It's been a good run, time for a change!
Been a Reseller for over 8+ years, the last couple have been the absolute worst. Amazon will always find a way to ruin your business - either through undermining fair price guidelines AND through gouging you with endlessly increasing fees, while revenues and margins drop year over year. Amazon has over the years morphed from an online retailer (e-tailer) into a direct to consumer marketplace, that will soon be filled with brand direct suppliers and cheap direct from Chinese manufactured goods. Or as I like to call it, the "Alibaba-zation" of Amazon. In other words the days of being a Reseller on Amazon are LONG OVER. The metrics of a retail marketplace will allow fair margins for Resellers (wholesalers) to bring goods to market for a profit by the retailer. When a platform like Amazon undermines this process (mainly by price manipulation) the wholesaler will loose his shirt in the process since Amazon will NO LONGER abide to sell goods by the MANUFACTURED/PUBLISHER SUGGESTED RETAILS PRICES. In fact, many retailers abandoned this practice decades ago, which in effect kills distribution and wholesale companies in general while giving rise to direct to consumer brands / companies. A reseller cannot buy at wholesale and sell at wholesale prices to the consumer and still be in business. In the RARE event a merchandized item is sold at the true RETAIL price, Amazon then kicks in with endless fees leaving the wholesaler (Reseller) with negative or break even margins. This has been the vicious cycle, underpinning the reason for many resellers to close operations on Amazon for good. That is not including the frivolous return policies, fraudulent reviews, brand gating, IP complaints, algorithmic issues with pricing / search rankings, inventory processing delays, inventory restrictions, and added expenses by utilizing third-party apps/software because Amazon is too lazy or incompetent to improve upon their own platform. Etc, etc. Add to all of this hoards of untrained/unsavvy New Sellers who all but tank even the most profitable niches or products, in an endless race to the bottom to win the buy box at any cost. I do regret not leaving sooner, as the lost opportunity cost in other industries would have been better for me personally. I know companies that were able to scale to millions in revenue/and profits by going direct to consumer, or drop shipping, etc. But it's all learning lessons anyways. Hope some of you don't make the same mistakes I made. Good luck!
It's been a good run, time for a change!
Been a Reseller for over 8+ years, the last couple have been the absolute worst. Amazon will always find a way to ruin your business - either through undermining fair price guidelines AND through gouging you with endlessly increasing fees, while revenues and margins drop year over year. Amazon has over the years morphed from an online retailer (e-tailer) into a direct to consumer marketplace, that will soon be filled with brand direct suppliers and cheap direct from Chinese manufactured goods. Or as I like to call it, the "Alibaba-zation" of Amazon. In other words the days of being a Reseller on Amazon are LONG OVER. The metrics of a retail marketplace will allow fair margins for Resellers (wholesalers) to bring goods to market for a profit by the retailer. When a platform like Amazon undermines this process (mainly by price manipulation) the wholesaler will loose his shirt in the process since Amazon will NO LONGER abide to sell goods by the MANUFACTURED/PUBLISHER SUGGESTED RETAILS PRICES. In fact, many retailers abandoned this practice decades ago, which in effect kills distribution and wholesale companies in general while giving rise to direct to consumer brands / companies. A reseller cannot buy at wholesale and sell at wholesale prices to the consumer and still be in business. In the RARE event a merchandized item is sold at the true RETAIL price, Amazon then kicks in with endless fees leaving the wholesaler (Reseller) with negative or break even margins. This has been the vicious cycle, underpinning the reason for many resellers to close operations on Amazon for good. That is not including the frivolous return policies, fraudulent reviews, brand gating, IP complaints, algorithmic issues with pricing / search rankings, inventory processing delays, inventory restrictions, and added expenses by utilizing third-party apps/software because Amazon is too lazy or incompetent to improve upon their own platform. Etc, etc. Add to all of this hoards of untrained/unsavvy New Sellers who all but tank even the most profitable niches or products, in an endless race to the bottom to win the buy box at any cost. I do regret not leaving sooner, as the lost opportunity cost in other industries would have been better for me personally. I know companies that were able to scale to millions in revenue/and profits by going direct to consumer, or drop shipping, etc. But it's all learning lessons anyways. Hope some of you don't make the same mistakes I made. Good luck!
