Depressing, what with the weather as well!

Even worse for medium and large sellers who will be passing on thousands of extra pounds to Amazon each year.

Which fee are we talking about? Is it the one that is currently 75p per item

The change won’t happen till January though at the bottom end of the price spectrum it will be offset by the referral fee for books with “a total sale price of less than £5.00” being reduced to 5% from 15%. The issue for small sellers will be whether or not they can still compete at this lower price end. The doubling of the VCF will push prices up at the very bottom end but the change in the referral fee will create a price containment threshold at £4.99. (If you sell at £4.99 the referral fee will be 25p, if you sell at £5.00 it will be 75p).

But what does “total sales price” mean? Does it mean including the postage charge?

This morning’s full email is below.

Dear Seller,

Starting in January 2021 (exact date will be communicated closer to launch), we will make several changes to features and fees relating to the sale of Book items on the Amazon Marketplace on Amazon.co.uk. These changes will further improve customer experience and provide you with increased flexibility and the potential for higher visibility of your products.

Feature in the Buy Box for books in new condition

In January 2021 (exact date will be communicated closer to launch), Selling Partners will be able to feature in the Buy Box for books in new condition. Please click on the below link for information on how you can increase your chances of featuring in the Buy Box:

https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/G37911

Changes to Selling on Amazon fees for Book items

We will be making two changes to how Selling on Amazon fees are charged for Book products. These fee changes will not take effect until January 2021 (exact date will be communicated closer to launch) to give you time to plan accordingly.

(a) Variable Closing Fees (VCF): The VCF charge in Books will change from £0.50 to £1.00 on amazon.co.uk.

(b) Referral fees: Starting in January 2021 (exact date will be communicated closer to launch), the Referral Fee for UK Books will change from 15% to 5% for products with a total sales price below £5.00. The referral fee will remain unchanged at 15% for products with a total sales price greater than or equal to £5.00.

For additional information on Selling on Amazon fees, please see the Selling on Amazon Fee Schedule:

https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/H78LW99F4XF3Z38

Regards,
Amazon Services Europe

The world is rapidly turning to poo. Reading a book, gardening, making stuff - not enough profit, no instant gratification. Something broken? Chuck it and buy a new one, don’t bother reading a book so you can fix it. Put plastic grass down cos it looks nice all year round, if it gets dirty throw it away and buy some more. Trees? Chop them all down, no more pesky leaves to sweep up, you can keep the grass for longer. Want to secure your patch? Put a fence up with those nice concrete panels at the bottom, plenty of sand in the desert to make them with, plenty of wood to make the panels with - oh no, someone chopped all the trees down, can’t have a wooden fence. Need food? Don’t bother growing your own, it takes too long and anyway there’s no worms/insects/birds/frogs left to help because you got rid of the trees and put plastic grass down.

Does anyone know if this change is for sellers who pay a £30 monthly subscription or just individuals who don’t pay the £30 ?

Will this hurt those mass resellers who get their books for free donated, put them on a conveyor to be scanned in and set their repricer to penny under? Books have no value left anymore.

I’m not sure what Amazon are up to because it’s all gone to schitt from the buyer’s side too.

They’ve removed the advanced search function so you can’t look for a specific edition.

They’ve hidden the prices on anything other than new editions, which mean you’ve got to trawl for ages to even get an idea of what the best price is.

They’ve screwed up the search engine so 90% of the books that come up are wrong and often wildly irrelevant.

It’s almost as if they were trying to drive the trade to ABE, which they own and has its own new search function problems.

These changes will further improve customer experience… How?

Apologies if I’m mis-reading the replies but I can’t see anyone adding the 15% they currently take if you have postage on a book (referral fee on delivery)? Our postage for books is £3.25 to UK so they take £0.49 currently or is this being absorbed in the new rates for Jan 2021 or is that wishful thinking?