|
Replies:
41
-
Pages:
3
[
1
2
3
| Next
]
-
Last Post:
Jun 17, 2009 6:07 PM
by: mlhradio
|
|
|
Posts:
846
From:
The Alamo's Basement, TX
Registered:
2/8/06
|
|
|
|
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 5:10 AM
|
|
|
Various people are freaking out over Amazon's new change, and I was certainly surprised to see that little message when I logged in this morning. However, I think we need to step back and take a little perspective. 99% of the people reading this message and on this message board are good, upstanding, responsible sellers -- so we sort of lose perspective of what Amazon has to deal with on a day-to-day basis with all those not-so-good sellers out there.
This new change is not aimed at us. It is not aimed at the good, responsible seller.
- It is aimed at the bad seller who sells tons of products and skips town, leaving lots of angry customers.
- It is aimed at the bad seller who always ships late and has a poor impression of Amazon because of that.
- It is aimed at the bad seller that does not keep the customer informed and does not send out delivery notices.
- It is aimed at the bad seller that does not use delivery confirmation or tracking on their shipments (while not required at this time, looks like that's the next logical step down the road)
Know the saying, "Adopt, Adapt and Improve"? If you are a good and smart seller, you can figure out how to work this new Charge When Ship policy into your own methods and procedures. We have to change to market forces beyond our control all the time - this is just another example of having to deal with a changing marketplace. For me, it took all of fifteen minutes in the shower to figure out how I can change my own procedures to deal with this - probably means no more Endicia-generated emails going out for me, but that's the way it is.
Overall, I fully understand why Amazon is making these changes, and when looking at it from their perspective it makes great sense and I can see an overall improved buying experience for most customers. Adopt, adapt and improve...yeah, I can do that.
|
|
Posts:
209
Registered:
1/14/07
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 5:20 AM
in response to:
mlhradio
|
|
|
Not a problem, Just and extra step. But one I do not object to doing. Half. com has had this in place for a long time. Due to intermittant surfacing I am a small seller with large inventory. But so thankful for what I have.
|
|
Posts:
1,310
Registered:
5/24/06
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 5:26 AM
in response to:
mlhradio
|
|
|
The bad sellers will just adapt to lying to AZ and the buyer about shipping to get paid now. I already send out shipping confirmations, so don't how much of an extra hassle it's going to be. One thing I don't include in the notices now is the dc or sc number, and I'm not planning on doing so in the future, unless forced to. The very few e-mails I get from buyers asking for it, turn to be sc items that are sitting at the PO, waiting for buyer pick up, 99% of the time.
Message was edited by:
speck666
|
|
Posts:
3,121
Registered:
8/11/06
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 5:27 AM
in response to:
mlhradio
|
|
|
This isn't a ploy against sellers. It has been around for years for non-media sellers as part of Seller Central. It makes sense now that SC is the single platform / interface that Charge When Ship will be put in place for all sellers ( media & non-media). Hopefully the mega booksellers who take weeks instead of days to ship won't try and "cheat" the system. If they do and Amazon catches them they should be canned.
|
|
Posts:
19,512
From:
NYC
Registered:
2/8/06
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 5:38 AM
in response to:
mlhradio
|
|
|
I think the new system just plain sucks. It works against my way of conducting business. That being said, after thinking about it, I don't care. My sales are almost non-existent and I am just about out of business anyway, so why should I waste my energy in being upset about this. Dale
|
|
Posts:
2
Registered:
1/27/09
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 6:17 AM
in response to:
mlhradio
|
|
|
OK, so kick off the bad Sellers! As for those who skip town...what will prevent them from going to any Post Office and grabbing 100 Confirmation labels (which are free and are on the open counter) and then apply those numbers to Charge When Ship as if he actually shipped an item. Then of course, he skips town. Just get rid of Seller dead heads. What's wrong with that?