25 replies
LeviDylan_Amazon
Hello @Seller_rc5I4RpDIvZa9,
Thank you posting your concerns here on the Forums.
"It's been a good run, time for a change!"
I want to start off by thanking you for providing feedback about your experience. From here, I will be sharing this information with the appropriate teams for further review.
If you have other feedback to provide, please continue to reach out in this thread, so that information can be forwarded as well.
Wishing you the best,
LeviDylan
Seller_9jYZMo2jvtfO1
After 4 years we are about ready to throw in the towel as well.
Every month we break records for sales and every month we make zero dollars. Yet Amazon has raked in the profits. If i spend $1 on ads i sell $1 in products, any tiny bit of profit gets taken with fees. We create new listings and they get flagged for pricing even though its cheaper if you can do basic math. I will not allow amazon to tell me what prices should be.
And the seller support has gone totally down hill.
Seller_nBUcRErQhJ4JW
- Higher fees
- Fraudulent chinese sellers
- Push back on price increases
Their answer is adverstise more and sell for less. A great road to going broke. Lower your margins and increase your costs.
We are looking at pulling way back.
Cut adverstising. Cust SAS core and then whatever we sell we sell.
Seller_cGZYQr43WuDav
This is the end for me as well. I am so angry with this service.
A-Z claim = abetting theft by bad acting customers
Zero scrutiny in fraudulent reviews
I will invest my time elsewhere
Seller_iwGyJUWC4pcve
We are also, slowly throwing in the towel. We are a small with only little over 200K a year since 2018. We can just not do it anymore. It is the new placement fees that got us. We were doing 99% Fba. Then with all these new increase in shipping fees, and low inventory fees, we just can not afford to use FBA any longer. Sales have dropped big time with MF, and like you said, the competition and the run down to the bottom is never ending.
Edit: Amazon tells us to send in items or pay low inventory fee, we send in items, then amazon makes items restricted, deletes listings and we have to pay to ship back. Up to 156 (60 asins) items now we have to recall
Seller_BeWo5Xt3t43rn
14 years here and the secret is changing your business model constantly! The buy box is overrated! Chasing it will eat you profits! There are so many bad sellers on Amazon that customers when they discover you are a good seller will become repeat buyers, some of ours have been buying from us for MANY years! Customer service is worth the effort, don't let AMAZON do it for you! No FBA - JUST DON'T DO IT! Certain products and price points attract scammers - don't sell them on AMAZON! Do not pay AMAZON ANY advertising dollars! Sell products that customers already want and are looking for but cannot find in a brick and mortar store. Brand registry is a joke on AMAZON, REGISTER YOUR TRADEMARKS AND DEVELOP YOUR BRAND ON YOUR OWN WEBSITE AND ON YOUTUBE etc! When you introduce a brand on AMAZON the Chinese will sell copies under your listings and destroy your brand with the resulting bad reviews! AMAZON is only interested in THEIR revenue NOT yours and they make money from the bad actors so have no motivation to stop them!
Seller_MXmsewA6LgFl9
Life is not in black and white.
Amazon is changing constantly and the real problem for many sellers is declecting other platforms and going 100% depending on Amazon.
For me it is always changing going up and down some products are good to sell on Amazon some products I sell only on other platforms even on my local physical store you need to adapt and not put all the eggs in one basket.
Seller_AyOVeKNuAQoJl
I will just point out that while i don't particularly want to go to bat for amazon, the trend of retail giving ground to direct-to-consumer options has been happening for quite some time and is definitely not an amazon only thing. Markets change, consumers change, and no corporation no matter how large is immune to failure, for market OR self-inflicted reasons. Anyone remember Sears?
Anyway best wished as you chart a new course.
Seller_Etedb4FUvUJhq
To be fair, it is not Amazon's job to facilitate space for a middleman. If a manufacturer wants to go direct to consumer, that is absolutely their right to do so, and there are plenty of reasons why they would want to. From higher margins, to control of pricing and how their brand is represented.
You have the choice to create your own brand, and manufacture your own products for sale. Its not like this option isn't available to anyone with the capital to do so.
Seller_hege6ZQitqQNv
Amazon is a market place for your brand to grow, this isn't ebay where you re-sell products to make a buck. you're leaving because you couldn't figure that out. good luck to you on ebay.
