Amazon.com has invaded another bit of eBay’s space with a new initiative to allow casual sellers to sell books, CDs, video games and DVDs via their consignment program. EasySell is an extension of the “Fulfillment by Amazon” (FBA) program, where sellers ship their items to Amazon, and Amazon in turn ship them to buyers.
It seems an odd time of year to be starting up a new sales program, especially in the face of some pretty bad criticism of the FBA program by professional sellers. But Amazon are offering a $15 gift certificate to new sellers even before anything’s been sold; if you’re only clearing out your own old junk, rather than needing to turn a profit, it might be enough of an incentive for you to ship them a box of stuff. And of course that gift certificate keeps the cash in-house for Amazon.
Sellers are charged $1 per item if priced under $25, and $2 per item if over $25, plus a weight handling fee of $0.40 per pound. Items remaining unsold after 60 days attract a storage fee, or sellers can elect to have them disposed of.
Though FBA is currently available to UK sellers, EasySell is apparently US only. For now, at least.
Story shamelessly nicked from Auctionbytes.
One Response
I can imagine amazon warehouses very quickly filling up with copies of the Da Vinci Code and making a tidy packet for charging these ‘sellers’ to store these!