|
|
Posts:
169
Registered:
2/8/06
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 6:29 AM
in response to:
mlhradio
|
|
|
Hello: I will re-post this in every "Charge and Ship" thread. Sorry for the redundancy, but I'm hoping to catch Amazon.com's eye. I have carefully read Amazon's announcements and even sat through the Webinar. Amazon should provide a link in Seller Central to UPLOAD SHIPPING CONFIRMATION information, at least for pro-merchants. Just as we upload our inventory files using the Amazon template and tab-delimited files, this info could be uploaded. Many of us are very capable of providing the tab-delimited files - but we do not want to be spending our time with Perl scripts and software debugging!!! (Its not that some of us don't know how to do that - we'd just prefer not to spend our time.) Please consider making this easier for us. Although the interface they've devised looks simple enough to use - it will still take us extra time each and every day. And, guess what Amazon?, many of us were already sending our customers automated emails that contained the shipping information - so you're not doing us a favor. Best regards, Karen Knust Not Quite New - Gently Used Books & Collectibles
|
|
Posts:
470
Registered:
2/8/06
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 7:09 AM
in response to:
notquitenew
|
|
|
I checked it out this morning and I don't find the change to be too terrible. My only issue so far is that I like to send individual, personalized, shipping confirmation emails that not only give tracking information (if I have it) but also other information that is specific to the book - like condition and description. I have avoided some bad experiences and poor feedback by taking this extra step.
The new directions indicate that I should NOT send such emails under the new system. I haven't quite decided what I will do. For now, I will continue sending those email and see how things work out.
TO Karen - I suggest you contact seller support by email in the "Suggestion" category as well as posting here. It sounds like a good idea to me - even though I don't understand a lot of it.
|
|
Posts:
1,323
Registered:
2/8/06
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 7:16 AM
in response to:
combinola
|
|
|
How will this affect those of us who are already sending automatic confirmations with dc info using the art of books? Will it mean this is pointless now? Will we have to use the amazon system instead of our own?
|
|
Posts:
7,728
Registered:
2/8/06
|
|
|
Posts:
32,490
From:
A cat-hair-covered, cluttered house in Pennsylvania
Registered:
2/8/06
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 7:26 AM
in response to:
mlhradio
|
|
|
- It is aimed at the bad seller who sells tons of products and skips town, leaving lots of angry customers.
- It is aimed at the bad seller who always ships late and has a poor impression of Amazon because of that.
- It is aimed at the bad seller that does not keep the customer informed and does not send out delivery notices.
- It is aimed at the bad seller that does not use delivery confirmation or tracking on their shipments (while not required at this time, looks like that's the next logical step down the road) I would add that it is probably also (maybe more) aimed at the buyer, who should not have to pay for items before they are shipped (especially if the hapless buyer does encounter a one of those sellers, and ends up having his money held for ages with nothing to show for it). Charge-when-ship is how it works at every other online retailer. Barb
|
|
Posts:
32,490
From:
A cat-hair-covered, cluttered house in Pennsylvania
Registered:
2/8/06
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 7:28 AM
in response to:
combinola
|
|
|
The new directions indicate that I should NOT send such emails under the new system. I haven't quite decided what I will do. For now, I will continue sending those email and see how things work out. The new directions indicate that you should not duplicate Amazon's e-mail by sending a shipment confirmation.They do not say you can't contact your buyer at all. Barb
Message was edited by:
flyinghouse (repeating myself so much my grammar is going down the tubes)
|
|
Posts:
2,000
Registered:
2/8/06
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 7:28 AM
in response to:
mlhradio
|
|
|
Hey, OP. Good post.
What makes me sad is that my timely shipping and the little crap I do to get things to customers quickly sets me ahead of the herd. This has the process to make me a bit less distinctive. For this, I am sad.
