Only amazon can list certain books as new!
Hello everyone , again Amazon prove to consider themselves above the rest of us independent sellers .
We sold a graphic novel ( a collection of individual comic books collected into one volume ) this morning and after discovering we had two further copies , tried to list them with Amazon .
Although both books are 12 year old , both were bought NEW , they have never ever been read and have been in protective bags since they were purchased but Amazon wont allow us to list them as 'New " , even though they did with the copy we sold earlier today - instead we can list them as 'collectable ’ or ‘like new ’ . I checked the page and there was still a listing for a copy as ’ new’ , however this was for Amazon US .
How is it legal for a company to advertise and sell something as new but prevent other sellers from doing the same ?
23 replies
Seller_Wqg5EgqxuOwDD
They’ve always done this with books. Have you tried relisting the new one that already sold by going into your inactive inventory and relisting from there. Doing it this way sometimes works.
Seller_taDBgt7LctucW
Are these an American edition? This happens quite a lot and has been the case for years with certain American publishers. I always assumed that it was something to do with distribution rights.
Seller_Rds42gzScDQFa
So technically they are not new they are “like new” unless you purchased them from the publisher or official distributor
Seller_LKjg1QRrO36Yq
All books were originally bought new, it doesn’t make them ‘new’ in Amazon’s eyes.
I would be hesitant about listing 12 year old books as ‘like new’, let alone ‘new’.
Seller_taDBgt7LctucW
I had a feeling this thread might become a “when is new no longer new” debate. Personally, I don’t think that the publication date of the book has anything to do with the fact that it can’t be listed as new. I’ll stick with my original guess of it being a distribution rights issue.
The last one I had was a Stackpole book. I’ve listed scores of brand new Stackpole books over the years but this one just wouldn’t have it. No other seller could list it as new either.
Seller_G9pOHlPaw0WqP
I had an odd one the other week. A potentially high price book. £2.99. OK went to look at it, published in 1966 and only other copy was for sale by Amazon. Amazon’s was listed as NEW for a book that is over 55 years old? Hardly likely to be new is it?
Seller_RiVN2dcWY6xy9
The simple thing to do is to list the books “As New” and then describe their condition accurately, eg
Mint condition, not previously sold, still in publishers wraps and unread
This gets around the problem
