Amazon surveys sellers for new ideas

Yesterday some Amazon sellers received an e-mail purporting to be a survey from Amazon's Marketplace team. The survey offers a $5 Amazon gift certificate in exchange for completion of the survey, asking which new features sellers would favor.

According to telephone support staff at Amazon's call center, the survey is legitimate. Some sellers have been suspicious of the survey, wondering if it's a phishing scam.

I think this is a good sign. At least Amazon is making some effort to understand what its sellers think is important. Based on past experience, though, I won't hold my breath to see if Amazon actually implements any suggestions it gets from sellers.

Here's what they asked:

What top three improvements would you like to see in the process of listing and selling items on Amazon? Please rank the items based on the importance to you, with 1 indicating the most important. [Select up to 3, at least 1]

• Ability to upload images specific to your offer
• Ability to offer promotions
• Ease of listing many items at one time
• Ability to set your own shipping price
• A “Trusted Seller” logo next to your items, if you meet criteria
• Consolidated shipping (customers who buy multiple items from one seller pay less shipping on the second and subsequent items)
• Ability to see the average price an item has sold for historically
• Tools to help price items based on other sellers' prices
• A buy-back program for sellers to post items they want to buy from customers through the Amazon site
• Other (Please specify)
  

Well, what's your answer? What are your top three priorities? Humorous answers welcome.

Amazon will revamp its display of book reviews

Booksellers who sell on Amazon are frequently exasperated with the frequent design changes at the site. All too often, we hear the refrain, "If it ain't broke ... don't fix it!"

Now Amazon is tinkering with what I think is its important feature by far -- its book reviews. Whether this will have an impact on sales, I don't know.

Amazon is in the process of reducing the number of book reviews displayed on detail pages. The change does away with Amazon's familiar one-column display of six reviews. Now just three reviews will be displayed in their entirety, followed by a link to see other reviews.

The new display is being rolled out to Amazon's customer base over the next two weeks. Here's a peek (click to enlarge):



Another unpopular change: By default, customers will see only older book reviews voted "most helpful" by other shoppers. Previously, the most recent reviews were displayed first, along with a pair of "Spotlight" reviews.

Many of Amazon's most active book reviewers complain that most shoppers won't click through to read recent reviews, reducing their chance of attracting votes.

"This new design is a terrible disincentive to all reviewers, especially newer ones," said frequent reviewer Daniel Jolley. "It's just a fact that most users simply do not go beyond the first page of whatever they are pulling up online. You're effectively banning most reviewers from ever being on the main item page, even temporarily."

Jim Robinson, an Amazon employee who is guiding the update, defended the new design and said it was unlikely to discourage readership of recent reviews. "While designing the new review display, we gave this possible drawback a significant amount of consideration," Robinson said on this Amazon-sponsored reviewer discussion board. "Many aspects of the design, some visible, others less-so, are meant to keep this from happening. We will watch closely to make sure it does not become a problem."

It's clear that Amazon is trying to reduce clutter on its book detail pages. Shoppers must wade through dozens of features competing for their attention, such as author blogs, related books and advertisements. It seems another feature or two is piled on every year. Amazon recently reduced the amount of space devoted to its wiki and "customer discussion" features, which appear near the bottom of detail pages and are seldom used.

Let's hope that Amazon remembers that its customer reviews are one of the most popular features on its site, if not the entire Web. Those reviews help sell a ton of books every day of the year. If Amazon reduces their visibility to the average shopper, it seems obvious that sales would suffer.

Here's one way of clearing deadwood: A bonfire

If you've been depressed lately about sagging sales, you're not alone. This three-day weekend has been the slowest period for sales I've ever had.

Here's how one Kansas City bookseller dealt with the situation this weekend:

On Sunday, Wayne began burning his books in protest of what he sees as society's diminishing support for the printed word.

"This is the funeral pyre for thought in America today," Wayne told spectators outside his bookstore as he lit the first batch of books.

The fire blazed for about 50 minutes before the Kansas City Fire Department put it out because Wayne didn't have a permit for burning.

Alibris will provide third-party selling on Borders

The Alibris bookselling network will enable sellers to upload their inventory to Borders after that bookstore chain breaks its relationship with Amazon this year. For six years, the Borders Web site has been a branded version of Amazon.com, but Borders is striking out on its own to try to generate more profits.

