My own product trumped on searches by seller of used version!
I am an independent author, selling my own book on Amazon. My price is £10-95 for a brand NEW copy. dispatched by me. Another seller (a second-hand book-sales company) has come onto the page purporting to sell USED copies of my book for £29-90, which is in itself absurd. OK, he’s entitled to be stupid if he wants.
The problem is that when people search for the book by title, the see his price quoted first in big red letters, and only get to mine by clicking “See all buying options”. My research has shown that some people viewing the page have been deterred by the big price, and have not looked further.
This company is using the sales page that I have designed, plus my own description of my book, plus reviews, in the hope that somebody will click to buy at their crazy price. I suspect a sharp practice by them, but I’ll keep that to myself!
So why does their version show up on searches, and is there anything I can do to change it?
8 replies
Seller_Rds42gzScDQFa
I have noticed that used items always get better visibility than new. Very strange but true.
Seller_taDBgt7LctucW
Exactly as they should be doing. It is against the rules to create a new ASIN for an existing product. If they have a used copy of your book then they should be selling it on the same ASIN as your new copies.
If you search the help pages for information about the Buy Box then you should get some insight as to why their offer is more prominently placed than your own.
Seller_JB8wPCk9zkyad
Ray,
Welcome to Amazon,
Don’t take any of this personally, when you understand what happens on Amazon, you end up realising no humans are involved, it is all a big mirage created by computer programs
They DON’T HAVE YOUR BOOK.
They are a Dropshipper.
They DON’T have a single book in stock.
This is running off a PC in a dark dingy bedsit somewhere.
A real person is not involved.
Their software has generated all of this.
If they do happen to sell the book, they will buy a copy from you.
Why don’t you buy one from them ?
You don’t have to name the book, but name the seller, and your fellow forum members will reveal all …
Seller_IYXiuHdhFSL9u
The whole pricing thing is a bit nuts. It might be due to them issuing free P&P (if that is what they do). It all seems to be a bit random.
People are unlikely going to pay more than £29 for a book, especially as it is used.
I am not even sure their prices are what they intended them to be. I have lost count of the amount of times I have seen books that have an RRP of one price, being sold for 2 or 3 times more .
