Selling Lego on Amazon.com

[biking_tiger]

Just now, asharerin said:

When you sign up as a seller you agree to waive all of your rights. Nobody is forcing anyone to sell on their platform. Amazon rules change every 4-6 months, and will continue to do so. The only ones who may have a case are the brand owners who Amazon is now making money off.

Unless Amazon is sending them the $1000, I think you have a very good point. 

[gregpj]

16 minutes ago, asharerin said:

When you sign up as a seller you agree to waive all of your rights. Nobody is forcing anyone to sell on their platform. Amazon rules change every 4-6 months, and will continue to do so. The only ones who may have a case are the brand owners who Amazon is now making money off.

Agreeing to waive your rights is not the same as having no rights. Courts regularly rule against terms that violate a law or two.... but someone has to have the money and desire to take on a big dog like Amazon. You can bet the terms have been crafted very carefully to ensure they appear to be fair (i.e. EVERYONE has to the pay the $1,000 unless they are the manufacturer of the product).

<not saying Amazon's terms or changes are illegal.. simply stating that agreeing to terms of use can't overrule laws that are currently in place>

One leg people may have to stand on is that the terms of use changed without your knowledge, or that the changes were too hard to find. I believe it was Apple that got into a whack of trouble for always rewriting the rules and making it next to impossible to find the changes. Googling that is hard.... so much other crap in the news.

[redcell]

Actually, I just looked, and most of the Force Awakens sets don't have a lot of sellers yet at all.  This could be a good thing.  Now that the gate is locked, and some of us sit behind it.... I'm a little giddy that those days of seeing 200+ sellers on amazon could be history.  This might mean, I can stack up on advent calendars this year and laugh at all those that did that last year! 

Take a look at the number of sellers for Santa's Workshop...the club of sellers beyond the gate is not very exclusive

[Loghamel]

I wasn't aware that AMZ was sold out of any of the TFA sets.  Just checked 75104... 

[fossilrock]

22 minutes ago, Loghamel said:

I wasn't aware that AMZ was sold out of any of the TFA sets.  Just checked 75104... 

It would make sense to see some of the TFA sets begin to disappear as Rogue One comes out.   This one will be replaced by Krennic's Shuttle, so that's good news.  I suspect there will be a few more that go away sooner rather than later.

56 minutes ago, redcell said:

Take a look at the number of sellers for Santa's Workshop...the club of sellers beyond the gate is not very exclusive

Yeah, I just did.  Obviously, not any sort of exclusive club. 

 

[BrickLegacy]

I still see Kylo being sold by AMZ.

[Brickbuilder.g]

Yeah I see this as good news long-term maybe 1 to 2 years out but this Christmas season is still going to be tough for those holdimg Santas workshop and the like

[fossilrock]

I gots a theory!  Millennium Falcon is still in the new catalogue while the other original Force Awakens sets from last year are absent.  Just throwing this out there, but maybe it's still going to be gated for a little bit since they still plan on having this one go past the new year, while the other 6 sets are heading off to the retirement home..  

[gobuffs98]

9 minutes ago, fossilrock said:

I gots a theory!  Millennium Falcon is still in the new catalogue while the other original Force Awakens sets from last year are absent.  Just throwing this out there, but maybe it's still going to be gated for a little bit since they still plan on having this one go past the new year, while the other 6 sets are heading off to the retirement home..  

I think you might be right.  They may want to keep the Millennium on the shelves for this christmas since it is a big ticket item.  Krennic's Shuttle is only going to be a $90 set.

[Loghamel]

4 hours ago, BrickLegacy said:

I still see Kylo being sold by AMZ.

You're right.  I didn't think AMZ would ever give the BB up for a couple of dollars.

[redcell]

5 hours ago, diablo2112 said:

Been reading and lurking in this thread for the last week.  Am I the only person that thinks Amazon's actions amount to restraint of trade?  I'm no lawyer, so I really don't know.  Arbitrary fees ($1000-$5000), new rules, etc. all seem to amount to unfair trade practices.  Anybody who understands this stuff want to chime in?  I'm all for Amazon fighting counterfeits; taking out legitimate sellers in the process is much more concerning.  

I would be willing to bet we'll soon see some counteraction from third party sellers on the legal front.  Class action?

 

There will be no lawsuit or class action over this...at least not one that would have any chance of ever succeeding.    

5 hours ago, gregpj said:

Agreeing to waive your rights is not the same as having no rights. Courts regularly rule against terms that violate a law or two.... but someone has to have the money and desire to take on a big dog like Amazon. You can bet the terms have been crafted very carefully to ensure they appear to be fair (i.e. EVERYONE has to the pay the $1,000 unless they are the manufacturer of the product).

<not saying Amazon's terms or changes are illegal.. simply stating that agreeing to terms of use can't overrule laws that are currently in place>

 

But what laws exactly has Amazon violated by exercising its contractual right to alter the terms on which it makes its service available?

[gregpj]

But what laws exactly has Amazon violated by exercising its contractual right to alter the terms on which it makes its service available?

That's more or less what I'm saying... They are within their rights to change their terms of use/service as long as it doesn't violate any laws. The only people with the will or lawyers to look into that will be large corporations or the government (and well, neither ever would).

What is more likely is that at some point Amazon gets taken to task for changing the way it makes these changes without allowing users to opt in or out.

It's akin to the old EULAs that appeared in shrink wrapped software. It always started by saying that by opening the box you agreed to the terms, except you couldn't read them without opening the box! They had to change it to say if you didn't agree you were entitled to a refund, etc.

