Monique Bos

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A rant about third-party Amazon sellers

By

Monique Bos

If you’re my Facebook friend, you might already have seen this gripe on my status message, but now I’m irritated enough to devote a full blog post to it.

Ever since I opened my Amazon store, I’ve tried to order from third-party sellers when possible, both to save money and to give business to other aspiring entrepreneurs. But I’m getting so frustrated that I’m ready to stop–which of course hurts the sellers who operate with integrity and honesty.

Today, I received a book I had ordered from a third-party seller who listed the condition as “new.” It turned out to be a gently used copy. I learned the hard way, via both Amazon and eBay, never to purchase books described as being in “good” or “acceptable” condition. Even “very good” is a crapshoot. I recently ordered a “very good” copy of an out-of-print title for my book club; it had yellow pages, a cracked spine, and a torn-out flyleaf. To me, that’s barely acceptable. One “good” book I ordered last summer had so much water damage it was barely readable; another had what appeared to be Coke spilled over half the pages.

Look, I don’t want to be grossed out by the book you send me. I am not buying these with the idea that they’re one-time reading copies; I want them to last for another 30 years. That means I want an accurate description of the edition, the condition, and the flaws. And I don’t want to pay $10-15, including shipping, for a copy I would not purchase for $3 if I saw it at the thrift store. I feel curmudgeonly stating this, but it should be self-evident.

I’ve encountered a few sellers who underestimate the condition of their books, and I love them. For example, I’ve ordered a “very good” copy that was brand-new. In my store, I try to understate the condition and describe every flaw. I’d rather have someone be pleasantly surprised with what they get than pissed off because it’s not the edition or the quality they ordered.

I’m sorry; I want to support independent businesses online. I’ve tried to support them, and a few–unfortunately, the minority–have been worth supporting. But given the lack of quality control and accountability inherent in the Internet, and the ridiculously high number of sellers who abuse that, I’m returning to the corporate giants for my online purchases.

3 responses to “A rant about third-party Amazon sellers”

  1. Erica S. Avatar
    Erica S.

    The good news is this, Monique. Amazon always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS (!) ok most often, sides with the customer. If you leave negative feedback and also complain to Amazon, you will get your money back. Our Amazon store has been up and running since last fall but as a featured seller since January. If we add a product, and Amazon assigns it a photo based on it’s UPC code, but it’s an inaccurate product photo (thanks, Amazon!), and the customer complains that we didn’t send them what was in the photo, Amazon sides with the customer even though we sent the item we advertised. However, if we get enough negative feedback, we will be blocked as a seller. You have power as a customer to mess up the worlds of those third party sellers. We are always watching our statuses (red/yellow/green) and they have been difficult to consistently maintain. I’m sure it’s the same with the third party guys. Be noisy and complaining, because Amazon and the third party guy will be paying attention!

    Reply
    1. moniquebos Avatar
      moniquebos

      Thanks for that info! I do fill out the rating forms, for both good and bad sellers; I’m glad to know those have an effect beyond just making me feel better. 🙂 I haven’t had problems with refunds. My issues are more disappointment/ angst, disliking to play the cranky customer, and the hassle of re-packaging a book and running to the post office to return it. Okay, I sound really fussy, so I’m going to stop now.

      You don’t have the option of uploading your own photos? That sucks! I can’t remember if booksellers have that option for all books, but I know we can for collectible editions (a category that opens a whole other can of worms :).

      Reply
      1. Erica S. Avatar
        Erica S.

        We can upload our own photos but we are also stuck with the ones that Amazon automatically assigns to the product, sometimes as the main photo. Sometimes that’s in our best interest, sometimes it comes back to bite us. For example, if our product is sold as a single product, but their photo comes up as a multi-pack photo. We cannot remove it! Automatically the customer accuses us of fraud, stealing, misrepresentation, etc., when we didn’t choose that photo and never intended to advertise the item as sold in multiples. Of course, we take the hit and the bad feedback, and it makes us look shady. 😦 Anyway, yes, it is stinky when you deal with a company that is actually misrepresenting, like the quality of the book. PS. They will also be rated on average response time, so feel free to send them emails thru Amazon. They are supposed to respond and it will count against them if they don’t do it quickly.

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