Power Sellers Unite

elgato · Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 17240 Location: Texas

With more snow falling across the country today once again airports are closed and it’s likely that come Monday couriers and Royal Mail will be once again fighting to delivery parcels and letters on time.

Amazon have issued advice to their sellers on how to handle the disruption to their businesses, making it clear that it’s up to sellers to ensure parcels are delivered within buyer expectations.

They advise sellers to contact buyers about the status of any parcels which may be delayed and to be realistic about transit times as well as heeding courier’s advice on the effect of the weather. Should sellers feel that they can not meet Christmas delivery promises they suggest temporarily removing products from sale either by setting listings to inactive status, or by reducing available quantities to zero.

Amazon’s suggest to stop selling if you can’t meet your delivery promises goes much further than eBay, who simply suggest keeping buyers informed of any delays. Closing your business to sales due to the weather is something many online businesses would be reluctant to do.

more.. link to news article

bluestreaksi · Joined: 15 Apr 2010 Posts: 301

Woo.. Zero tolerance.. way to go Amazon. eBay should be moving in the same direction.

mojavelyn · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 11:52 pm Post subject:

One problem... acts of god are exempt. Remember the flooding and Katrina over the past several years? The post office issued closed zip codes that they couldn't deliver to, and would just as soon as roads were passible again.

elpereles · Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 1478 Location: Puerto Rico

Waoo! Look what happen when somebody got a lot of power. Amazon now can control when you open your store. :wink:

Now seriously. I can understand that the climate this days is bad and dangerous. But close a store is too much. It is better to tell the buyers that the climate will slow the deliveries.

thegolfingdolphin · Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 695

elpereles - I think you are reading more into this than is stated. First off Amazon has always had the ability to close your store account if you do not meet there standards. A to Z claims has always been there, as it should be.

Other than that they are not attaining more power or telling there users they will close there store, but simply suggesting ways to handle the difficult time.

elpereles · Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 1478 Location: Puerto Rico

thegolfingdolphin, I understand that Amazon, other marketplaces, and payment methods have their standards for seller to follow as rules... One thing before continue writing. Did you read clearly my comment?

If you read the article/news and try to analyze it. The mesage is that seller are responsible for shipping time. For example I can sell a item to California, but if a earthquake or other natural disaster hits the state I can't do nothing is the item is already in transit. Also Amazon believe that if a big problem appears everybody will have electric power or Internet service during the situation to close the store.

thegolfingdolphin · Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 695

Yes I did read the article, and your post. Again you are the one talking about a natural disaster.

The truth is no marketplace can prevent such an event, but to suggest that they should alter there policy for those that should happen to ship to an area that is experiencing an event like this, is not clear thinking. They are simple telling there sellers that indeed they are not changing there policy and giving them advise on what might be a solution.

This sounds a whole lot different than leveraging there power over sellers and threatening to close there stores as your post suggest.