Q&A: How can I deal with customer complaints about Media Mail?

QUESTION: I'm concerned and frustrated by what seems to be a growing number of e-mails about Postal Service delivery problems. Some of the complaints are rather hostile, as in "Refund my money or I'll report you!"

I understand this is a hazard to be expected, but it seems as if the number of inquiries is on the upswing lately. I haven't been doing anything different in recent weeks: I use Endicia (with delivery confirmation for all domestic shipments) and ship an average of four to six books daily. Is there something I should be doing to ensure fewer delivery problems (say, use insurance with every shipment) or am I simply at the mercy of the U.S. Postal Service? And has the Postal Service gotten more slack recently in its handling of Media Mail?

It's getting aggravating having to send so much e-mail either reassuring people to hang tight another day or two, or -- in the case of books that somehow haven't left a Post Office along the way more than two weeks after I shipped them -- issuing refunds and telling people to keep the damn book if it ever gets there (I don't put it that way to customers, of course) with my compliments and apologies for the exceedingly slow USPS service. Am I handling this the right way?

ANSWER: Sounds like you're doing OK to me. I wouldn't change anything, we are at the mercy of the Postal Service. The only way around this would be to ship everything First Class/Priority, and that would be giving away too much profit. Insurance is out of the question, I never use it unless the book is worth more than $200.

I've never been able to discern a pattern in the promptness or reliability of the Postal Service. You would assume that the holidays would be worse than other times of the year, but on average, I notice faster delivery in December than, say, August.

I think the main problem with our customers is that people nowadays don't understand Media Mail. Years ago, when it was called "Book Rate" there was more recognition that it was economy-class, slow mail. Today, consumers have no concept of delivery taking a few weeks or so in some cases. I've had several Marketplace customers all but call me a liar when I've said things like "Media Mail delivery can take a few weeks."

Their response is usually something like, "I use the Postal Service all the time, and they always deliver in 3 to 4 days!"

But did they use Media Mail? Of course not!

So I keep a script handy that I send to people when they ask questions like this. In 95 percent of my cases, I've already sent the customer a shipment confirmation e-mail but they didn't read it.

When I respond to their inquiry, I usually give them the tracking info (again) which tends to reassure them that I indeed dropped the package when they ordered it. I also politely inform them or remind them that they had a choice between slow delivery (standard) and fast (expedited) and they chose slow.

The way I put that is: "For future reference, you can obtain two-day delivery from Marketplace sellers by selecting 'expedited' shipping at checkout instead of 'standard.' 'Expedited' costs $2 extra but it pays for airmail and can be well worth it if you're in a hurry to get the book."

For people who seem to be really concerned that they're going to lose their money, I usually add: "In the extremely unlikely event your book doesn't arrive within 30 days of purchase, please let me know and I'll assist you in getting a refund from Amazon." (That means I'll probably give them instructions for filing an A to Z Refund claim.)

Having a script for inquiries like this is a big time-saver, you just tweak your basic script to fit the situation at hand. And if you're already having a bad day, the script helps stop you from sounding too sarcastic when you're replying to yet another bone-headed customer.

As to the hostile customers, treat them like any other. Give them the same reply as you'd give a polite customer. You'll get used to it when your skin gets a little thicker, and learn how not to take it personally. After all, just because they're a jerk doesn't mean it should ruin your day too.

If anyone has another twist on handling this, please chime in with a comment.

Borders will bail from its Amazon contract

Amazon has been handling Borders' online operation for five years, but now Borders wants out.

Will Borders launch its own third-party bookselling site? Let's hope so.

In my humble opinion, one of the reasons Amazon has made things so unfavorable to its Marketplace sellers in the past few months is it has no real competition for online used book sales. Amazon has a virtual monopoly, and in that unhealthy atmosphere, it has the freedom to squeeze its third-party sellers.

However, we should all remember that things change fast on the Internet.

My thinking is, Amazon has forgotten that its two main sources of profits are:

1. Book sales

2. Pro-Merchant sellers

Right now, it seems bookselling and Marketplace (the only things it's gotten right yet) are Amazon's last priority. Amazon should be trying to enhance what works, rather than kill the goose that laid its golden egg.

