Just read a fascinating (and lengthy!) rant by an Amazon Marketplace buyer who was shafted by a mega-seller/drop-shipper. All the gory details are in this blog post on Bioepherma.
So if any_book routinely does this kind of thing – lying about their merchandise, not shipping it on time, etc. – why was their positive feedback on Amazon Marketplace around 94%? Isn’t the “shaming” system of buyer feedback going to flag bad actors, and enable future buyers to avoid them? Well, here’s a possible answer why not: when I posted bad feedback about my purchase on Amazon, any_book immediately emailed me to persuade me to remove it. There was nothing overtly threatening about their message, although it did sound as if their willingness to fix my problem was contingent on me removing the negative feedback. But they didn’t come out and say that. Heck, they even offered to refund my shipping costs if I’d take down my negative comment. Nice, right?
I’m of two minds about this article. The author is certainly correct that some of Amazon Marketplace’s biggest sellers routinely provide sloppy, awful service. They rely on Amazon’s good name for their repeat business. They don’t really care if a customer is disappointed, they know that Amazon will bring them 100 new customers tomorrow.
On the other hand, I disagree with her argument that the decline of “old media” (such as local newspapers and TV reporting) means that irate customers have no recourse anymore. The Internet has made it much easier to publicize a complaint about any business. Plus, with Amazon transactions, there’s the A-to-Z Guarantee and a chargeback to your credit card.
The point about shady online sellers who get booted from eBay or Amazon being able to re-open the next day using a different name… Well, that’s a good theory, but that’s not the way it really is.
I guess it just comes back to feedback, and whether you believe it works or is totally broken. I’ll put it this way: I’m willing to bet $5 that the author purchased from the seller with the worst feedback.
What do you think?
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6 Comments
Related to this problem (well, sort of) is that Amazon’s feedback system could be confusing to a novice buyer. At first glance, a feedback rating of 94% sounds pretty good — it would get a grade of “A” in most school systems. If Amazon used a system that established a clearer numerical spread between “really good” and “barely passing,” it would provide a more intuitive scoring system for customers and sellers alike.
(Disclosure: we are a small Mom-n-Pop operation with a 4.90 feedback rating.)
Since Any_Book was mentioned by name:
1. Their rices are insanely high
2. They are a Drop-Shipper* [no physical Inventory]
3. They are not a scammer
4. Feedback is poor but not awful
5. Their monthly FB[feedback] is very high** [since few leave FB - this reflects phenominal sales]
* – This is not known by the Buyers, AZ Policy “states you must have the items in stock”. We have no way of knowing if “Any_Book” gets the book first for review and reships? This would put him in violation of the AZ “must ship in 2 days” rule. He or she has the additional disadvantage of not knowing what the item looks like or how the Seller they are buying from grades, ships or handles customer service. If you look at a page with few offerings, it becomes clear how I have analyzed this.
I will never drop-ship because of the above reasons. I did a few years back over the holidays on a lost book – there was enough room for me to re-purchase from other Sellers. Maybe, I contacted all potential Sellers first. 1 stated he was on vacation [though his listings weren't] another said he was removing the book [he probably saw he could get more], others ignoring the 2 day ship rule as well as any attempt at Customer Service pushed shipping forward. Finally I found one who was astute and alert after 6 slouches. Any_Book must spend 90% of business time sending emails. If not then that is one of ‘Any’s’ problems.
**AZ ignores their Feedback!
WHY?
Look at their numbers. Each sale [or Feedback] is $1.35 + $0.99 + 15% to Amazon.
I do not know what percentage of of Any’s Buyers leave FB [mine were 1% -if there is a problem you will hear from someone]. Each Feedback must be doubled [unrealistic] more likely multiplied by 10 or 20 to see what ‘Any’ is making per month.
That is why ‘Any’ is not going away any time soon.
There have been many over my 10 years at AZ who have come and gone with FB through the floor. So 94% as compared to them is great.
At the bottom of the FB page AZ used to have a note to Contact the Seller first.
That note should be at the top.
General Note
AZ has made mutual contact harder. Unfortunately, most Sellers are hobbyists and not Enterpreneurs. As a business person they would otherwise know that this makes AZ an agent and not a Mall and a different set of rule s would apply to what rules they can declare and impose on Sellers. As an ‘Agent’ they cannot hinder or guide our activities. As a Mall we should be allowed to act freely. Selling on AZ is a mix. In particular “Restraint of Trade” via “Collectible” restrictions and “Price Fixing” via “Collectible” price limits and other non-Industry jargon are more of a concern than Any_Books activities.