The company is recruiting new small- and medium-sized sellers with a new "Alibris Basic" service, which will enable "anyone to sell their new and used books, used textbooks, as well as their rare and out-of-print books."

With one upload, sellers will be able to Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Borders, and Chapters/Indigo.

Here's the entire announcement.

Here's the terms from the signup page:

You can list up to 1,000 items for sale, and you only pay $1 plus a small commission for each one that you sell. If you don't sell anything, you don't pay anything except the annual subscription charge of $19.99.

I guess it will all depend on how much traffic Borders is able to drive to its Web site, but there's no way to separate it from Amazon at the moment.

Borders is the second-largest bookstore chain in the U.S. after Barnes & Noble. The fact that there's going to be third-party selling on its site is a healthy sign, I think. What do you think?

Q&A: Should I refund my irate customer before the book is returned?

QUESTION: It looks like I made a rookie error and listed a book in the wrong place on Amazon. I need the book in hand to be sure, but I could swear I listed it under the correct ISBN. Anyway, the customer didn't get the edition of the book they expected, so I received my first angry e-mail since I started selling last summer.

My issue is this: This customer is demanding an immediate refund or she will give me very negative feedback. She wants the refund before I receive my book back from her. I am happy to refund her, but not until I have the book returned to me. She's holding me holding me hostage by threatening my 100% feedback.

I don't believe she has the right to demand a refund before she returns the product. I think of it as the same as a store you could walk into. They aren't going to refund and wait for the product to be returned two weeks later.

Am I wrong in my thinking?

ANSWER: I understand the quandary you're in. Not a week goes by when there isn't some goof-up I've got to fix.

I've handled this type of situation both ways -- by demanding the book back first, and at other times I've refunded first, giving the customer the benefit of the doubt.

Here's my basic advice -- if the book is not worth a tremendous amount of money, I'd give the customer an immediate refund and accept the return later. I've had very, very few mishaps (if any) going this route myself. I usually apologize too -- if the buyer hasn't been insulting.

I do keep a log of everyone I've refunded. So far nobody's ever tried for a second refund.

One thing about people who buy stuff online: They *always* think they're in the right, even when they're in the wrong. Once they have that idea in their head there's nothing we the seller can do to change that idea, we've just got to make the best of things.

Amazon postpones change to order e-mails

Amazon will delete customer information from its "Sold, ship now" e-mails on May 30, not this week as previously announced.

We have postponed the "Sold, ship now" e-mail change to May 30. This allows both Amazon and sellers a little more time to prepare for and ensure a smooth transition.

Starting Wednesday, May 30, "Sold, ship now" e-mails will only contain the following information:

* Notification that a customer has purchased one of your products.
* The order ID.
* The quantity and product title of the item in the order.

We will no longer be including order details or information about the buyer, such as the buyer e-mail address.

Reminder: In 3 days, Amazon deletes customer info from shipping e-mails

Three days from now Amazon will no longer include customer names, shipping addresses and e-mail addresses in "Sold, ship now" e-mails. From that point on, the e-mails will include only:

• Notification that a customer has purchased one of your products.
• The order ID.
• The quantity and product title of the item in the order.

Click here for more info and an example of the new "Sold, ship now" e-mail format.

Bulk selling on Half.com and lowered expectations

Two months ago eBay introduced a new policy that made me very, very happy. The new policy meant that books listed on Half.com would be displayed on eBay Express, and there was no additional fees for this added exposure.

Since then I've found out some good news and bad news about this.

First, the bad news: The Half listings don't show up in regular eBay searches, as I had (foolishly) assumed. The buyer has to start at eBay Express. How many eBay shoppers search on Express? I'm guessing it's way, way, way less than 1 percent. And even if someone did search for a book on Express, they probably wouldn't find it -- Express is the balkiest, most confusing shopping site I've ever seen. Go ahead, try and find something on Express.

So that's the bad news -- we're not going to get a ton of eBay exposure and sales simply by listing on Half.

Now, the good news: Half.com sellers are able to do bulk inventory uploads again. Half had quit approving new sellers for bulk uploading a year or two ago. But recently Half.com began accepting uploads from users of eBay File Exchange.

