In the old days, when I was a writer, we used to call this a “man bites dog” story.
Here it is:
Amazon just did a boneheaded thing, and it deserves all the scorn you want to heap on it. Last week, the company offered people cash in exchange for going into retail stores and scanning items using the company’s Price Check smartphone app. If you scanned a product and then purchased it from Amazon rather than the shop you were standing in, Amazon would give you a 5 percent discount on the sale.
I’m sure it’s been in several spy flicks, James Bond movies, and numerous “Get Smart” episodes — the “book safe,” a hollowed-out book that conceals a key. It’s a great way to recycle or upcycle a penny book, especially a worthless leatherbound cutie.
If you had the right kind of saw, you could probably transform your penny books into a “hidden book safe” like these on Overstock.
The latest is this listing on Etsy, where someone has transformed yesterday’s bestsellers into iPhone chargers. Considering the markup you get on Apple accessories, it’s probably a great idea:
Sellers, you can download your 1099K from Amazon. Look on your Seller Account page in the “Reports” section and you’ll see a link for “View your tax document library.”
As you know, the 1099K is new this year. It reports your gross income to the Internal Revenue Service, much like the W2 you receive from an employer. You get a 1099K only if you gross more than $20,000 annually. Not receiving a 1099 won’t relieve you of any tax filing obligations, though.
The picture on the left is what mine looks like after I’ve deleted the numbers. Click on the picture to zoom in. At first glance, the monthly totals in each box matched up fairly closely with the monthly totals from my seller performance summary from last year– the only difference, I guess, is fees and refunds. The monthly boxes didn’t match up exactly with my payment disbursements for each month, either (sometimes I carry a balance into the first few days of a month), but I’m assuming the annual total will match up with my 2011 disbursements to the penny.
For more details here is the IRS instructions, and the Amazon help page.
For eBay, Etsy, and other sales venues paying through PayPal, instructions are here.
PS: Received this email last night:
Hello from Amazon,
For the 2011 tax year, if you had at least $20,000 in unadjusted gross sales and 200 or more transactions, a Form 1099-K is now available for download in the new Tax Document Library in your seller account. If you did not meet both of these thresholds, a Form 1099-K will not be available for download.
If you did not consent to electronic delivery, the form will be postmarked on or before January 31, 2012, and mailed to the address provided by you in the tax interview. If you did consent to electronic delivery, you can download the form. From the “Reports” section of your seller account, select “View your tax document library,” then 2011, and then Form 1099-K.
For information on Form 1099 filing instructions, please visit the IRS web site:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099gi.pdf
For additional information about the 1099-K regulations and Amazon policy, and to see answers to frequently asked questions, search on “1099″ in seller Help.
Important Notice: Information in this document does not constitute tax, legal, or other professional advice. To find out how this new legislation will affect your business, or if you have other questions, please contact your tax, legal, or other professional advisor.
Best regards,
Amazon Services
If you’re a seller, Amazon will nail you for posting product reviews of the stuff you’re selling.
One seller, VIP Deals, who was offering rebates in exchange for five-star product reviews, was apparently suspended by Amazon after the New York Times ran a story about them. Not only did Amazon take down VIP’s listings, they wiped out the product page, too.
Just to be clear, we’re talking about product reviews, not merchant feedback.
This is one thing that escapes the attention of many sellers: Amazon’s “prohibited seller activities” includes writing product reviews of items you’re selling. The logic is, if you have a financial interest in the product, it’s too tempting to post an undeservedly glowing review of it (in other words, a “fake” endorsement). Here’s Amazon’s wording:
Creating reviews for items in which you have a financial interest in the product or a directly competing product (for example posting a review of a product you offer for sale on Amazon, or posting a negative review of a competing product) is prohibited. You may not solicit or pay anyone to create a review or offer gifts or refunds for the removal of product reviews.
So, was VIP Deals in the wrong for offering a rebate to buyers in exchange for reviews? No debate in this case. Where they went over the line was in hinting they expected 5-star reviews in exchange for refunds–according to what I’ve read. As the Times recounts, thousands of Amazon customers discovered VIP’s Kindle Fire leather cases priced at $10, marked down from $59.99. The packages arrived with a letter asking buyers “to write a product review for the Amazon community.”
“In return for writing the review, we will refund your order so you will have received the product for free,” the letter said. Here’s a picture of the letter:
There’s nothing inherently wrong about providing free products solely for review consideration. Amazon has a giant program called Amazon Vine, which serves as a pipeline between publishers, product manufacturers, and Amazon’s amateur reviewers. Vine reviewers get a newsletter once a month offering review copies of new books and other products.
You can’t directly sign up for Amazon Vine. It’s one of those “don’t call us, we’ll call you” situations. If you frequently post product reviews on Amazon and get a sufficiently high percentage of “helpful” votes, you’ll get the invitation.
Check out most of the Amazon Vine reviews, and you’ll see that most (but not all) of the reviewers consistently post five-star product reviews. Perhaps they post upbeat reviews because they can expect to receive even more freebies from manufacturers who want reviews of new items.
I’ve heard that it costs publishers more than $5,000 to get a single book included in the Vine program. And so publishers are frustrated when, every once in a while, a Vine reviewer pans a book, according to Publishers Weekly.
One of the most notorious Amazon reviewers is Harriet Klausner, who often posts dozens of glowing book reviews each day of the week.
I’ve been a member of Vine myself for three or four years, and one thing I’ve noticed is that the offered products closely follow your recent purchases. If I’ve recently bought a kitchen gadget on Amazon, the next Vine newsletter will offer kitchen gadgets, in addition to books. Last month I bought a license plate frame on Amazon, and sure enough, today’s newsletter offered auto accessories. So Amazon definitely tries to match up books and products with reviewers who are interested in that category.
How effective is Vine? That’s open to debate. One thing is obvious, though, it’s a cash cow for Amazon — they’ve got manufacturers lining up by the thousands paying big bucks for the privilege of giving away their merchandise, on the theory that they’ll eventually sell more of it.
![[Google]]( http://www.weberbooks.com/selling/wp-content/plugins/easy-adsenser/google-light.gif)
What does a bookseller with insomina do all night?
These guys need to get out of bookselling and into moviemaking:
bookselling
The Bookseller
Publishers Weekly
This month alone both Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Pittsburgh and RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, Ct., went on the market. TBIB owner Mary Gay Shipley, who turns 68 next month, told PW, “I want somebody to buy my store and make it theirs.
Publishers Weekly
Although the hiatus hasn't affected American Booksellers Association IndieCommerce stores that sell Google eBooks on their Web sites or affiliates like Powell's Books in Portland or smaller stores like Devaney Doak & Garrett Booksellers in Farmington, ...
Telegraph.co.uk