Anyway, here's to competition!

Q&A: How much are my author photos worth?

QUESTION: I have a copy of The Adventurer by Mika Waltari, 1950, that goes for $15 to $60 on Amazon. I discovered two black-and-white photographs of the author stamped "G.P. Putnam's Sons" on the back, probably mass produced. How can I find out if the photos are worth anything? Should I keep them with the book or separate them? I did a search on Google and Ask.com, but didn't get anywhere.

ANSWER: I'm betting what you have is a review copy of the book, along with the author's publicity photos from the press packet sent with the review copies. Fortunately, instead of the reviewer throwing the photos in the trash, they stayed with the book.

It's really nice to have the photos, but if they're not signed they're probably not worth anything in themselves since thousands were probably sent out with the review copies. If you didn't turn up anything on Google there probably isn't a big market for this author's photos. There does seem to be decent interest in that book "The Adventurer" after all these years though.

I've had a similar situation to this a couple times, and what I did was list the book as "collectible" and explained the book came with the original author publicity photos. So it allowed me to get another $10 or $15 for the book.

If I were you, I'd add a second collectible listing under this book's mass-market paperback listing on Amazon, giving you double the exposure. Just don't forget to delete the second listing when the first one sells!

So it's not a windfall, but look at the bright side. Your listing will be super-competitive with the competition, who has plain old copies of the book. Sooner or later a fan will find it, thanks to Internet searching and Amazon.

IRS wants reports on online sellers

Lots of news lately about the IRS wanting to go after online sellers.

Much of the talk is focused on eBay and auction sellers, but I'm sure we fixed-pricers are in Uncle Sam's crosshairs too.

One thing that confuses me is all this talk about eBay and Amazon having to report our "Tax ID numbers."

Is "Tax ID" being used as a euphemism for Social Security Numbers? Or are we really talking about Tax IDs, which is usually the reporting number that businesses with employees file taxes under, not an SSN.

I have a feeling it will be a while before this is straightened out.

Anyone read the book Tax Loopholes for eBay Sellers? I'm wondering if it really has information specific to online sellers, or is merely the same advice everyone needs. I don't understand what special loopholes online sellers would have.

Amazon gets Marketplace music sales into gear for the holidays

Since we clobber Amazon so frequently here for mucking up our businesses, it's only right to point out when things go well. Here's an encouraging message I received from Frank Klin, whose Amazon shop is Fabulous-Plethora. Thanks for writing, Frank!

Just wanted to share with you something that Amazon is doing right. In the past week I am suddenly realizing sales in an area where I never had any before.

I sell a lot of CDs on Amazon. At the same time I have over 1000 record albums that I have been using GEMM.com to liquidate. I usually sell a couple of titles there a month. For awhile, when I was listing them on GEMM I would go ahead and list them on Amazon in my Z-shop. Never had any sales. When Amazon announced earlier this year that you could create listing for Vinyl in the Marketplace I was excited. Still no sales because Amazon made it difficult to find LP listings.

That has all changed. Suddenly I am getting these record sales on Amazon, 4 in the past week to be exact. I wondered what was happening and have been happy to discover that now when you search for a specific title or artist in the music category it brings up all formats in your search including LP and cassette.

Hooray! Thank you Amazon for the additional sales.

Amazon unveils new contact form for reporting community violations

Amazon is phasing out its e-mail address sellers use to report community rules violations such as inappropriate listings. Instead sellers will need to use this contact form and send their message through the Web.

Here's the entire announcement:

We are pleased to announce a new "Contact Us" form for our sellers to use when reporting community rules violations. We've made this change to the reporting process because we want to act more quickly and more efficiently, and we feel this form will give us better, actionable information. This new form replaces the reports@amazon.com e-mail alias.

We ask you to start using this form when submitting reports to us. Please note that the reports@amazon.com e-mail address will be deprecated in early 2007.

To use this new Contact Us form, please go to http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/reports/contact-us. When filling out the form, please be sure to include the requested information.

Thank you for your continued business with us, and thank you for selling at Amazon.com.