|
|
Posts:
32,490
From:
A cat-hair-covered, cluttered house in Pennsylvania
Registered:
2/8/06
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 7:32 AM
in response to:
notquitenew
|
|
|
Hello: I will re-post this in every "Charge and Ship" thread. Sorry for the redundancy, but I'm hoping to catch Amazon.com's eye. I have carefully read Amazon's announcements and even sat through the Webinar. Amazon should provide a link in Seller Central to UPLOAD SHIPPING CONFIRMATION information, at least for pro-merchants. Just as we upload our inventory files using the Amazon template and tab-delimited files, this info could be uploaded. Many of us are very capable of providing the tab-delimited files - but we do not want to be spending our time with Perl scripts and software debugging!!! (Its not that some of us don't know how to do that - we'd just prefer not to spend our time.) Please consider making this easier for us. Although the interface they've devised looks simple enough to use - it will still take us extra time each and every day. And, guess what Amazon?, many of us were already sending our customers automated emails that contained the shipping information - so you're not doing us a favor. Best regards, Karen Knust Not Quite New - Gently Used Books & Collectibles Please read jeffbole's reply, and please stop adding this post to every thread, of which there will soon no doubt be multiple dozens. If you want to communicate directly with Amazon about some aspect of this, contact them directly. Please don't splatter the board over and over with a repeated post in the hope that they'll see it. It's neither an efffective approach nor a courteous one. Barb
|
|
Posts:
10
Registered:
2/8/06
|
|
|
|
Re: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (i.e. Charge When Ship)
Posted:
Jun 17, 2009 7:35 AM
in response to:
mlhradio
|
|
|
Personally, as one of those sellers that immediately contacts buyers and lets them know EXACTLY when their item will ship (either today or tomorrow - as per my Amazon contract to sell) and do not need Amazon's help to do that. I do not WANT their help to do that. I want to have that personal contact with MY buyer. Not some generated something that someone else has come up with.
I understood when they changed the way paperwork flow no longer included the email address of our customers when we were informed of a sale. That was a good safety move and protected the buyer. I actually agreed with that one. I could still contact my buyer direct through my sales pages.
But this new attempt to control poor sellers is also aimed at MY business. If Amazon needs to curb the bad sellers, watch the feedback! Watch the A-Z claims and then impose this as a sanction to those sellers. Conform or you're out. Amazon should tighten controls. Even purchases that I have made have not been up to standards. I got a book last week that came in an envelope 2X the correct size, book completely unpacked - just loose in the envelope. Naturally the book was damaged a bit. But the PROBLEM was that the book sold "like new" and was everything but. My first clue was the mold on the bottom of the book..... But the book arrived in the correct shipping time.
Tell me how this new procedure would have changed the CONDITION that I got. It came in time but was still not right. They would know that if they kept controls on the FEEDBACK. Most people do not go in and give feedback but if they are ticked off, they sure do. We all know that. So exactly how is this new hoop going to improve anything other than shipping time? Most often - if you read sellers feedback - shipping TIME is not the issue. It's what they ship to the customer!
If Amazon wants to rein them in, do so. But I pay my fees and do my job exactly like I guaranteed to do. Amazon can get rid of bad sellers. They have that power and have access to all problems that someone is having. It is not unreasonable to believe that they could weed the bad sellers out simply with computer programming to alert them to a seller with problems.
Ebay. Ebay started slowly to cram things down our throats until we finally left. Amazon is honestly the last place there really is online where we can sell our goods and at least have a possibility to make enough to cover our fees.
I have to disagree that good sellers must be pushed into unwanted programs to help Amazon patrol their site. They have the power to do that already. What I see in all of this is that they seriously do not want any seller to have any contact with their buyer at all. (Very Ebay of them) Mark my words. Ebay started slowly strangling their sellers too with fancy new bells and whistles that only served Ebay. (Paypal only is a very good example. No longer can you accept money orders (just not safe according to Ebay!), checks (same litany as money orders), no cash (dah!) and only pay online service they will let you use is PAYPAL unless you have your own access as a business to a Visa account that usually is Paypal anyway.
I do my job. I do not want to give up my access to my buyers and exchange that for an automated system. And that no pay till you click a button? THAT is getting very close to the Ebay model too!
Not impressed. In nearly 9 years of selling at Amazon, off and on, this is the ONLY change that I find confining and interfering.
I should have the right to opt out on this system. I am a good seller with great feedback and I adhere to the rules - which is seen by having had NO A-Z claims in 9 years.
I opt out.
Attiegirl
|
|
|
Legend
|
|
Amazonian
|
|
Helpful Answer
|
|
Correct Answer
|
|
Seller Account |
Community Guidelines |
Seller Support Blog
| Help
then