Amazon Marketplace - Quick and Easy Site for Sellers (Amazon Marketplace)

Member Name: KLockwood75

Product:	Amazon Marketplace
Date:	24/02/09 (211 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Speed of listing, free until your item sells, high security

Disadvantages: Too much listed for prices that won't make you a profit

Amazon Marketplace is essentially the Amazon equivalent of eBay. When you buy a product on Amazon, there is a link at the side where it says something like '20 used or new, from £1.50' - clicking on this link will take you into the Marketplace and usually offer you several cheaper options to the brand-new version of the product on the main Amazon site. The main difference is that it is quick, easy and free to list your items and that everything is 'Buy It Now', there are no auction items.

Listing Your Items
Listing on Amazon Marketplace is very quick and easy. You can link a 'seller account' to your main Amazon account so that everything is easily accessible when you log into Amazon, and then list as many items as you want to list. Listing is extremely quick - for example, if you are selling a book you can just type in the ISBN number on the back which will bring up the details. After that, you just need to choose your price, select the condition of the book from a pull-down menu, add a few words of description should you so wish, and select your delivery options - all done in about 60 seconds!

Length of Listing
There is no charge for listing an item on Amazon Marketplace and the listings remain open for a 60 day period.

Dispatching Items
When your item is sold, Amazon will email you with notification and you need to log into your Seller Account to get the buyer's details and then dispatch the item by post. You are required to dispatch the item within 2 business days of a purchase being completed.

Fees and Payments
Once an item sells, Amazon will credit your payments account with your fee plus a postage credit, and will subtract their fee from this. Current fees are £0.86 per item completion fee, plus a closing fee of 17.25% of the price. You will also get a postage credit depending on the item you are sending - this is £2.26 for books and £1.05 for DVDs. All of this, including the amount of money you will actually receive if your item sells, is explained when you list the item. Amazon payments are made every second Wednesday by BACS transfer directly into your bank account. They take approximately 6 working days to reach your account. All payments from buyers are made through Amazon so you do not have to give any personal details to the buyer - this makes it feel like a very secure system.

Buying From Amazon Marketplace
Again, this is very user-friendly and works in the same way as a normal Amazon purchase. Once you have found the item you want to buy, you click on the 'Used and New' option to the right of the screen and this brings up a list of sellers - once you have chosen who you want to buy from, you just proceed to checkout in the normal way. Unfortunately, you can't use Amazon gift certificates when buying from Amazon Marketplace, but all other payment options remain the same.

My Opinions
I find Amazon Marketplace an invaluable place for selling unwanted books, CDs, games etc. You have got nothing to lose listing them on there, so if it doesn't sell, then it's not a big deal, especially as it takes so little time to list an item. Sometimes I find it frustrating that a lot of people have listed books for £0.01 as you can't make any real profit at that price (unless it's a thin, light book in which case you can make a bit on the postage credit), but overall it's a system that works. The biggest plus for me is the security of it - I trust Amazon as a site, and it is great not to have to give out any personal information to make a sale.

Summary: The easiest way to sell your unwanted books, CDs etc. on the net