Amazon 2007 Top Sellers
Filed Under Amazon Announcements | Leave a Comment
And the 2007 Holiday season is officially over — hope your business was also the best ever. And please come again next year.
Amazon has published yesterday its “Best of 2007″ list which is interesting for what sold well, but more so for what shoppers are wishing for. If you’re like me you have a dozen or more items on your Amazon wish list, and many of them will still be relevant next holiday season. One seller in the Video Games category accurately predicted in January that the Wii would be in great demand (and subsequently stocked up significantly). If and when Nintendo solves its supply management problem it will definitely be worthwhile to stock up on consoles, accessories and games.
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Amazon announced yesterday that effective January 21, 2008 the order “Sold, dispatch now” notification emails will be largely stripped of buyer information (email, shipping address) to protect confidential customer information. Read more
Seeking Alpha has a good analysis of this year’s Amazon Customer Vote hoopla that resulted in lots of shoppers being disappointed over NOT winning anything. Yes, that includes me. But it also highlights that the media attention and buyer interaction resulted in significantly more traffic to the site and, yes, sales for Amazon and you, Mr. Third-Party Merchant.
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Amazon announced this morning that it has invested in payment super star Bill Me Later (formerly known as I4Commerce), in my opinion the leading and easiest-to-use credit payment method. The aim is to offer Amazon buyers in the US Bill Me Later as an option so that they can get 90+ days financing for qualifying orders.
I have used Bill Me Later before and it was very easy and fast. I assume that once the user signs into Amazon I will not have to identify myself again using my birthday speeding up the process even further (after all, Amazon knows me).
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Amazon Payment Widget
Filed Under Amazon Features | Leave a Comment
Amazon has launched an eCommerce payment widget that allows online retailers to offer their buyers the ability to pay via their Amazon accounts. The fee structure is pretty standard with credit card transactions running at 2.9% + $0.30 for any sale over $10.
The New “Pay Now” Widget now complements similar offers from PayPal (PayPal Storefront Widget) and Google Checkout.
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The Great Catalog Clean-Up of 2008 is back on: Amazon announced yesterday on the community board that its ASIN merge in the media category has resumed on after it had been placed on hold in November. The effort of course is a noble one: the catalog in a few categories is full of duplicates and provides a poor buying experience. The timing of course is poor — it’s Q4 and this is likely to disrupt selling no matter how urgent the clean-up is. From the Amazon FAQ:
1. Why are you doing this during the holiday time
When we reduce the number duplicates in the catalog, customers will be more likely to find, and buy, the item they are seeking. This takes on added importance during the holidays.
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Amazon today published a very cool viewlet on the heels of their Holiday Season Tips on November 19th. Watching and listening to Amazon experts share best practices is much more effective and interesting although fundamentally there is not much news in this — it comes down to competitive prices and superior customer service.
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Top 10 Amazon Seller Mistakes
Filed Under Amazon 101, Seller Insight | Leave a Comment
This list of Top 10 Amazon Seller Mistakes comes courtesy of William Larson of noble-media from his Amazon Seller Community forum post. While it is somewhat media centric and a lot of common sense, it is still a good read if you’re considering expanding to Amazon or you are wondering how you could become more successful on this channel. Read more
Amazon has launched a Fulfillment By Amazon starter kit for media sellers which really is more a simplified consignment model for the books, movies and CDs you’ve had too long in your attic. Read more