Since Amazon doesn't notify users of their system who have previously agreed to the old terms, there is some grey area.... And eventually someone may step up and force them to come clean and force people to accept the new terms before continuing... Except then you have to clearly divulge them.

Whew... Hope that makes sense. That's a lot of typing on my phone!

[Phil B]

Looking for some advice regarding Seller Feedback on Amazon. Made a few sales the last few months, but haven't received any feedback, so my account still shows as "Just Launched". Should I actively chase former customers for feedback, or do I just need to keep selling and feedback will come? How do you handle this (do you slip a feedback request note in your shipments? Do you do an email follow up?) Any advice would be most appreciated.

[odysea11]

8 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Looking for some advice regarding Seller Feedback on Amazon. Made a few sales the last few months, but haven't received any feedback, so my account still shows as "Just Launched". Should I actively chase former customers for feedback, or do I just need to keep selling and feedback will come? How do you handle this (do you slip a feedback request note in your shipments? Do you do an email follow up?) Any advice would be most appreciated.

My current ratio is 274:12....people just don't leave feedback very often on Amazon. I thought Ebay was bad, but Amazon is no better...IMO.

[Bold-Arrow]

8 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Looking for some advice regarding Seller Feedback on Amazon. Made a few sales the last few months, but haven't received any feedback, so my account still shows as "Just Launched". Should I actively chase former customers for feedback, or do I just need to keep selling and feedback will come? How do you handle this (do you slip a feedback request note in your shipments? Do you do an email follow up?) Any advice would be most appreciated.

i wouldn't touch it , be patient and feedback with come especially over the holiday season. 3-5% is the average rate at which customers leave feedback on amazon. sending slips or asking for feedback is asking for trouble. let sleeping dogs be, u might end up with one irate customer who will leave a negative .

[newbie77]

3 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Looking for some advice regarding Seller Feedback on Amazon. Made a few sales the last few months, but haven't received any feedback, so my account still shows as "Just Launched". Should I actively chase former customers for feedback, or do I just need to keep selling and feedback will come? How do you handle this (do you slip a feedback request note in your shipments? Do you do an email follow up?) Any advice would be most appreciated.

My feedback ratio at Amazon is more like 4%-5%. It's not like bricklink where it's more than 50% . 

Having said that, I stopped asking for feedback once I realized that sometimes that leaves door open for extortion. I.e. Oh if you do this we will give you nice feedback etc... 

Long story short.... As a seller I do what I am suppose to do:

a. List under proper asin

b. Ship expeditedly

c. Package properly with enough padding

if buyer are happy and we exceeded their expectation they will certainly leave feedback if not well we did our part as a seller.

there are some 3rd party tools that integrates with your sellers account to solicit feedback. 

[IronManDan]

Looking for some advice regarding Seller Feedback on Amazon. Made a few sales the last few months, but haven't received any feedback, so my account still shows as "Just Launched". Should I actively chase former customers for feedback, or do I just need to keep selling and feedback will come? How do you handle this (do you slip a feedback request note in your shipments? Do you do an email follow up?) Any advice would be most appreciated.

I have a small note I include with each package FBM... I also email requested feedback when I first started, just to get something on the board. It does work!

[jaxman]

15 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Looking for some advice regarding Seller Feedback on Amazon. Made a few sales the last few months, but haven't received any feedback, so my account still shows as "Just Launched". Should I actively chase former customers for feedback, or do I just need to keep selling and feedback will come? How do you handle this (do you slip a feedback request note in your shipments? Do you do an email follow up?) Any advice would be most appreciated.

Feedback is tough to get.  I'm probably at about a ratio of 30:1 for feedback.  It's funny because my mother made a purchase on Amazon several months back and was surprised and put off by an email asking for feedback for the seller.

I tried to explain why they had done that, but she was very put off.

I never ask for feedback.  And I know it's tough waiting for that first obe to get rid of the Just Launched label.  It'll happen, be patent 

[KvHulk]

You'd be surprised how many people just order from Amazon and don't even know they're buying from third party sellers... or a feedback system for that matter.

I see a lot of complaint regarding sellers under product reviews.

Some people just don't understand how it all works...

[marcandre]

18 hours ago, Phil B said:

Looking for some advice regarding Seller Feedback on Amazon. Made a few sales the last few months, but haven't received any feedback, so my account still shows as "Just Launched". Should I actively chase former customers for feedback, or do I just need to keep selling and feedback will come? How do you handle this (do you slip a feedback request note in your shipments? Do you do an email follow up?) Any advice would be most appreciated.

Have a friend order something cheap (firebike poly for a penny?) and they can leave you feedback. 

[jeff_14]

1 minute ago, marcandre said:

Have a friend order something cheap (firebike poly for a penny?) and they can leave you feedback. 

I have used this approach both on Amazon and on dating sites that use ratings. Great way to get a jump on either game.

[exciter1]

I have used this approach both on Amazon and on dating sites that use ratings. Great way to get a jump on either game.

What's cheap to buy on dating sites?

[jeff_14]

2 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

What's cheap to buy on dating sites?

No buying, I just create fake reviews/feedback.  Women want what other "women" want. 

Edited September 1, 2016 by jeff_14

[Phil B]

1 minute ago, exciter1 said:

What's cheap to buy on dating sites?

@jeff_14 of course ....

[DadsAFOL]

I have used this approach both on Amazon and on dating sites that use ratings. Great way to get a jump on either game.

Girls love those fire bike polys