I have just had an argument with Account Health over a listing that we have been given a violation on.
The item is a foil balloon, that we buy from Amscan for 37p
We was selling this for £2.79 which means that after fees and shipping, we make around 20p profit.
HOWEVER...
We are overpriced as amazon are selling this for 30p !!!!!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079CHWLN9?ref=myi_title_dp&th=1
The account health specialist states they stand by amazons decision and we need to reduce our price to meet market place expectations.
Oh and to top it off, amazon Usually dispatched within 6 to 7 months so we could get these in time for Christmas. Didn't know 6-7 months was an acceptable delivery time frame?
These policies are becoming a joke...
This happens all the time with books. Amazon don't seem to want the market to set the price but want to "Dictate" what you can sell at. All they will do is push more and more used books over to Ebay, which I have noticed is happening already.
Over 10 years ago the OFT were looking into whether Amazon's price parity policy was anti competitive and illegal. Amazon ended the policy. presumable to avoid any fines or official directives before the investigations concluded. It seems they are hoping this has been forgotten and are doing the same, but renamed the policy.
I am fairly sure (but don't quote me) that the EU banned the practice, or found it was already illegal, and fined Amazon.
I really don't get why we can't sell for a price that we decide is fair. I had the opposite the other day of a book being underpriced. So if I can't sell it for £11.99 how the heck am I going to sell it for £25.99 ( which I think is the price a US seller is selling it for) It's been up for sale for a couple of years. Surely if I am happy with £11.99 that should be my decision not Amazon's
If it's an error they should correct it or at least SS should flag it to whoever can make changes. But they tell you to sell at the same price. I can understand that Amazon is big and doesn't know what's happening but they should pay some attention to the forum then, as this issue have been mentioned several times. They shouldn't do it for us sellers by all means but for their customers.
I have ''bought' one very cheap product with a long lead time to see what happened, but after several months when the delivery date was approaching I got an email saying that I had to wait another 6 months.
This is so customer-centric, isn't it?
It was a product readily available from the UK manufacturer, it didn't even need to be imported from China.
You can complain to the UK Competition & Markets Authority. There is a specific part email for it, you can find it here: ....
OK, amazon wouldn't let me post a link to it (shocking). It is in their 'news' section here:
Pursuant to the commitments Amazon has entered into with the UK Competition & Markets Authority, if you have any complaints regarding Amazon’s compliance with its commitments, you may direct them via a complaint form to the Monitoring Trustee at *****or Alcis Advisers GmbH, Fasanenstraße 73, 10719 Berlin, Germany.
The complaint form and further information can be found on the Monitoring Trustee’s website:
Give it a google, and you'll find it, I'm sure.
Ive had similar issues too
I used to sell a 'Hello Kitty' paper lightshade. I was only making about 20p on it by time I took account of fees, postage, VAT, etc
Another seller came along and priced it at 99p - including postage. Now the item had to be sent as a parcel so they could only have been losing money per sale as postage alone was going cost more. I thought perhaps it was coming from China so they were getting away with low postage costs. So I bought a test but it was posted from UK as it came 2 days later posted by Royal Mail Parcel48.
Amazon in their wisdom deemed my price was now too high and so they suppressed my listing unless I reduced my price. I was not going to deliberately sell at a price where it would cost me to fulfil the order so in the end I just left it and sold it on other marketplaces instead.
There is an item that I can buy for around £2 from the manufacturer that I sell at a reasonable price sold by another seller at £39.99. You would expect Amazon to stop it, as the highest priced is at less that half that price, but they don't.
There are 2/3 new sellers around that sell everything at exorbitant prices, not that I care, as they are out of the race, but that's how it should be, you price something too high, you won't sell. Amazon shouldn't get involved, or if they do, they should be consistent.
I agree completely that Amazon should stay out of any pricing responsibility. If someone advertises at too high a price then let customers decide whether to buy or not - it should not be Amazon.
I can only say what my experience was. Amazon suppressed my offer because I was advertising it at £6 when the other seller was advertising it at 99p. When you take out postage, VAT and Amazon fees I was making very little - the other seller had obviously made a mistake and selling at a price that was costing them as postage alone was going be more than 99p.
Yes - Amazon are just not consistent. Its probably bot driven and the bot not being too clever picks on the wrong products.
If any Amazon moderator reads this can you please just post the whole thread over to the MD's office. Thanks.