Anyone Sticking with Amazon?
With the small and light fees going up 26th September about a third of my product line will no longer be viable to sell.
Most FBA Fees now cost way more than dispatching it yourself.
I had Amazon as my main marketplace. Now i’m thinking maybe ebay is the way forward.
Because it seems i’m going to need to do FBM I might as well send it myself with ebay who pay me the next day 6 days+ plus quicker than Amazon and don’t have about 20 charges.
Thinking of creeping way from Amazon after paying VAT with the fees and it doesn’t seem like customers want to pay too much more for goods.
What are your thoughts?
Anyone Sticking with Amazon?
With the small and light fees going up 26th September about a third of my product line will no longer be viable to sell.
Most FBA Fees now cost way more than dispatching it yourself.
I had Amazon as my main marketplace. Now i’m thinking maybe ebay is the way forward.
Because it seems i’m going to need to do FBM I might as well send it myself with ebay who pay me the next day 6 days+ plus quicker than Amazon and don’t have about 20 charges.
Thinking of creeping way from Amazon after paying VAT with the fees and it doesn’t seem like customers want to pay too much more for goods.
What are your thoughts?
0 replies
Seller_rGtEcZnu0JTRD
Thing to bear in mind is that everyone is in the same boat, so although you will have to increase your price, then so will all your competitors, and you will have the added benefit of quicker delivery times, which a lot of customers are happy to pay a little extra for.
Seller_540qgZMXuuXdD
I've tried selling some stuff via S&L, and although there were a few more sales, the hassle wasn't worth it. Amazon pushing me to make more sales by doing this, doing that etc. Then they'd miscount, or mismeasure. Constant battles and so target-driven.
I've recently started offering my own premium Second Day shipping, and that's surprisingly popular.
Most of my items are under £5, but an unexpected number of people are still willing to pay an additional £3.30 for tracked delivery.
It'll be interesting to see how this goes over the Christmas period.
Seller_EkGoiphKgUnUI
The Ebay help team is just incredible, so many times I've needed their help or advice and theyve sorted out issues right there and then. And the regular reduced fee offers are great.
If only Ebay did a fulfilment by Ebay.....
Seller_lljyzgTxr5fgI
As @Seller_rGtEcZnu0JTRD rightly points out, the increase in fees affects everybody, so it doesn't really change the playing field overall. Very few will be able to absorb the increases, if they can then good luck to them. The vast majority of sellers will have to increase prices and those prices are what the customer will have to pay if they want the item. As we all know, at the end of the day, it is always the customer who ends up paying more.
We increased prices on most of our S&L stuff about a month ago, though only by 20p. We are absorbing 15p per item but there is still more than 100% mark up in them so it's not a big deal. There hasn't been any change in buying patterns as a result of the increases.
Seller_Fg2fqaWOnEtha
Yes I am sticking with Amazon for the time being, because atm business is good here. BUT I have been doing less FBA anyway, too many problems with sizes, missing stock and no one who is responsible. I have already changed the type of products I sell here, I have only a handful of products over a tenner, I prefer to sell more expensive stuff from my online shop.
Focusing on speed is not always the right approach IMHO. If you need plasters because you have cut your finger or you have forgotten to buy Valentine's gift for your fiance then speed is essential but for most of my products people seem to be happy to wait a few days and I have the Premium options anyway. And when they buy multiples I normally upgrade for 1st class so they might have it fast.
I have been looking at TEMU recently as I have been looking for cheap craft material to test a few ideas and there are so many products that are also on Amazon at a fraction of the price but you have to wait at least a week. Which is fine by me as I don't need anything immediately. Still several comments are about how they are no longer using Amazon as the same product is a third of the price on TEMU. It might be that Amazon is trying to compete on speed with these Chinese marketplaces. Aliexpress is easy to beat as you have to wait even more than a month, but TEMU can deliver in 7/8 days. I believe that what makes Amazon stronger is that it doesn't sell just small and cheap Chinese products but also brands and quality products.
Seller_jWPpFxXshwSeI
Has anybody tried 'We Buy Books'? I have quite a few books that I will never sell taking up va;luable space. Will give some to charity but wonder if I can reclaim a small profit.Thanks.
Seller_FzYxqnSoia90P
In my opinion there are a couple of issues with the Amazon rises.
1 If they are going to charge us more they need to do more about the fraud, the returns (or not even returned) for the wrong reasons this is a big cost and if nothing changes after the 26th of September will be even bigger.
2 While I understand this reason will work well for some of you, a price increase of about 30 - 40 percent on my products could well push me to the VAT threshold which will play into the hands of the Chinese sellers who already have to pay VAT, so the smaller sellers on here will struggle to compete.
Just my opinion, Thanks
Seller_AVteysPitiEJq
We're removing stock from FBA and fire sale others. Most of our eggs are in Amazons basket but I'm slowing moving stuff across to other venues.
We've had to change our pack quantity size and create new listings so we can justify the prices we have to charge now to turn a similar profit but that takes time to get the sales rankings up.
Who knows what the Christmas season will look like but I do predict it'll be a whole lot quieter for us this year.
Amazons greed will hurt a whole lot of people...buyers and sellers alike. When the public figure out what's happening, maybe they'll return to the Bay so it makes sense to have a bigger presence there than what we have currently.
Seller_FQd04NAaG9Ndk
Certainly understand how you feel. However, ebay fees are also getting ridiculous. Once you take into account sponsored fees ebay are just as bad now. My overall percentage on ebay creeped up to 25% last month which is lunacy. Both Amazon and ebay are both getting nonviable with the current PPC and Sponsored fees system which pushes the sellers to fight more and more over price and loose more and more margin.
Once upon a time it was how well you designed your listing - now simply how much margin you're prepared to loose.
Seller_OM4BK6pjqIuuR
eBay is losing buyers fast and sales dropping. Some talk of it crashing totally. Sales drop has been 60% in the last year and instead of attracting customers, eBay is tightening the screws on sellers taking over 50% of sale pric in fees, ads etc.. a lot of us are here due to ditching eBay for Amazon
