Post all New Sellers should read.

Remember, how to succeed in online sales business is all based on how much knowledge a seller has is how successful online businesses are operated, and that is what you bring to the table.

OP: " We shipped a package FedEx 2Day and it was 1 day late. Not our fault."

On Amazon, yes, it is. Why would you use 2-day air shipments. After 2.5 million sales on the site, we only offer standard USPS shipping that fits the product. We buy the shipping thru Amazon Who has always (since May 1,2016) handled the INR claim.

OP: "I'm still angry we wasted this much time on a company that is greedy and doesn't care about the seller at all."

Many other sellers feel the same way as you, however, that is the way Jeff Bezos designed things to function.

OP: "I don't really want to invest more energy into a one-way relationship where we do the work, you take a huge chunk and then screw us at every turn!"

Not sure Amazon does that when you follow their policies. Don't see it that way. The only chunk Amazon takes from us is one commission per sale, and I know what that is prior to the sale, and that is known before we list the item.

OP: "The support line is a joke."

Correct, those employees can tell you how to use the actual web site but cannot offer inside information on why things work the way they do or offer help on your personal business problems or endeavors. Often a much better solution can be found on these threads.

OP: "One rep told me that we had to buy our Fedex 2Day labels through Veeqo, but we already have ShipStation"

Do you understand shipping? In the online business, the buyer ALWAYS pays for the shipping. Therefore, the features offered by the shipper has to be considered when buying shipping.

You seem to want to consolidate all your shipping to print company like shipstation. Do they offer INR protection? NO. Had you simply purchased the shipping thru Amazon, (even clicking 2 say air) Amazon would have handled you late arrival.

OP: "My advice: RUN, RUN, RUN.... Seriously, just pump your own websites"

That is an option, if you cannot turn a good profit using the amazon site. We have 5 stand alone website each with our different brand name lines. We use no advertising, as the hosting company does a good job promoting the URL's for free,

However, I cannot get the exposure to Amazon's 315 million potential buyerss as I can on the Amazon site.

OP: "We're not paying a company to compete with us"

Good attitude, set your goal to become larger that Amazon in 2025.

OP: "Don't have to wake up one day and find out we're somehow delisted/deranked/punished in some way,"

I guess that is one way to look at your business mode. We sell over 50,000 different items and if one occurs any problem, we simply drop in off the Amazon site.

OP: "On AZ and Ebay you don't own anything.... they own you and can shut you down and lock you out any time they want."

Absolutely correct. Both are simply brokerage companies between a buyer and seller.

OP: "we pumped the money we used to spend on Ebay into advertising we make more money by far than we did paying 13% to Ebay. Same thing could be with Amazon."

We would never pay for advertising. Online selling is simple, Sell only products that buyers want and need and sell them ar the lowest price, they are the ones that sell themselves with no additional effort needed.

Since I know the fees associated with each companies mentioned, and I know the shipping cost, if I can't make my desired profit, I will not even purchase the product at the wholesale level.

OP: "I sure hope Amazon is broken up. Google and AZ are monopolies"

They sure are, but aren't they the same thing as your business and mine? Both companies take the profits from one division and use it to support other divisions they own. This I learned many years ago, so I do the same thing.

From the 25 years of profits from made in online selling, we created different divisions of our company.

- Insurance- 20 years ago my 10-year-old daughter said we should give her 25 cents from every sale, she would save it and if a product is damaged in transit, we can just refund the buyer from that fund. Well, it paid for her MBA from Johns Hopkins, and she invests the half million dollar in the fund today.

- Real estate- Paid cash for a 20,000 sq ft 2-story building. Converted the second floor into apartments.

- Research & Development- Month long trips to Europe twice a year sourcing new products from small manufacturers.

- Mobile office- Paid cash for a 40' motorhome used as our mobile office to attend trade shows across the country.

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Now with all of that said, what does everything boil down to.

Yes, online selling does have its problems, but as in everyday life, it is how one views the problems that count. Some sellers believe the problems are out to get them, and some sellers view problems as steps simply to be overcome in the process of moving forward.

To the OP, if you don't mind, I would like to use to use your post in a class I teach. Don't give up, things can get better.