Q&A: What's the difference between Amazon Advantage and regular seller accounts?

QUESTION: I'm an independent publisher. What's the difference between Amazon's Advantage program and selling books on Marketplace using a Pro-Merchant account? I know that with the Advantage program, Amazon lists publishers' books for free and charges 55 percent commission. Pro-Merchant sellers pay only 15 percent commission plus a $39.99 monthly fee. Why, then, would anyone choose the Advantage program?

ANSWER: If you're a third-party seller on Amazon, then you're responsible for fulfilling the orders, of course. With Amazon Advantage, Amazon handles fulfillment and all customer service.

The major advantage of Amazon's Pro-Merchant subscription ($39.99 monthly) is that Amazon waives a 99-cent "closing fee" on each transaction. So if you sell more than 40 books per month, the subscription pays for itself.

As a Marketplace seller, it's tough to compete against Amazon on sales of new books. Most customers prefer buying directly from Amazon because those orders are eligible for Super Saver Shipping and Prime Shipping. So you need to undercut Amazon by a few dollars to get significant sales. Still, Marketplace is a good venue for selling returns and hurts.

Publishers with certain types of books like to have access to buyer information, to be able to cross-sell and upsell additional products. If you sell the book yourself on Marketplace, you'll have access to buyer names, addresses and e-mails. If Amazon is handling the fulfillment, you won't know who is buying your book.

Q&A: How can a bookseller undercut my price on Amazon?

QUESTION: I just noticed that a third-party Amazon seller has my book listed for sale as "new" on Marketplace for $1.05 less than my list price! My book is sold only on Amazon. I can't understand this, since I'm the only one with copies of the book!

ANSWER: Anyone with a copy of your book (or anyone knows of a way to order your book at a discount) can sell it on Amazon at any price they wish. Is it possible that this seller has a review copy of your book or a used copy and has decided to describe its condition as "New"?

Some Marketplace sellers don't actually carry any books in stock, instead they have "virtual" inventories. They upload databases of ISBNs to Marketplace and, when they make a sale, order the books from a wholesaler. Amazon's Marketplace participation agreement prohibits drop-shipping, but there are at least a dozen high-volume vendors who do it.

The seller who has your book, however, appears to be a low-volume seller (not a drop-shipper) who probably has a copy of your book. If not, they may have typed in your ISBN by mistake and not noticed the discrepancy with the title.

If you're really curious, ask the seller. Click on their starred feedback rating, and at the bottom right of the next page, there's a link to "contact this seller."