Amazon has given its Pro-Merchant sellers a reprieve by providing another six weeks before zShops listings are deleted.
zShops are scheduled to be phased out on Oct. 24, and listings won’t be visible to buyers after then. But sellers will have another six weeks after Oct. 24 to migrate the ir zShop listings to Amazon Marketplace, before the listings are deleted permenantly from seller accounts.
In an e-mail announcing the six-week extension, Amazon also described a pilot program to allow sellers to create Marketplace listings for Music, Video, and DVD products without UPC codes. Currently those products are listed mainly in zShops.
Information in the e-mail hasn’t been posted to Amazon’s Web site, so I’m posting the message in its entirety here, for those who haven’t received it. As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome.
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 16:31:55 -0700
From: “Amazon.com”
Dear zShops sellers,
We would like to kindly remind all Pro Merchant sellers who have zShops listings about the October 24, 2006 date for migrating your listings over to Marketplace (see our previous announcement for details).
There are also recent developments which you should be aware of which occurred as a result of the feedback we have received about this change:
1) Timeframe extension for availability of zShops listings to sellers.
2) Solution for sellers who have zShops listings for Music, Video, and DVD products without UPC codes.
3) Your Storefront URL will remain the same.
1. Timeframe Extension:
We are extending the availability of your zShops listings in your zShops account by 6 weeks, from October 24, 2006, to December 5, 2006. This extension will allow you to continue to have reference to your zShops listings while you re-list them in Marketplace, though buyers will not be able to view your zShops listings during that time.
In the evening on October 24, 2006, the following will still occur:
* Your new Storefront featuring your Marketplace listings will replace your zShops Storefront.
* Buyers will no longer be able to view your zShops listings.
* You will no longer be able to create zShops listings.
2. Solution for sellers who have zShops listings for Music, Video, and DVD products without UPC codes.
In addition to Books (ISBN and pre-ISBN), products in Music, Video, and DVD categories without UPC codes represent the overwhelming majority of products listed in zShops today. To address this gap in Marketplace, we are launching a pilot program to allow sellers to list Music, Video, and DVD products without a UPC code. During this pilot, we will monitor the creation of the non-UPC product pages to ensure a good buyer experience before continuing or extending the program to other sellers.
At this time, the program’s participants are sellers who are currently selling Music, Video, and DVD products in zShops and who have a high feedback rating. Sellers who were registered by Amazon to participate in the program will be receiving a separate e-mail with instructions on how they can use the Create Product Detail Page feature to add Music products without UPC codes. The ability to create pages for Video and DVD products without UPCs will follow soon after.
Sellers who meet the criteria above and who have over 80 listings in those categories will be offered bulk migration assistance.
If you are a seller who meets the criteria above, but you have not received an e-mail with instructions by October 24, 2006, please send an e-mail to zshops-changes-feedback@amazon.com with the subject line “Pilot program.”
3. Your Storefront URL will remain the same.
Following feedback regarding the change of the Storefront URL from www.amazon.com/shops/
How can I learn more?
You can learn more about selling in Amazon Marketplace, what you need to do to migrate your listings, and more about your new Storefront by going to our Help pages. Click “Help” from the Amazon.com home page, and then click Selling at Amazon.com > zShops.
If you have any additional feedback, please feel free to send an e-mail message to zshops-changes-feedback@amazon.com.
Thank you for selling at Amazon.com!
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One Comment
I was contacted by Amazon a while ago that I qualified for their pilot program and that I would receive full instructions during the week of October 16.
All I got last week was the above mentioned email, no instructions.
It states: “If you are a seller who meets the criteria above, but you have not received an e-mail with instructions by October 24, 2006, please send an e-mail to zshops-changes-feedback@amazon.com with the subject line “Pilot program.”
I sent an email there, all I got is a prefabricated reply along the lines of: “Thanks for your feedback. It is very valuable to us. We cannot answer your emails, but they are all read by us, don’t reply to this email, etc. etc.”
I tried 4 times. I thought maybe I did something wrong. Got 4 instantaneous, identical replies. Never got any instructions. This email address is obviously wrong.
Anybody else receive any instructions yet? Anybody else have this experience with their “pilot program” email address?
And what now? I have hundreds of closed Z-Shop articles that are just lying around my storage area and I am unable to list them again.