Is amazon traffic good if you're not in the books/CDs/DVDs area?

ploughman · #1 05-05-2009

Have been looking at Amazon again as a feebay alternative in light of recent PPal troubles (mysterious limitation I'm trying to get removed, detailed in other threads).

On feebay I have fairly good sales (though down with the economy), and maybe half the items also are listed by competitors, many based outside the U.S.

I look on Amazon, though, and see no one has yet listed up most of the items I've had.

Here's the rub: The items have no UPC or ASIN, don't have a dedicated category ("home & garden" is the best fit), and would require me to create a new product-detail page for each.

I had listed some of these items on Amazon over Christmas season a few years ago before the product-detail page bit started and got a few sales, though not enough to get me really excited. If memory serves, back then they charged upfront listing fees, so that certainly tempered my enthusiasm. With fees now all tied to actual sales, I could say there were enough sales to possibly make something work.

I had wanted to start by listing a few of the best items as tests, but with this product-detail stuff it looks like I'd have to pay the $39.99/month, do a lot of work and then, if I understand it right, possibly have competitors also listing off the product-detail pages I created because I made it easy for them!

Others are in the business line and have had to go the product-detail route, but it's hard to tell if they're making good coin. Would be a no brainer if I could list for free and start small, but this $39.99 thing is annoying. Most of the items would likely need to be accessed by buyers via keyword search, as it's not a Marketplace line of business.

Thoughts?

ebaykilla · #2 05-06-2009

amazon traffic is great for everything...in fact more than 50% of my purchases that I google, i make on amazon. I sell on amazon as well and get higher prices than ebay. BUT amazon will suspend you quicker than ebay or paypal if your seller game is not tight. you must be damn near 100% with your customers to start! and...amazon dose not take appeals. it is harder to start selling on amazon after a suspension but far from impossible.

ploughman · #3 05-06-2009

I have 99.9% on eBay and either get the 15% DSR discount every month or barely miss it. But with a 500-item inventory there's maybe a rogue VERO hit once every 3 months or so. Just enough to be irritating/maddening.