Farewell fellow sufferers, and a two fingered salute to Bezos.
I'm happy to announce I have finally done what I should have done long ago and taken down what was left of my book inventory. I was one of the few survivors from the era when Amazon sold books and indeed offered us an umbrella under which independent booksellers could offer their wares, before it became just a greedy corporate grabbing machine where it doesn't matter what you sell or whether you even see your own goods before they are shipped to Amazon and sent out by then, and even before all the big companies emerged to buy up all surplus books and put them out at a pittance rendering us unable to sell anything except the expensive or unusual. In 2004/5 tax year I sold over 4k of books on Amazon. I can fit my sales for a whole year on half a sheet of A4 now, I'm sick of the stupid rules, being told I need permission to sell a second hand book, being forced to give refunds to unreasonable customers, seeing Amazon earn almost as much as I do from each sale, and waiting unfair amounts of time to get paid because I wouldn't give in and get my postage from Amazon as well, not to mention the lack of help from seller support who generally don't appear to even understand the question or issue in the first place and then simply point you to a "policy" and more gobbledegook. Also I object to the way Amazon treats the small independent sellers who won't go big and use FBA, their own staff, and to the obscene wealth of Bezos who will not get one more penny from me.
To the fellow sufferers who have commented helpfully on my occasional posts, thank you, and I wish you patience and strength if you are going to continue, but I've had enough. Time comes a lot more of you may well vote with your feet, Bezos isn't Musk but he's rich enough to be a problem anyway.
I won't stick around to read the replies if any, I've been waiting to actually delete my account and that time is now. Hooray!
32 replies
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
@Seller_PtWmdOUhn6u1v I remember you from the 'old days', and I too am clinging on by the skin of my teeth, with virtually no profit anymore. It has become such a difficult place to sell on now, and I too am seriously thinking of getting rid of all my stock. Good luck Janet. x
Seller_k2X0L9mVRT0pW
18 yrs I've been on here and sales are negligible and no profit anymore as yu say JillyB. I am just selling off existing stock now to clear.
Sad - used to do ok for a small seller.
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
Yes, just over 18 years for me too. Lucky if I get a sale every couple of days now. I have given away lots of my stock, but still have just under 3,000 books/media items listed.
Yes, sad - I can remember the halcyon days where I would get 2-3 sales a day, and often 10-12 at the weekend - those days long gone.
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
" I know they will keep taking £30 per month, for as long as they can thereafter, probably for the next 20 years."
You don't need to pay £30 a month - and not worth it if you're only getting 15 orders a day - the draw even point is if you get approx 33/34 orders a day. Just downgrade to the individual selling plan - go to settings - account info - manage your service, sell on Amazon - same again and tick the individual box instead of professional - that is unless you want some of the other benefits of being on the pro plan such as setting your own shipping rates etc. On the individual plan you pay an extra 90p fee per sale (so divide £30 by 90p and that is why you need to sell 33 per month to draw even).
Seller_AlYpsVHv0gj21
Snap!
I am only hanging on as a hobby - hoping to come across a rare 1st edition that I can sell for £20,000 !!!!
Seller_fj3M54GkuGQyT
I'm genuinely sorry to see you go but I honestly think it's inevitable that a lot of sellers are facing the tough decision of whether Amazon is worth it anymore.
I sell in a space where there's a limit to what customers are willing (or expecting) to pay for the products we sell, so when Amazon (and Royal Mail for that matter) continually increase their fees, we can't just charge our customers more because they won't pay it.
I was looking at our sales data for the past two weeks and our NET disbursements after paying FBA fees, Amazon Fees and Ad fees, is coming in at about 33-35% of our gross sales. Thankfully, since Amazon have started charging vat on fees, we don't have to hand over as much of our net income to HMRC, but it still doesn't leave us much to pay our bills and replenish stock so it really makes you wonder what the point is.
Seller_40ozsHlGqPuEL
When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Seller_40ozsHlGqPuEL
"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'" – Mary Anne Radmacher
Seller_AlYpsVHv0gj21
@Julia_Amazon
Could you please bring this post to the attention of anyone at Amazon who has the intelligence to read it and understand it's meaning.
I think I can safely say that Janet has expressed the feelings of virtually every smaller bookseller ( and probably many other types of seller as well) .
The loss of one seller probably doesn't mean a great deal to Amazon but it is quite clear from the many posts on this forum that we are talking about many many sellers who are thinking about leaving
