MSE News: Amazon sellers can now cut prices elsewhere

ballisticbrian

I'm not saying it is the putting of the slip in that is the issue. It's the fact that it points to where the item can be purchased cheaper.

RFW

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

Competition law looks at companies with a dominant market position, having just two major players doesn't mean there isn't an issue with regards to how those companies play the game.

Going off from the OP again. The competitive (or not) nature of Amazon and Ebay is unlikely to be looked at. A simple question would be on scale, presumably Ebay (as does any business) charge what they think they can get away with. If they put their prices up too high they will stop having customers, £10 listing fees and a 50% final value fee would lose them pretty much all sellers, although some bricks and mortar auctions can end up charging more than that.

People may not be happy with charges by Ebay or Amazon but they are both competitive, as soon as they stop being they'll stop being successful.

As for the OP it could eventually stop Amazon being the first place to call for books and CDs. I know a chap who has published a couple of books that sell well on Amazon but he'd prefer people bought from his website. He can now give an incentive to do that without risking his books being removed from Amazon.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

RFW wrote: »

Going off from the OP again. The competitive (or not) nature of Amazon and Ebay is unlikely to be looked at. A simple question would be on scale, presumably Ebay (as does any business) charge what they think they can get away with. If they put their prices up too high they will stop having customers, £10 listing fees and a 50% final value fee would lose them pretty much all sellers, although some bricks and mortar auctions can end up charging more than that.

People may not be happy with charges by Ebay or Amazon but they are both competitive, as soon as they stop being they'll stop being successful.

As for the OP it could eventually stop Amazon being the first place to call for books and CDs. I know a chap who has published a couple of books that sell well on Amazon but he'd prefer people bought from his website. He can now give an incentive to do that without risking his books being removed from Amazon.

I don't disagree that the price is competitive, it's the service that is the issue, take the OP, would a company fighting for custom consider such a policy in the first instant? Or does the ability to try and impose something which the OFT viewed as possibly anti-competitive (and Amazon dropped without argument at the mention of an investigation) not highlight they feel they have a dominate postion which allows them to act in any manner they see fit?

Same for eBay, god awful service (I'm not moaning about sales here, it's the functionality of their site which I have issue with) and no accountability to their customers at all.

RFW

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

I don't disagree that the price is competitive, it's the service that is the issue, take the OP, would a company fighting for custom consider such a policy in the first instant? Or does the ability to try and impose something which the OFT viewed as possibly anti-competitive (and Amazon dropped without argument at the mention of an investigation) not highlight they feel they have a dominate postion which allows them to act in any manner they see fit?

Same for eBay, god awful service (I'm not moaning about sales here, it's the functionality of their site which I have issue with) and no accountability to their customers at all.

I don't disagree with that either (bring back Road-hog for a pointless argument;)). In business terms Ebay and Amazon are still both quite new and evolving companies, albeit massive ones. They seem to occasionally be pushing the limits of what they can get away with. No doubt they are both in dominant market positions but they don't do much to force out competition. If anything Ebay have done their best in recent years to push many buyers to selling elsewhere with their price increases and woeful customer service.

marie-20

With regards to the advertising mail.

We recently (a few months ago) received a policy violation stating that we had sent advertising mail in our orders which we didn't - all we sent was a Thank You card which we have now stopped sending as it's not worth the risk. The fact that I believe it was a competitor that complained is irrelevant.

It transpires that if someone complains to Amazon about receiving mail with their orders they will either send a policy violation through automatically depending upon the criteria or they will order something from you themselves to an address in Milton Keynes and then give you a violation.

Too many violations and you're out.

soolin

marie-20 wrote: »

With regards to the advertising mail.

We recently (a few months ago) received a policy violation stating that we had sent advertising mail in our orders which we didn't - all we sent was a Thank You card which we have now stopped sending as it's not worth the risk. The fact that I believe it was a competitor that complained is irrelevant.

It transpires that if someone complains to Amazon about receiving mail with their orders they will either send a policy violation through automatically depending upon the criteria or they will order something from you themselves to an address in Milton Keynes and then give you a violation.

Too many violations and you're out.

Goodness, I sometimes think Amazon are much harsher with sellers than ebay. It seems so easy to pick up a warning even if the rules are not apparently being broken.

marie-20

soolin wrote: »

Goodness, I sometimes think Amazon are much harsher with sellers than ebay. It seems so easy to pick up a warning even if the rules are not apparently being broken.

Indeed but Amazon is a better site for both buyers and sellers.

I would take Amazon's stringent rules any day over eBay's lack of concern for the scammer buyers - at least on Amazon, as a seller, you are aware that too many refunds and the buyer will be banned which works as our INR's on Amazon are significantly lower than eBay even though Amazon vs eBay sales are around 75/15 of our turnover.

415SanFran

As a buyer and seller on Amazon, I think Amazon can justify the prices a lot better, purely the fact that sellers have to get the stuff in the post in a reasonable time, rather than when a seller gets around to it. One person cannot distroy your clean record and if stars go down it tends not to be for too long till you can recoup.
I am a little concerned as I have been marked down for not repling to two emails, but neither one actually needs a reply.

sequence

415SanFran wrote: »

As a buyer and seller on Amazon, I think Amazon can justify the prices a lot better, purely the fact that sellers have to get the stuff in the post in a reasonable time, rather than when a seller gets around to it. One person cannot distroy your clean record and if stars go down it tends not to be for too long till you can recoup.
I am a little concerned as I have been marked down for not repling to two emails, but neither one actually needs a reply.

In future, go to the emails and mark them as no reply needed. Saves you losing points!

mrcol1000

I find Amazon make it much harder to trade internationally. Whenever I sell anything the international postal credit is normally 10p higher than the domestic one.

Also to answer someone's point above Ebay do not have a monopoly. Apart from Amazon there is also Ebid. I must admit never using it to sell but used it to buy and it is no different.