OK, I'm sorry, at the risk of sounding like a smart ass, I've just got to say this: How the heck do you come up with "deprecated in early 2007" at the end of this second paragraph? I think I know what you mean, Amazon, the address is being phased out, retired, put out to pasture, trashed.

Deprecated??? Get a friggin dictionary, man. Booksellers are reading you. Have some pride, for crying out loud!

Amazon will display Marketplace listings internationally

Amazon will begin displaying Marketplace listings offered with international shipping on its other sites outside the U.S.

Good idea, let's hope it brings in some extra sales. Here's the entire announcement:

In the next few weeks, we will be testing new ways for sellers to do more business with buyers from Amazon's other sites around the world.

For all new or existing Marketplace listings where the International Shipping option is selected, we will enable those listings to appear to buyers on other Amazon sites. These listings will appear when there are no listings available for those products from Marketplace sellers on that site. Over time, we will broaden this to more international buyers.

We will confirm the orders from international buyers to you the same way we are already notifying you of your orders to ship.

Please feel free to send us your feedback at intl-shipping-offers@amazon.com.

Thanks for selling at Amazon!

That customer in a big hurry could be a problem

I tend to be very trusting of my customers, I've had just a few bad experiences in over 100,000 transactions on Amazon Marketplace. (eBay and Half.com are another story, but no catastrophes.)

One thing I've noticed about the scammers, though, they tend to be in a big hurry. I've had several legitimate customers pay for overnight mail, but it's also proved to be a reliable warning sign of a scammer, at least in my experience. I haven't run into many crooks in this business, but nearly every one of them seemed to be in an awfully big hurry.

For anyone who says they needs next-day FedEx delivery for an expensive book, watch out. I'd avoid taking PayPal, and I'd wait for your Sold, Ship Now e-mail from Amazon. The odds are somebody in that big a hurry isn't using their own credit card.

Apparently these scammers are even hitting brick-and-mortar booksellers now. An interesting item in today's Shelf Awareness:

In the last month or so, I know of three stores hit by those perennial scam artists who call using the TDD operator or e-mail, asking for large quantities of expensive books, using a stolen credit card that initially goes through but later is charged back.

I don't see any end in sight to this either. A friend of mine who knows about this said the police don't even pursue this type of crime until it's up in the tens of thousands of dollars. No wonder the scammers aren't worried. We're all paying for it, though, through increased card fees.

BuyBundle manages your Amazon Marketplace listings on Google Base

Pro-Merchants these days are wondering if Amazon is actually trying to kill their business, and get rid of third-party sellers.

Major problems: The non-functional Marketplace Stores we're left with following zShops. Emphasis on "Fulfilled by Amazon" and "Prime" shipping is making us less competitive.

Some sellers are wondering whether it's all a plan to get us to sign up for WebStores, and pay $60 a month for the privilege. I don't think so. Looks like it will be a blue Christmas for many of us.

The outlook may be brighter next year, because it will be much easier to get exposure for your Marketplace listings, thanks to some innovations by Google and some other entrepreneurial companies. Google recently released some free software allowing you to upload your Marketplace listings to Google Base, and you can also upload listings from eBay or Yahoo stores. The free software is called Google Base Store Connector.

Only problem is, you'll have to manually delete things on Google Base when something sells, which could be quite a chore. Luckily, someone has come up with a solution: BuyBundle. Its software automatically synchronizes your listings with Base and Amazon, and you can take PayPal. The service is free, but on sales you'll pay a 10 percent commission.

This is all very new, it's not going to produce a gusher of sales until Google really starts promoting Base, which could be several more months down the road. But I think this could be huge someday, for this reason: Currently Google sends most people searching for book titles to Amazon. (Obviously, lots of people start their search at Amazon, nevertheless, a lot of people get there via Google). What's to stop Google from sending all that search traffic to Base instead of Amazon? Nothing. Especially if they want to develop Base into a real marketplace.

I recently spoke with Venkatesh Akella of BuyBundle, and I thought his perspective on this was really interesting:

Q: How has your launch been going?

