Amazon Tidbits & Helpful Info

We were having an interesting discussion about Amazon and Merchant -vs- MarketPlace and SellerCentral and what it means, and here is some information I pulled together from various Amazon Help pages. Enjoy. And hope it helps, some great reading here.... (LONG POST!!)



Bob Willey

If you ask different people at Amazon you almost always get different answers.
The details on the setup of accounts and databases is a very complicated and confusing mess,
and not even many at Amazon understand it all.

I know that when I setup for FBA, it switched me over to SellerCentral (you see it when you go into your Seller Account) https://sellercentral.amazon.com

Let me see what I can find:

Differences Between Pro Merchant and Individual Seller Accounts

Seller Account Feature	Plan Type
	Individual	Pro Merchant
$39.99 monthly subscription fee	No	Yes
$0.99 per-item closing fee	Yes	No
Ability to create new product pages in the Amazon.com catalog	No	Yes
Use of feeds, spreadsheets, and other tools to manage inventory	No	Yes
Access to order reports and order-related feeds	No	Yes
Amazon set shipping rates for all products	Yes	No
Seller-customized shipping rates for non-BMVD products	No	Yes
Use of the Vacation feature	Yes	Yes
Promotions, Gift Services, and other special listing features	No	Yes
Eligibility for Featured Merchant status and listing placement in the Buy Box	No	Yes
Price limit of $10,000 for each listing*	Yes	No

*This price limit does not apply to Individual sellers approved to list in the Collectible Books category.

Marketplace

Amazon Marketplace is a sales platform used by sellers outside the Amazon Merchant program. Marketplace sellers can be businesses or individuals, who can sell new, used, refurbished, and collectible products.

Not all product lines are enabled for Marketplace selling. For example, the Apparel category is currently not open to Marketplace sellers.

For stores that offer Marketplace, you can find a link to offerings on the product detail page, in the More Buying Choices box. For example, when you view a product detail page, you might see "51 used & new from $13.73." If you click this link, the offer listing page appears, showing all listings, including listings from Marketplace sellers, merchants, and the Amazon.com retail Web site.

"Seller Agreement" means the Selling on Amazon Service Terms, the Merchants@ Program Agreement, the Marketplace Participation Agreement, any successor to any of these agreements, or any other similar agreement (as determined by Amazon) between you and us that permits you to list and sell products via the Amazon Site.

The new Amazon WebStore provides many advantages and improvements over the original WebStore by Amazon. However, there are some differences between the two products. The following table notes some key differences. Feature New Amazon WebStore Original WebStore by Amazon Seller Branded Checkout pipeline option Yes (with Amazon WebStore Accounts) No Support for multiple sites Not Yet Yes Choice of Customer Account Type Yes, choice between Amazon WebStore Accounts or Amazon.com Accounts (See FAQ) No, Amazon.com accounts only Integrated multichannel applications for store and phone ordering Yes No Integrated customer service application Yes No High Upsell Cart Yes No Ability to sell in Amazon.com restricted categories (e.g., Watches, Jewelry, Beauty, Cell Phones & Accessories) Yes Limited (seller cannot use both Amazon WebStore and Selling on Amazon.com) UPC restrictions No Yes Customer “Your Account” functionality Seller branded Your Account features Most links point to Amazon.com Support for pre-order items Not Yet Limited (Pre-order of FBA products not supported) Store Design and Merchandizing Supported using new and enhanced Store Design Tool Supported Add and Edit Products Supported using Inventory Tool with major enhancements like interactive and batch editing, search wizard, advanced search and feeds. “Add a product” tool, feeds

Related Topics Why isn't all the product detail information appearing for my products on my WebStore? What if I want to close my WebStore account? Can I use third-party tools like Google Analytics to track site activity? Can I add meta tags to WebStore pages? Can I generate a site map for a WebStore site? How can I remove my Starter Store? 200448430

When registering as a seller on Amazon.com, you create a single selling account for your business. Operating and maintaining multiple seller accounts is prohibited.

