Amazon selling. Selling limits and potential scams.

Buster_Danog

I used to sell on ebay and am now considering selling my own items on Amazon which would be around four or six items per month. My concerns are firstly that as a new seller I may get scammed  / items not received cases and will not be able to argue my corner due to a lack of feedback.

I had about six attempted scams under the ebay / Paypal system but learned to deal with them by only sending to the buyer's Paypal address and putting warnings to scammers in my listings. However I am not familiar with Amazon and what kind of scams happen or how often they are attempted. Are there particular risks and does Amazon have a fair seller protection system?

Secondly I am told that Amazon has arbitrary selling limits for individual sellers. I don't mind Amazon requesting my ID at some point but that doesn't mean I would want to provide it. I am concerned they will do this while keeping money from my sold items. I have heard of similar things happening to ebay sellers where their accounts were frozen and their money was also held by ebay. Can anything similar happen with Amazon?

soolin

Buster_Danog said:

I used to sell on ebay and am now considering selling my own items on Amazon which would be around four or six items per month. My concerns are firstly that as a new seller I may get scammed  / items not received cases and will not be able to argue my corner due to a lack of feedback.

I had about six attempted scams under the ebay / Paypal system but learned to deal with them by only sending to the buyer's Paypal address and putting warnings to scammers in my listings. However I am not familiar with Amazon and what kind of scams happen or how often they are attempted. Are there particular risks and does Amazon have a fair seller protection system?

Secondly I am told that Amazon has arbitrary selling limits for individual sellers. I don't mind Amazon requesting my ID at some point but that doesn't mean I would want to provide it. I am concerned they will do this while keeping money from my sold items. I have heard of similar things happening to ebay sellers where their accounts were frozen and their money was also held by ebay. Can anything similar happen with Amazon?

Why are you getting so many scammers? I’ve sold thousands of things on eBay and have met only a small handful of out and out scammers . I am worried by your reference to the ‘scam warning’ in your listings, that usually marks out either a new user who doesn’t understand the basics (and therefore marks them a target) or (and I will choose my words as carefully as I can ) a seller best avoided. You also mention PayPal addresses , I thought we were all on ebay managed payments now so it is the eBay address that matters and all that is needed to win an INR is proof of delivery. POD is available for free on standard RM parcels but not on large letters. However I don’t bother with any POD on my LL and on the very rare occasions something is lost I just refund them and claim from RM.

As for Amazon I am not the best person to advise, you probably need @RFW for that as I know they are a large seller there. I sold on Amazon for many years but when they changed the ID requirements I gave up in frustration after about 3 months of my ID keep being declined as my Amazon user name was say ‘soolin’ and my bank was in my real name and they just kept insisting on photo ID that proved I was the same person. Even supplying tax paperwork showing a trading name was accepted then rejected and no one could tell me why as the automated messages just kept asking for more and more ID.

I did OK on Amazon, virtually all books though and just a few non book items, I was even un gated for toys which apparently made me quite unique for a very small seller. The fees are higher , so check what you sign up for as you can sign up for a paid account which reduces the individual fee per item, or have a free account which means you pay more per item if things sell. 

Amazon ‘gate’ certain categories until you get established but won’t tell you until you apply what you will be allowed to sell. 

As for scams, I sold considerably less on Amazon than I did on eBay so potential scammers were reduced proportionally. However the same rules apply, use the address Amazon give , make sure you have a return address clearly shown (exactly as you do with eBay) and keep your proof of posting slips and receipts for at least 180 days in case of fraud. 

soolin

Incidentally if your items are hand made/crafted then look into this scheme

https://sell.amazon.co.uk/pricing?ref_=sduk_soa_sell_pricing#selling-plans

Buster_Danog

soolin said:

Why are you getting so many scammers? I’ve sold thousands of things on eBay and have met only a small handful of out and out scammers . I am worried by your reference to the ‘scam warning’ in your listings...

As for scams, I sold considerably less on Amazon than I did on eBay so potential scammers were reduced proportionally. However the same rules apply, use the address Amazon give , make sure you have a return address clearly shown (exactly as you do with eBay) and keep your proof of posting slips and receipts for at least 180 days in case of fraud. 

Your story matches the ones I found on the Amazon seller forums after I posted the message here. Apparently a lot of people have submitted ID documents but have waited months without beng verified, and that is not uncommon. However, the username / real name thing seems to be a bit odd. Most people choose random usernames rather than their own names.

For the attempted scams on ebay I found these were worse in electronic categories. I sold plenty of my own clothes, and never got scammed on those items. At the moment I have a tablet, two mobile phones and an internet router to sell. Maybe these kind of items attract more scammers because they are worth a bit more. The warning I used to put in listings was an attempt to deter another potential scam I had heard of where a buyer would have a faulty item, then buy an identical working item from ebay and then send the faulty one back to the ebay seller for a refund. It never happened to me but I put a warning in some of my listings just in case.

I sold most of my ebay items when it was Paypal processing payments. The most common scam back then was being asked to send the item to an address other than the Paypal one.

 I am not sure when Amazon changed their rules on ID / usernames, but I did register about 18 months back, but never sold anything. I was never asked for ID at that time but I guess sales will be more likely to trigger the request.

soolin

Buster_Danog said:

soolin said:

Why are you getting so many scammers? I’ve sold thousands of things on eBay and have met only a small handful of out and out scammers . I am worried by your reference to the ‘scam warning’ in your listings...