A: The response has been quite positive. We already have over 100 sellers in less than 2 weeks. There have been a few orders come in through Google Base as well, even though we have not started marketing the service to buyers yet and Google has not made the product search announcement yet.

We are focused on our mission, which is:

Providing a lower cost alternative to Amazon by leveraging Google's potential for customer acquisition and providing a mechanism for sellers to compete not just on price, but on their inventory and knowledge of the domain and customer, much like a local bookstore in a community.

We have received lots of requests for new features, but initially we are focused on stability and ease of use and we'll unveil more features in a controlled manner.

Q: How will Google Base affect small sellers on Amazon and eBay, and also larger sellers who might have an independent e-commerce site?

A: We believe that this is best piece of news for small sellers in a long time. The small seller has been forced to pay significantly for customer acquisition. Google has 10 times the reach of Amazon and eBay (hence you find eBay and Amazon advertising on Google). It is only natural that Google monetize this reach by enabling the smaller sellers to sell effectively. Since they have no book business to cannibalize, we believe that they will offer the most efficient and cost effective channel.

However, we believe that ultimately it is going to be one huge "comparison shopping lottery", even on Google, so it is important to "know your customer and build a relationship with the customer" to succeed. Google will get you a click, but you need to convert the click to a sale, you need to retain the customer and hopefully sell more (upsell) to the customer. That is where we see an opportunity for companies like BuyBundle.

Large sellers with an independent e-commerce sites might be able to do some of that themselves; for them Google will be a cost-effective buyer acquisition engine.

Q: Do you think it will be more important or less important for a small seller to be affiliated with a site like Amazon or eBay?

For a small seller I think it will be less important to be affiliated with Amazon or eBay, unless Amazon "levels the playing field", that is it gives them the same technology platform that Amazon uses for itself. In the Amazon ecosystem, a seller is "anonymous", Amazon likes it that way. That is not good for a seller -- they need a way to build a brand (albeit small) for themselves to succeed on the Internet where price comparison is trivial and services like PayPal, etc., are taking care of the hassle of payment.

So, the only way to succeed is to have a unique inventory and build a brand for yourself based on the knowledge of the domain (like history, children's books, mystery, science fiction) and build a relationship with the customer. So things like personalization and recommendations are key in the emerging world. Now Amazon/eBay do not give this to an average seller, so there is less of a reason to be affiliated with them, especially if customer acquisition is solved, by some other way -- in this case, Google.

Q: Do you think Base will have a negative impact on eBay or Amazon revenues?

A: That is hard to say, because we don't know whether the shift to Google will be gradual or fast. If it is fast, Amazon will probably respond with lower commission and perhaps additional services etc. But, ultimately Google is a big threat to Amazon/eBay, that is for sure. So, the next year or so should be very interesting to see how things shape up.

Amazon will add shipping fees to Marketplace display

Amazon will begin including shipping fees in the Marketplace offer page. Amazon said it begin making the change over the next several weeks in response to "customer requests."

Products sold or fulfilled by Amazon won't have a shipping cost displayed since they may qualify for free shipping or the Prime subscription program.

Amazon is testing a series of pages for the new display. Here's one where the shipping price is listed below the item price:

Here's another test page where the shipping fee is listed in the "seller information" column:

Amazon is asking for feedback from sellers. You can send e-mail to sip-feedback@amazon.com.

This will certainly make regular Pro-Merchant sellers less competitive against Amazon and Fulfillment by Amazon merchants. What's your take on this?

Amazon adds gift certficiate option for Marketplace sellers

Amazon will allow Marketplace sellers to be paid in gift certificates instead of direct deposits to their bank accounts:

Dear Amazon Sellers,

Just in time for the holiday season, sellers are now able to choose Amazon Gift Certificates as a disbursement method for sales made on Marketplace.

Sellers who are shopping on Amazon.com can now use their Gift Certificate dollars to shop for gifts.

To select Gift Certificates as a disbursement method, simply go to Seller Your Account > Get Paid: View your Amazon Payments account and billing history > Select your Disbursement Method, and then select Receive Amazon.com Gift Certificates.

Learn more about using Gift Certificates as a disbursement method.

Thank you for selling on Amazon.com!