Help Seller Central Help: Account Settings: Getting Started: Things You Didn't Know You Needed to Know to Sell on Amazon.com Things You Didn't Know You Needed to Know to Sell on Amazon.com Now that you've read your Amazon.com seller agreement and associated policies and guidelines, we want to give you additional information that is key to selling successfully on Amazon. We find that new sellers on Amazon.com often bring with them their experiences with other selling platforms and assume that all seller platforms work the same. They may think that there's no need to pay much attention to the details in your seller agreement and the platform policies and guidelines. As a result, we receive communications from sellers that begin with "I didn't know I was supposed to...." Key = Things to Know = Things to Do = Things to Avoid = Policy Violations We don't want you to find yourself in that position, so we are presenting you with some of the things that are most commonly overlooked by new sellers. The icons at right will help you identify what you need to know, do, or avoid doing. Your Account Listing Products Customer Orders Customer Service Your Account Things to Know When registering as a seller on Amazon.com, you create a single selling account for your business. Operating and maintaining multiple seller accounts is prohibited. You can help build buyer trust in your business by providing clear and detailed information about your policies. Your returns policies must be at least as favorable to buyers on Amazon.com as the Amazon refund policies. Note: Amazon's refund policies allow for the return of new, unopened items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. Things to Do Provide the business name that will be displayed on Amazon.com so that they remember your company. Make sure your business contact information is current (e-mail & phone number if available) so that we may contact you, if necessary. Keep credit card and bank account information current for payments and settlements Provide shipping and returns policies to help build buyer trust. Describe the gift messaging and gift wrap services you offer Upload your logo—your storefront logo image must be exactly 120 x 30 pixels Only enter company info specific to how you manage your business on Amazon.com Choose shipping rate settings so buyers know what your shipping costs. Things to Avoid Registering for multiple seller accounts. Including website URLs in product feeds, business name, or other company information that may refer buyers to your or any other website. Assuming other sellers are doing it right. Always double-check your practices against the applicable platform policies and guidelines and the seller Help content. Listing Products Things to Know Listing products in the right categories and with the correct information is critical for good buyer experience and strong seller performance. You can help build buyer trust in your business by providing clear and detailed information about your policies. Your returns policies must be at least as favorable to buyers on Amazon.com as the Amazon refund policies. Note: Amazon's refund policies allow for the return of new, unopened items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. Amazon.com buyers expect their purchases to be well-packaged and to arrive on time. Product detail pages do not belong to any one seller. The product title, image and details must be specific to the product, not to any seller or any individual seller promotions. Set up your shipping charges, sale pricing, and promotions using Amazon tools; don't include any of this information in your product listing details. Your Amazon seller agreement requires that the price at which you list a product on Amazon.com and the other terms of your offer must be the same or better than for the same product offering on your other online sales channels. Things to Do Product Titles Provide information about the specific product only Keep it short, but include critical information 100 characters maximum Start with the product brand where appropriate – not seller Include a model number, when available Use only plain text (no HTML formatting) Capitalize the first letter of each word Use numerals (2 instead of two) Images Use white, clean backgrounds that do not distract from the product Create images with 300 dpi minimum; 1,000 dpi is best Show the entire product. It should occupy at least 80 percent of the image area Include only what the buyer will be receiving JPEG (.jpg), TIFF (.tif), or GIF (.gif) format; JPEG preferred. Use photographs Things to Avoid Product Titles Marketing information (“x% off” or other marketing messages, seller URL, seller name) in product information Using categories that do not match the existing Amazon.com browse tree HTML code ALL CAPS Symbols (! * $ ?) Promotions or other information that is not descriptiove of the product itself Images Promotional text such as "Sale" or "Free Shipping" Colored backgrounds or lifestyle pictures (for the main image) Borders, watermarks, text or other descriptions A single image displaying multiple colors of your product together when they are sold separately Line drawings or artistic representations Animated images URLs or seller logo/name on product images Customer Orders Things to Know When you set up your account, you'll find information about shipping expectations that you will need to integrate into your order and fulfillment processes. You'll also see that you're required to confirm to Amazon when you have shipped your orders, so we can keep buyers informed about the progress of their orders and charge their credit cards for the purchase. You are required to ship media products (books, music, DVD and video) within 2 business days. Non-media products must be shipped by the shipping availability date you specify in the product feed for such products. You must confirm to Amazon that you have completed shipment in order to receive payment for an order. This confirmation will also trigger Amazon's shipment confirmation e-mail to the buyer and will set the expectation for estimated delivery date. Things to Do Review default shipping settings and customize to fit your fulfillment model Check your account at least daily for orders Schedule order reports to ensure an authoritative report of all orders and order information Things to Avoid Including any marketing or promotional materials with packing materials Relying on e-mail notifications of account activity. E-mails can get lost or deleted. Customer Service Things to Know You are required to take returns and provide refunds up to 30 days from the date of delivery in accordance with Amazon's Returns and Refunds policy. Selling on Amazon.com requires less communication by you to buyers than most other online sales channels because much of the process communication is handled by Amazon. Amazon will provide all the order and shipping e-mails to buyers; you must not send order or shipment confirmation e-mails, to avoid conflicting messaging or confusion for the buyer. You must not market or advertise to Amazon.com buyers, nor divert them in any way from the Amazon sales process—not even in otherwise permitted communications, such as when responding to buyer inquiries about your products or their orders. Things to Do Fulfill all orders within the promised lead time and shipping windows and ship exactly what you listed for sale. Clearly explain your shipping, returns and refunds policies and processes, along with other pertinent information. Seller return policies on Amazon.com, at a minimum, must be at least as favorable as the current Amazon Refund Policies. Learn about buyer communication policies for doing business on Amazon.com; be aware of when Amazon handles the communications to buyers and when it is appropriate for your company to communicate (or not). Generally, you will not send communications to buyers other than as necessary for order fulfillment and related customer service. Respond promptly to buyer questions about the status of their order. Keep in mind that buyers have come to expect the same level of customer service from sellers that they receive from Amazon. If you don't meet that standard, you may have to deal with some unsatisfied buyers. Be courteous and patient with buyers when they request information, returns or refunds. Things to Avoid Bribing buyers for positive feedback. Using buyer information for online or offline marketing purposes, or directing buyers to your own or another's website. Engaging in arguments with buyers rather than courteously working to resolve the problem. Assuming that buyers read your policies. Pass this along to your friends, link to your Facebook and/or Twitter, Enjoy!!! Brought to you by: Bob Willey http://BobsNeatBooks http://BobsNeatStuff.com http://BobsNeatStore.com http://BobsStuff.com