- Report: #223316
Complaint Review: Amazon.com - Seattle Washington
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Amazon.com
1200 12th Avenue South Seattle, 98144 Washington, U.S.A.
Phone:
206-622-2335
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Amazon.com rips off its Marketplace sellers with excessive fees Seattle Washington
I occasionally sell my used books on Amazon. But I'm not a member of their pro merchant program. Well, it seems that lately they have jacked up their fees.
I just sold a book for $2.50 that ended up costing me seven cents!
I emailed them to check if there is some mistake...I thought there had to be some mistake. I wasn't looking to make a huge profit on a $2.50 book, but I didn't expect them to charge what amounts to more than a 100% commission.
Here's the email they sent back.
"After researching your account, I have found that the fees that have
been taken for your order 058-3140161-1541321 are correct. Amazon.com
collects a commission of 6-15% of the item cost, a variable closing
fee (which is determined by what shipping option a buyer has selected)
and a fixed closing fee for non-Pro Merchant sellers (this is
currently $0.99). We then credit the remainder to your Amazon.com
Payments account. Note, sellers are also credited the same shipping
amount that the buyer has paid.
________________________________________
+ Sale Price of the item
+ Shipping Credit
- Variable Closing Fee
- $0.99 Fixed Closing Fee (waived for Pro Merchants)
- Commission of 6-15% of sale price
________________________________________
= Total deposited to seller's account
For order #058-3140161-1541321, the fees taken were calculated as follows:
________________________________________
$ 2.50 (Sale Price)
- $ 0.38 (Commission of Sale Price)
- $ 2.19 (Closing Fees)
+ $ 3.49 (Shipping Credit)
________________________________________
= $ 3.42 (Total deposited to seller's account)"
Keep in mind that the 3.42 in my account is not profit. I have to spend that money to mail the book. Since the usual shipping credit is $3.50, I have to pay seven cents out of my pocket to put this book in the mail.
Their double-dipping fee structure is interesting. They charge both a fixed and a variable fee AND a fee for not being a Pro Merchant. Pro Merchants have to pay for the privilege of being a pro merchant, so they're making money from everyone - whether average schlub or pro merchant.
What a rip-off. I'm never selling anything through Amazon again.
Melinda
South Lake Tahoe, California
U.S.A.
I just sold a book for $2.50 that ended up costing me seven cents!
I emailed them to check if there is some mistake...I thought there had to be some mistake. I wasn't looking to make a huge profit on a $2.50 book, but I didn't expect them to charge what amounts to more than a 100% commission.
Here's the email they sent back.
"After researching your account, I have found that the fees that have
been taken for your order 058-3140161-1541321 are correct. Amazon.com
collects a commission of 6-15% of the item cost, a variable closing
fee (which is determined by what shipping option a buyer has selected)
and a fixed closing fee for non-Pro Merchant sellers (this is
currently $0.99). We then credit the remainder to your Amazon.com
Payments account. Note, sellers are also credited the same shipping
amount that the buyer has paid.
________________________________________
+ Sale Price of the item
+ Shipping Credit
- Variable Closing Fee
- $0.99 Fixed Closing Fee (waived for Pro Merchants)
- Commission of 6-15% of sale price
________________________________________
= Total deposited to seller's account
For order #058-3140161-1541321, the fees taken were calculated as follows:
________________________________________
$ 2.50 (Sale Price)
- $ 0.38 (Commission of Sale Price)
- $ 2.19 (Closing Fees)
+ $ 3.49 (Shipping Credit)
________________________________________
= $ 3.42 (Total deposited to seller's account)"
Keep in mind that the 3.42 in my account is not profit. I have to spend that money to mail the book. Since the usual shipping credit is $3.50, I have to pay seven cents out of my pocket to put this book in the mail.
Their double-dipping fee structure is interesting. They charge both a fixed and a variable fee AND a fee for not being a Pro Merchant. Pro Merchants have to pay for the privilege of being a pro merchant, so they're making money from everyone - whether average schlub or pro merchant.
What a rip-off. I'm never selling anything through Amazon again.
Melinda
South Lake Tahoe, California
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Marilyn
Bethel,Connecticut,
U.S.A.
It is your job to do your homework
#2General Comment
Fri, April 23, 2010
If you lost money selling a book on Amazon, you have no one to blame but yourself. It's every seller's job on every venue to do their homework BEFORE listing an item for sale, and that includes reviewing the fee schedule. The fee's on Amazon are pretty static and have not changed in several years. For books it is
15% of sale price plus
$1.35 variable closing fee (charged on every sale on Amazon, only varies by category) plus if you are a non-pro-merchant, an additional .99.
So a Non-PM will be paying $2.94 plus 15% commission on a sale. However, they get the 85% (less the $2.34) plus $3.99 shipping allowance. It's not rocket science to figure out what the bottom line listing price is to avoid losing money. You didn't do your homework and run the numbers. That's your fault, not Amazons.
Brandy
Jonesboro,Georgia,
U.S.A.
Advice
#3Consumer Suggestion
Wed, December 20, 2006
You should read the sellers fees before agreeing to sell the book or anything for that matter. I do agree that there fees can be a little high, espessially on small cheap items that is why I NEVER sell anything under five dollars because it costs more to ship the item and you will A. Owe them more money then it costs to ship B. Not make much money at all. When you sell an item though it will ask you if you accept the sellers fees!!! Did you not pay attention to that when you agreed to it??? Amazon will always let you know how much total you will receive after they collect there commission and if you do not agree to it then don't sale it, but this isn't really a rip off. For instance I see people selling items for .99 cents and after you get 2.59 for shipping and amazon takes out 2.00 for commission you only make 1.58. Well it costs about 1.50- 2.00 to mail an item, at least and you will be losing money instead of making money. You will lose about 1.00 and it is not worth it. But you are the one agreeing to lose money, and that is not Amazon's fault. It is best to sell more expensive items to make a nice profit, although I see people everyday selling items from 00.1 cent to 0.99 cent and up and keep selling dvds, books, etc and don't care that they are loosing money. I do think Amazon should lower the commission on cheaper items because it is way to expensive but they charge about the same no matter if it's 0.01 cent-100 dollars and so it's good to sell expensive items!