Q&A: How can I sell this scarce candy-making book?

QUESTION: I have a book entitled The Science & Art of Candy Manufacturing by Claude D. Barnett. The book was published in 1978 and has no ISBN. Amazon's catalog has a book by the same author but the title is different: The Art & Science of Candy Manufacturing, with the words art and science in reverse order. The author, year, and page count are the same. No copies are available.

I can find only one copy of this book with the same title, offered by a bookseller in The Netherlands.

How I should list the book on Amazon, since only Pro-Merchants can create catalog pages? I don't want to list my book with the listing Amazon already has, since my title isn't exactly the same.

ANSWER: Sounds like you have quite a gem there. That's exactly the kind of scarce nonfiction book people will pay really good money for, either someone who works at a candy maker, or a hobbyist.

There's also a listing for a 1960 book by the same author on Amazon, Candy Making as a Science and an Art, also unavailable. Elsewhere, several copies of the 1960 book are available, and at the bottom we see the Netherlands bookseller with his 1978 book.

It seems whoever entered the 1978 title on Amazon transposed the two words, art and science. It's not likely there were two printings in 1978 with different titles.

I think you have two options:

1. List the book under Amazon's incorrect title. Anyone searching Amazon for the correct title will find your listing. You can list the book as "Acceptable" and then describe the discrepancy in capital letters in your Sellers Comments and indicate the real condition. Listing it as "Acceptable" helps ensure the buyer reads your description.

2. Assuming you're not going to go Pro-Merchant in the near future (which enables you to create catalog pages for pre-ISBN books), you can submit a correction for the existing page to Amazon's cataloging department. Toward the bottom of each book detail page, there's a blue box labeled "Feedback" with a link for "updating product info."

On that page, you can check the box for "title" and enter the correct title. Any Amazon user can do this, they don't even have to be a seller. In my experience, Amazon gets those corrections updated on its Web site in less than a week -- usually. You might add in parentheses after your correction (I am certain I have the correct tile) just so they take you seriously.

But I'd suggest you list the book immediately on Amazon's page with the incorrect title since somebody could be searching for this book to give as a holiday gift.

The problem is how to price it. I've sold a couple of different technical books about food (not cookbooks) for over $100. But I've never had the good fortune to have one this scarce, where there's virtually no copies available in the hemisphere. So I wouldn't think of listing it for under $200. There's just no good way to figure out the value, though, it's too specialized.

We know the 1978 book is harder to come by, and I suspect there may be some valuable patent information in it that doesn't appear in the 1960 book.

The seller in the Netherlands priced it at about $200. So I wouldn't have any qualms about pricing it at $400 or $500. If a candy maker needs this book, you're not going to blow a hole in their research budget.

Sweet!

Q&A: Do you use ScoutPal?

QUESTION: Do you use any tools to determine which books to buy, or do you just purchase based on your instincts?

ANSWER: I do use a price-checker, but I use it combined with experience. I rely on instinct to select which books I'll check the price on. If the book is really cheap ($1 or $2) and I've got a hunch it's worth something, I won't even check the price. I know that if I buy enough books I'll come way out ahead. If I spend lots of time price-checking, that reduces how many books I have time to buy.

My biggest reliance on cellphone price-checking is when I'm buying in a bookstore and paying lots of money for the book. Then I like to make sure I'm not making a big mistake.

Amazon changes Marketplace return window to 30 days

Amazon has changed the length of time customers have to return items to sellers for refund. Previously, customers had to postmark an item within seven days of receipt, the new policy gives customers until 30 days after receipt. (Added: The below commenter is correct, the policy is 30 days after shipment, not receipt.)


Here's the announcement:

Effective November 15, 2006, Amazon is launching a standard returns policy for Marketplace orders. Instead of requiring returns to be postmarked within seven days of receipt, buyers will be required to postmark returns within 30 days of shipment. Please note: there are exceptions for specific product lines, such as software and consumer electronics; for further details, please see full text of the returns policy here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=1161246

This change provides the best possible shopping experience by standardizing the return process for all sellers. This policy will benefit sellers because it sets specific guidelines for buyers and clearly lays out the return process for all parties. We thank you for your cooperation with this new policy and for selling on Amazon.com.