As for scams, I sold considerably less on Amazon than I did on eBay so potential scammers were reduced proportionally. However the same rules apply, use the address Amazon give , make sure you have a return address clearly shown (exactly as you do with eBay) and keep your proof of posting slips and receipts for at least 180 days in case of fraud. 

Your story matches the ones I found on the Amazon seller forums after I posted the message here. Apparently a lot of people have submitted ID documents but have waited months without beng verified, and that is not uncommon. However, the username / real name thing seems to be a bit odd. Most people choose random usernames rather than their own names.

For the attempted scams on ebay I found these were worse in electronic categories. I sold plenty of my own clothes, and never got scammed on those items. At the moment I have a tablet, two mobile phones and an internet router to sell. Maybe these kind of items attract more scammers because they are worth a bit more. The warning I used to put in listings was an attempt to deter another potential scam I had heard of where a buyer would have a faulty item, then buy an identical working item from ebay and then send the faulty one back to the ebay seller for a refund. It never happened to me but I put a warning in some of my listings just in case.

I sold most of my ebay items when it was Paypal processing payments. The most common scam back then was being asked to send the item to an address other than the Paypal one.

 I am not sure when Amazon changed their rules on ID / usernames, but I did register about 18 months back, but never sold anything. I was never asked for ID at that time but I guess sales will be more likely to trigger the request.

I think you need a more recent Amazon seller than me to really help, but I sold on there successfully for years, all positive feedback no issues at all with late dispatch etc- and then suddenly when they changed to a more secure ID based selling site my ID just kept failing. My bank account that they had been sending payments to for years without issue was suddenly not able to be verified, yet my name, address , even my phone number was unchanged between signing up and the new rules. (by new rules I think it was probably about 2010 or 2011 )

My account is still technically open but I only use it for buying now and for my Prime membership and have had no ID issues at all as all they care about is whether I have a suitable card to register for paying for my orders!

RFW

As regards to what you're talking about Amazon isn't substantially different to Ebay.

I'm a pro seller so not 100% on rules for private sellers.
Amazon do tend to keep some funds in reserve, it varies but if you consider it to be 2 weeks that should be on the safe side.

I do know there have been delays on verification for new sellers, no idea if there is still a backlog, I've not seen anything recently.

They will want ID and they can hold funds if you don't provide it. So if you don't intend to provide them with ID then don't bother selling there.

Buster_Danog

RFW said:

As regards to what you're talking about Amazon isn't substantially different to Ebay.

I'm a pro seller so not 100% on rules for private sellers...

Just out of curiosity have you experienced any scams, and are there more returns than on ebay?

The only returns I had on ebay were for one or two faulty items, but I would imagine Amazon buyers see the 30 day period as a time to try out the item and send it back.

RFW

Buster_Danog said:

RFW said:

As regards to what you're talking about Amazon isn't substantially different to Ebay.

I'm a pro seller so not 100% on rules for private sellers...

Just out of curiosity have you experienced any scams, and are there more returns than on ebay?

The only returns I had on ebay were for one or two faulty items, but I would imagine Amazon buyers see the 30 day period as a time to try out the item and send it back.

No scams I can think of. I sell high volume, low value items, been doing it for more than ten years.

I do get returns but they're much less than 1%.

Incidentally, Amazon is a much bigger sales platform than Ebay and despite having a lot of similarities on the surface they are quite different entities. Amazon is possibly more fiddly to set up on than Ebay but it's ultimately more rewarding in most cases.

soolin

I’d also add that it can depend on what you sell. Are you selling home made craft style items , in which case my link earlier might be helpful, or new goods that you are buying to resell? 

I notice that you mentioned selling things like a mobile phone and router which I assume are used 2nd hand? If that is the case then you need to remember that you will be selling against a catalogue entry , you can’t just set up your own listing and sell your own unique item as you would on eBay as not everyone can add to a catalogue. 

It might be worth just starting the process to set up as a seller , it isn’t instant so if you start the process then you have time to decide whether to list anything later . 

forgotmyname

4 or 6 items per month, would it be worth the effort unless they are expensive items with a decent markup?

Warnings to scammers in the listing a sure fire way to attract people that know Ebay and Paypal better than you.

Most platforms will protect the buyer first and the seller who often a business second. As a business you
should factor in a percentage of loss no matter who is at fault.

ID seems to be hot on the agenda lately, your not likely to get far without providing ID first.

Buster_Danog

soolin said:

I notice that you mentioned selling things like a mobile phone and router which I assume are used 2nd hand? If that is the case then you need to remember that you will be selling against a catalogue entry , you can’t just set up your own listing and sell your own unique item as you would on eBay as not everyone can add to a catalogue.

Yes, my own items all used. I understand that someone browsing the Amazon website has the option to look at used items at a lower price. That is where I imagine my advert will show up. Everything I need to sell probably has been available on Amazon at some point.

forgotmyname said:

4 or 6 items per month, would it be worth the effort unless they are expensive items with a decent markup?

Most platforms will protect the buyer first and the seller who often a business second. As a business you
should factor in a percentage of loss no matter who is at fault.

On the first point I have tried Shpock and Preloved and they are not very good. I sold one item in about 6 weeks. I just want a selling platform to sell used items at a decent price eve if they are cheap items I am trying to get rid of. For example I am selling an old phone in good condition with loads of cases and accessories. On ebay that would have sold easily for £60 or more. On the websites I mentioned I would be surprised if it sells at all.

I don't have an issue with buyer protection for returns, or faulty items. What really concerns me is the possibility of a buyer saying the item wasn't received or trying to claim the seller sent them the wrong item so they can pull a scam. Anyway, I guess there is not much I can do about it if I choose to sell on there.