The requirements: You need to be actively selling on Half.com for at least 90 days and you must have an average of 50 or more active listings per month for the last two months.

I haven't gotten around to signing up for File Exchange yet, so I'm interested to know if anyone has tried it and seen any results yet. I'm assuming this tool would allow you to take an Amazon open listings report and easily prepare an upload file for Half.com.

Here's the quick-start guide for Half users.

The most expensive book on Amazon.com

OK, here's a trivia question for you: Which book listed on Amazon has the highest price?

Give up?

It's Super Bowl XL Opus MVP Edition. Sure, $40,000 is a bit steep, but you get free shipping. And it's leather bound.

Read the customer reviews for this book, they're priceless.

Book review: Estate Sale Prospecting for Fun and Profit

Every once in a while, when I'm at an estate sale scrounging for books, I'll come across an item I buy for myself or my family. Last year I bought a brand new, huge Coleman cooler for $10.

Something I've never gotten around to is trying to buy some of the other knick-knacks you see at sales and reselling them on eBay. One of my favorite TV shows is Antiques Roadshow, but I've always stuck with books when it comes to my Internet business.

This week I read an interesting book called Estate Sale Prospecting for Fun and Profit with craigslist and eBay. It's a nice, short book about how to get started selling obscure but valuable items bought at estate sales.

The idea behind the book is that two key tools have made it easier than ever to be a successful estate sale "prospector." First, craigslist, a free online classified service, allows you to quickly find all the upcoming sales in your region. And, of course, eBay enables you to put your items up for auction before a worldwide pool of buyers. The advice in this book helps you develop a system for buying a few inexpensive items at each estate sale for reselling profitably on eBay. And in that sense, it's just like bookselling -- you get better with experience. And you're not going to get rich, but you'll probably have some fun.

If you've already got a lot of experience working estate sales, this book may be redundant for you. But if you don't -- or you're interested in expanding beyond books into other types of used merchandise -- this is a book you can put to good use. If you have trouble finding enough inventory in your area, it might make sense to consider other types of collectibles.

The author, John Landahl, got into online selling when he was cleaning out a closet and found a box of old marbles, which he nearly threw in the garbage. Instead he listed the marbles on eBay, where they sold for $94, and a new hobby was born. Landahl gives many more examples of successes and mistakes he's made along the way.

New feedback system hits eBay

eBay unveiled its new feedback system, which is less forgiving for sellers but buyers seem to like it.

Skip McGrath has a good rundown here:

Most buyers think it is great, but many eBay sellers are less than enthusiastic. The main concern lies in Detailed Seller Ratings, an anonymous rating based on each of four criteria: shipping and handling, communication, item as described and shipping time as described. The problem is the seller has no recourse on this. Any buyer can leave any rating they want and there is no dispute process for the seller as there is for feedback. This, of course, is one of the reasons buyers love it. They can be honest without the fear of negative feedback in return.

Well, sometimes "honesty" is in the eye of the beholder.

I guess eBay's system is getting to be more like Amazon's -- with the increased danger of being zapped by some buyer who hasn't read the description, can't wait a week for Media Mail, or some other grievance.

IRS wants Amazon and eBay to report seller income

Did you report your bookselling income on your tax return last month? Lots of part-time sellers don't -- they figure they aren't required to report income from a "hobby."

But if the IRS has its way, marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon will report our income next year on a Form 1099. They won't withhold any of your income for taxes, but they'll issue the 1099, just like you get a W-2 from a regular job. And since there was no withholding, you'd have to pay quarterly estimated tax payments.

How would Amazon and eBay do this? They'd require us to provide our Social Security number (or employer tax ID) as a condition of selling on their site. That's exactly what is proposed in the Bush Administration's 2008 budget: If you conduct 100 transactions totalling $5,000 or more during the year, your income would be reported to the IRS by Amazon, eBay or any other company that "brokers" online transactions.

According to this story at ComputerWorld, the reporting would begin on January 1, 2008.

The idea is unpopular with lots of people, including this policy group. They warn that providing our Social Security numbers to selling venues can increase the risk of identity fraud.

What do you think?

Q&A: Where did my Amazon listings go?

QUESTION: I just checked 60 of my Amazon listings and a bunch are missing. The first two I checked don't even show up. Surprised, I frantically searched my open listings for a few more. Only three out of the first 12 I checked were even there.