One thing that has always interested me, there's always been a federal law on the books allowing consumers to return items they've received through the mail for a refund "within 30 days." So I've always refunded customers who return items within a month or so without hassling them.

Thankfully, returns are relatively rare, less than 2 percent for me. It is aggravating to get them, though. It especially irks me when customers throw a perfectly fine book into a plain manilla envelope, and I get it back in much worse condition.

What's your take on this policy change?

Q&A: My zoning office says I can't run a home-based bookstore

QUESTION: How do you get around the issue of zoning when you sell books from your home? I just got off the phone with our local zoning office in North Carolina, which claims I can't do what I'm doing.

She asked me specifically how many packages I would be mailing daily and then proceeded to tell me I could not have that many books in my home for sale. I replied, "You should see my personal library." And she said, "But you aren't selling those."

I looked up our zoning code and the only possible issue I could see was something stating "No display of products can be visible from the street and only articles made on the premises may be sold on the premises."

When I started selling books my husband and I formed a partnership and since we were considering having a brick-and-mortar store, we got our "Doing Business As" name in the county where we would have opened shop. We got a Post Office box in that town, and they didn't require a business permit. But then we decided selling online was the way we wanted to go, so I had all our business mail and accounts switched to our home address. I thought I'd go ahead and do a DBA in our county get my permit, etc.

Now I'm left scratching my head if I should just leave things the way they are in the other county and get another PO box again!

ANSWER: Perhaps your local zoning officials haven't heard about this wonderful new invention called "The Internet," which enables people all over the world to conduct business in their underwear.

I have a hard time believing that is really the local policy. I suspect the lady on the phone had a misunderstanding, either of what the zoning rules are, or what you're doing. Perhaps she thinks you need a "professional" home office, something like a dentist or a lawyer might have in a home. But you're running a mail-order company, and millions of people have been doing that in their homes all across this country, long before the Internet!

For a business like this, where you're not having people coming in and out of your home, it's absurd to suggest it violates any zoning regs. Especially in this day and age, when so many people are self-employed and working at home. I'll bet about 99 percent of all the millions of eBayers have never even thought of asking for a permit. Not to mention paying state sales tax! But I digress.

When I got my permit from my county, I had to sign a form affirming three things:

1. I would not have employees working in my home.
2. I would not have customers coming into my home.
3. I would not have heavy delivery traffic coming in or out of my home.

My understanding is that those three guidelines are pretty consistent nationwide. In my case, agreeing to those three things allowed me to obtain a "zoning variance" allowing my home business in a residential area. Every jurisdiction probably does it differently or has different language. Some call your home-business license a "home occupation permit."

It's just common sense, if the business isn't noticeable to your neighbors and has no negative impact on them, then they're nothing wrong with it -- unless of course there are regulations in your area prohibiting home businesses. What the lady said on the phone to you sounds completely ludicrous. "You can't have that many books in your home"? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life.

I've heard of some local covenants in very exclusive neighborhoods that prohibit home offices, but that doesn't sound like it's the case here.

I was able to pull up my county zoning regs by doing a Google search like this:
"Fairfax County" "home office." And here's some good information about home offices and zoning.

So you might try searching for your locality and see what the regs really say. I'd demand they show you something in writing that prohibits your business. I'd write a letter to your county government too.

It's so pathetic when people try to be honest with the government and end up getting penalized for it. I'll bet there's 10,000 people in your county selling on eBay with no paperwork whatsoever.

One other thing I've heard: If you want to inquire about a home business and potential zoning issues with your local government, it's best to ask a neighbor (who doesn't plan to have a home business) make the inquiry for you.

I'm curious if anyone else has run into this?

Another Amazon seller accused of feedback manipulation

It seems Amazon is cracking down on what it calls feedback manipulation.

This time, a customer complained about a UK seller who offered a partial refund after the customer left bad feedback. Didn't like the packaging? Who cares about the packaging of a computer part, as long as you got it in good condition?

