say if ALL sellers had this programme then what do you think will happen to the sites and how long do you think it would take before the sites start looking into it and how long will zoverstocks take to think that his sales are down big time...what I am trying to say is yeah he has got a good programme but what is stopping all sellers having the same where will he be then?? its both sites that we must complain to in having the same, if they refuse by saying its not allowed then say why has zoverstocks has one and explain that you pay a subscription therefore trading standards will be in touch....I am also trying to say that there is options there that we can do to sort it out but it needs ALL sellers to get together...If he was that big why is the need to take over someone elses site, why not do your own?? he hasnt got half the stock he has listed.. If I had that much stock I would be paying too much on fees etc and having my own selling website would benefit me more...he is not a good business, I beat his system once and play.com kicked me off saying I wasnt allowed to drop then if his sold at the low price then raise my price back...there is more info I could give/help if someone wants to complain and I am not the only seller that has looked into it