Of the remaining 48 randomly selected books, only about half were actually listed. Had these items been penny books, my concern would be less urgent. But most were saleable items and, since having been relisted, have sold. I am a Pro-Merchant and have been for the duration of the listings (about one year).

Furthermore, several listings I checked by clicking on the link for the item led to a dead end, 'This Page No Longer Exists' page. My theory is that the page was closed after the listing, but how would I have known?! Now, I fear, I have to check every single link to every single listing and pull each book from my shelves to learn whether or not it is even listed. This would, obviously, be as enormous a project.

There has been no indication to me that any of these listings were closed. Where did they go? This is, obviously, very disappointing and frustrating for me.

ANSWER: This sort of thing has been a continuing problem for me too, ever since I've been selling on Amazon. It seems to be just a random thing, that every once in a while some of my listings just drop off into thin air. About once every six to nine months I go through and make sure everything on my shelves has a listing. I usually find about 15-20 percent of the items I have are no longer listed, for no apparent reason. Very frustrating, because I depend on Amazon's listings to know what I have in inventory.

Also, there has been a big glitch at Amazon recently, and that may be part of what you're seeing. So before you do anything drastic (like taking a complete inventory) I would give this a few more days. There are many comments on Amazon's seller discussion board about missing listings. I think there is some kind of payment snafu that is making the dropped listings problem look even worse at the moment.

And there's one more factor: Every so often Amazon goes through their catalog and deletes books. Sometimes there seems to be a legitimate reason for it, like the book is an obsolete edition. And other times these deletions seem to be just random and nonsensical. Your listing won't be closed, but it's in limbo because it's not showing up anywhere on Amazon. For this kind of missing listing, assuming it's a fairly valuable book, you should verify that the ISBN is no longer in Amazon's catalog. Then try to find the best match for what remains in Amazon's catalog and list it there.

I remember one time about six years ago, Amazon had a big crash and lost most of the listings of many of its Pro-Merchants. Poof, one day they were gone, and that was that. Those sellers who didn't have a backup list of their stock had to relist their whole inventory.

Since you're a Pro-Merchant and don't have a separate inventory system, I'd recommend keeping a periodic backup by generating an Open Listings report at least once a week and saving it to your hard drive. That way, if Amazon has a big failure someday, you'll have a record of your ISBNs, descriptions, and SKUs, and you won't have to reinvent the wheel entirely.

Will you downsize because of the Postal Service rate hikes?

When I started selling books online, I thought it would be just fine if I made a couple of dollars of profit on each book I shipped. If I could make more than that on certain books, great -- but I figured I'd sell anything I could for some chump change.

I also offered every book I had for international shipping because I figured that adding overseas sales to the mix would help me make money even faster.

These latest Postal Service rate hikes, though, are going to take a toll on our business. Media Mail is going up a lot, nearly 18 percent. And on Amazon, overseas customers will have to spend $12.50 on International shipping -- more than the price of my average book!

If you combine this with Amazon's constant offers of free shipping for new merchandise and Fulfilled by Amazon merchants, we're going to have to scrap a lot harder for every sale. So from now on, I'm going to concentrate on higher-priced books, so that each sale is worth the headaches.

This week the Associated Press asked me how I thought the postal rate hikes would affect online bookselling. The story, which hit the wire this morning, says:

... Some will take more drastic steps - such as abandoning higher-cost, low-margin parts of their businesses.

Steve Weber, who sells books online, already stopped shipping some lower-priced books in recent years because he simply couldn't make enough of a profit as mailing costs increased. When rates rise again, he expects to pare his inventory further, discarding or donating books that would sell for $5 or less.

"I'll probably downsize quite a bit and focus in on the items that are worth more money," said Weber, adding that he'll also be shipping fewer books overseas.

"The key to making money is to specialize," said Weber, who runs his business, Weber Books, from Falls Church, Va. "You've got to focus in on markets like collectible cookbooks or poetry."

I don't know what in the world I was thinking when I said "poetry." I haven't sold a single poetry book in seven years, I don't even know if anyone buys them. I was just trying to think of an example of something you can specialize in.

What do you think? Will the postal rate hikes change your business?