PS: Scamming Buyers are still protected by AZ. Why is it that high priced books never seem to be received by buyers. Delivery Confirmations and Signature Confirmations “not signed by intended Buyer” are rejected. All a Buyer has to do is have his room-mate, friend or neighbor sign and the Book is FREE. WONDERFUL
Hi,
The feedback systems works though I agree there is insufficient sensitivity to the difference between Excellent, Above Average, Average, Below Average and inadequate or unacceptable service and product.
As a novice dealer I packed a large heavy book in a padded envelope rather than a box. If I had used a box the book would have reached my buy intact. The book probably would have falled apart once the buy picked it up by the spine however no defect would have been apparent to the buyer until he handled the book.
I had shipped three copies of the same book to other books and received no negative feedback. The fourth copy was damaged in transit. When the customer complained that I had shipped him a defective product I picked up the fifth and last remaining copy of the book by the spine. The text block separated from the spine immediately.
I offered the buyer a full refund and return shipping. I never asked that the negative feedback the buyer left be removed because after three emails offering a refund I had not received an answer.
With only 39 ratings the only negative rating I received dropped my feedback from 100% to 97%. A second rating where I received neutral feedback dropped my rating to 94% which is equal to the mega dealer being discussed here.
To prevent the neutral feedback I would have to stop listing books on multiple sites that I only have a single copy of. The neutral feedback was in response to canceling an order on Amazon because the book had sold on Alibris only an hour earlier however Alibris does updates on a delayed basis even if a seller like myself updates immediately after a book being sold on an alternate site.
The only things I can think to do are; 1. improve my packing so that books are not damaged in transit and 2. do no list single copy books on multiple sites.
Paul Hanrahan
yeah, 94% sounds good – but not for feedback on Amazon. I would agree with you that the purchaser took the seller with the worst feedback. I always check before I order and if it’s 94%, I look a little further to see what the problem was…..
Besides, you always have Amazon’s A to Z guarantee.
Then I guess you owe me $5, then, don’t you?
Any_book did not have the worst feedback percentage. True, it didn’t have the best either. But there simply weren’t many sellers with large feedback numbers who had the book i needed (Amazon itself didn’t have it, nor did B&N), so I didn’t have the luxury of picking a seller with near-perfect feedback, as I usually do. I could have chosen a higher feedback % – but it would have been a seller with very few ratings and a much higher price. I generally don’t trust sellers with few transactions unless they have a perfect record, and I didn’t want to pay more for the book than I would have buying it at a campus bookstore with a hefty markup, so I did opt to take some risk on any_book. It was a bad call. But I did NOT choose the seller with the worst feedback, as you suggest. If there’d been a seller for $5 more with a 97% rating, for example, I’d have taken that option in a heartbeat. It wasn’t an option.
As a general observation, it’s interesting how many people reading the post suggested explanations for why I had a bad experience that, if true, would have enabled me to avoid it easily. If it makes people feel better to assume I’m unusually stupid or credulous and this will never happen to them, that’s ok.
I sincerely do hope it never happens to anyone else, which is why I took the time to write the post. But the main point of the post was not the experience with any_book, which was just intended to illustrate the argument you actually disagreed with – that online feedback systems are compromised. I agree with your commenter who said that to a novice, 94% looks good; I think that a feedback system that tells my mom, a novice buyer, that any_book is a good seller has a problem. I don’t like reputational guidance systems that are only intelligible to an in-crowd. Furthermore, 94% is still too high, if any_book’s behavior is really that of a no-stock seller: I find it hard to believe that system only goes wrong 6/100 sales. Relative to their behavior, their reputation isn’t nearly bad enough.
Cheers,
BioE
From comments about this seller,- here & elsewhere online- it seems fairly obvious that their intent has nothing to do with selling books and everything to do with obtaining info: names, addresses, email, etc., and especially credit card numbers for the “sale.”
Buyers need to pay attention. Can’t imagine why anyone in their right mind would decide to spend (for example) $60 or so for a $19.95 list price book that is not a collector’s item.
This seller has listed on my book page. Crazy!
That said, it seems that Amazon has an obligation to research this seller more carefully to protect their reputation as an honest online merchant.