Amazon Red Carpet Scheme

I’ve had a few people mention today that they’ve been invited to participate in Amazon’s Red Carpet Scheme. It’s a an invitation only program offered to retailers Amazon would like to recruit to sell on their marketplace.

The email starts with a variation of “We are currently running the Red Carpet Scheme for high potential sellers, in which we give you your own Account Manager, free listing and integration support, and an initial period of six months free subscription“. Some users have been offered free subscription for a year.

As well as account management and free subscriptions, retailers are also offered, Free payment transactions, Unlimited listing, Google Keywords, Price comparison site listings, Bespoke delivery rates and the big one, Eligibility for the “Buy Box”. Normally you’d have to establish a seller reputation on Amazon before qualifying for the Buy Box.

This isn’t a new program from Amazon, although often the emails arrive out of the blue. I’ve also heard of Amazon approaching existing Amazon sellers to recruit them to sell on overseas Amazon sites. In the past Amazon have translated listings matching them to ASINS on German and French sites and even set up pricing in Euros rather than pounds.

It makes sense for Amazon to recruit sellers in categories where they lack breadth or depth of inventory. Unfortunately you can’t apply for the program, but if you receive an invitation we’d recommend you grab it with both hands.