I skipped a weekly update due to eBay Live! last week in Chicago, but there have been a few interesting tidbits around Amazon that are worth noting.

• Amazon is rumored to take its Amazon Payment System where all checkout solutions have gone before: according to Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Derek Brown, Amazon is preparing to launch a Google Checkout / PayPal Express Checkout competitor that would allow consumers to complete an online purchase with their Amazon credentials on any e-Commerce site. I assume that this would initially be limited to the US with subsequent launch in the UK, France, Germany and Japan (maybe even China). Pretty compelling offer since I don’t have to create a new account and may even be able to view purchases in my Amazon account history.
• If you live in Phoenix, head on over to Amazon’s job fair this Thursday to apply for jobs in its new Goodyear, AZ warehouse. The 600K+ sqf facility will eventually have 1,300 full-time and part-time employees and bring the number of US-based fulfillment warehouses, according to my count, to 15.
• Goldman Sachs is bullish on Amazon and forecasts that Amazon will continue to grow 20-30% annually to double its revenue in 3-4 years. Interestingly enough Goldman partially attributes this future growth to Amazon closing the eBay GMV-per-customer gap (Amazon GMV/C is about 50% of eBay’s GMV/C).
• The rate of issues at Amazon following the well-publicized recent two-hour outage has been “above average” over the last few days. That or Amazon is getting better at reporting them. Don’t think it’s something to be overly concerned about, just worth monitoring as an active Amazon seller.

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