I'm a believer in "the customer is always right," but give me a break. How is it unethical to offer a little rebate for a customer who complains? I do it several times a month, when customers complain about slow Media Mail, or some other problem. I think it's worth a few bucks to keep the red marks off your feedback record. And lots of times, my customers even decline the refund but delete the feedback, they're just happy that somebody paid attention.

Sure, this can be handled the wrong way by a seller. If that UK buyer was expecting something in an original retail box and didn't get it, that's another kettle of fish. But I don't think any seller deserves an automatic wrist-slapping (or worse) just because they're trying to take care of customers.

Jeff wants you to outsource fulfillment

You might remember when Fulfillment by Amazon came up several weeks ago and a few booksellers were participating in the beta test.

The reaction among readers here was skepticism, to put it mildly.

Looks like Amazon is really starting to publicize FBA now. Here's CEO Jeff Bezos in the new issue of Business Week:

One of our booksellers who has been in our marketplace program for a long time is so excited about Fulfillment by Amazon that he said, "I'm going to sell my house, travel around the world permanently, buying books."

And here's an audio podcast about this.

Personally, I'd never trust anyone else to handle my online business unless I had totally immunity from their screwups -- in other words, I wouldn't want to take a feedback hit for Amazon's mistakes.

On the other hand, I think FBA could work for a company selling bicycle helmets or something else that's standardized. But when you get an order for a used book, there's a dozen little judgment calls ... is the dust jacket OK? ... should I send it First Class because the order's from Hawaii? ... should I insure this one? Call me a control freak, but I don't trust anyone to make those decisions for me. I screw things up often enough myself.

At the end of the Business Week interview, Bezos reveals why he has so much Darth Vader stuff on his wishlist. He says it's because of his three boys.

Uh huh.

eBay defends eBay Express, the other side of the story

Well yesterday we all took potshots at eBay and griped how eBay Express has been such an awful disappointment.

So it's only fair that we let eBay respond:

"eBay Express is performing in line with our expectations so far ..."

Really? I had no idea expectations were that low.

Q&A: Do you worry about competing online booksellers?

QUESTION: I'm a big fan of your site and check your posts often. But I wonder if you worry about people buying your book and then competing against you? Do you feel you're gambling with your own livelihood by putting a book out there telling all your secrets that your neighbor could stumble upon?

ANSWER: Good question, but I don't really worry about getting too much competition for several reasons:

-- The more participation in a market, the more useful the market becomes, and the buyers you'll have. I believe there's a network effect with online bookselling. That is, the more sellers there are, the more often buyers can find something they want. So more buyers show up. Further, online booksellers probably buy more books online than any other group of people. I know that I buy at least four times as many books every year, most online, than I did before I became a seller. I think this is one of the reasons Amazon probably likes its third-party selling program. The sellers are probably the most active buyers, both used merchandise and new merchandise. There is no doubt, we Pro-Merchants are Amazon's most valuable and profitable customers.

-- Bookselling is really hard work, and used bookselling is the hardest of all. So only a limited number of people are really going to do it. I don't think very many people are going to buy my book unless they're already selling, or seriously considering it. There's no secrets in my book, it's stuff anyone is going to know if they sell long enough. The main point of my book is simply concentrating on customer service, as a way to compete.

-- You're right, there is a finite number of used books available for us booksellers to find. So if lots more people started selling, it would be harder for me and other people to find inventory. But it's always been impossible to sell a book nobody wants. It all boils down to knowing books, so you can pick the right ones. The key is finding scarce and out-of-print books, that's always been the way to make money in this business, and it always will be. Specializing in one area -- whether it's cookbooks, children's books, modern first, whatever -- helps you compete by teaching you to recognize what's unusual and valuable.

eBay Express wins Steve Weber's online bookselling muff of the year Grand Prize

Hey, whatever happened to eBay Express?

I'll admit, I was one of the first to drink the Kool-Aid and believe the hype.

What's happened since then?

Nuttin.

I've had two sales on Express since it started. And this was eBay's Amazon Marketplace killer? Well, Amazon has been pretty weak lately, but at least there's still a pulse.

Great article on AuctionBytes about this. Among the details: One eBay seller with 60,000 listings is getting three sales a week. Ouch!