Amazon zShops

[Theodoric]

Can anyone expand on the pros and cons of zShops? As far as I can see they are sites provided by Amazon at which people can display items for sale, the items being directly linked to the Amazon pages for those items. What really puzzles me is why Amazon appears to be often cutting its own throat. For example, I have just been looking at a piece of Teach Yourself Spanish software which Amazon sells at £32.49. The page then links to the zShops page with a number of people selling it brand new (one even states 'Exactly as Amazon') for as low as £17.99. Even with p&p, this markedly undercuts Amazon. So, what is Amazon playing at, and are there any known problems with using these zShops? One other puzzling thing is that some sellers sometimes quote prices much higher than Amazon; how they expect to sell anything is beyond me.

[jellybaby]

These online retail storefronts are open to anyone -- individual or corporate giant with goods to sell -- at a bargain-basement listing price of $9.99 a month for up to 3,000 items, or just a dime each for single items. Amazon also takes a small percentage of the actual selling price, scaled from 5% for items priced less than $25, to 2.5% for items costing $29 to $999, down to 1.25% for items more than $1,000.

Taken from here

[Theodoric]

Originally Posted by jellybaby

Taken from here

Interesting.

From the date of the article it would seem that they've now been around (at least in America) for over 4 years, so they obviously can't be causing Amazon too much loss of profit. I suppose that in my example, it depends on whether 5% on a number (because cheaper) of £17.79 articles is greater than Amazon's profit on a single (because more expensive) article.

And getting back to my second question, has anyone had any good or bad experiences with them?

Originally Posted by Theodoric

Interesting.

From the date of the article it would seem that they've now been around (at least in America) for over 4 years, so they obviously can't be causing Amazon too much loss of profit. I suppose that in my example, it depends on whether 5% on a number (because cheaper) of £17.79 articles is greater than Amazon's profit on a single (because more expensive) article.

And getting back to my second question, has anyone had any good or bad experiences with them?

Well I've bought from their used and new section a lot.Got some good bargains too and these don't appear to be cutting into Amazons profits either.They are very useful for the odd book/game that are no longer being published in the main stream.I even got my version of XP from them.

So I think that this new idea could work very well indeed.Especially as MOST people would prefer to buy brand new from Amazon than buy used.People like me who don't mind or don't insist on BRAND NEW items will be the better off for it.

[Theodoric]

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Well I've bought from their used and new section a lot.Got some good bargains too and these don't appear to be cutting into Amazons profits either.They are very useful for the odd book/game that are no longer being published in the main stream.I even got my version of XP from them.

So I think that this new idea could work very well indeed.Especially as MOST people would prefer to buy brand new from Amazon than buy used.People like me who don't mind or don't insist on BRAND NEW items will be the better off for it.

However, the interesting thing about these shops is that many of them appear to be undercutting Amazon for new items, which is what puzzles me somewhat. However, Amazon must be happy. I may give it a whirl.

EDIT And if I may extend your argument, I'd guess that many people would rather get a new item from a well known, proven source, that is Amazon, rather than a cheaper but unknown source. Perhaps we're simply carrying the maxim "If it's too good to be true then it can't be true" too far.

[ian@huth]

Amazon are probably one of the few companies that have woken up to the fact that internet customers soon learn how to shop around for the cheapest prices. They realise that it is better to take a small percentage of a lower price than they sell it for than to get nothing if the customer buys elsewhere.

[Theodoric]

Originally Posted by ianathuth

Amazon are probably one of the few companies that have woken up to the fact that internet customers soon learn how to shop around for the cheapest prices. They realise that it is better to take a small percentage of a lower price than they sell it for than to get nothing if the customer buys elsewhere.

Sounds reasonable to me. However, how do some of these zShops make such massive savings? In the example I mentioned, the RRP is £49, W H Smith sell it for £39.99, Amazon sell it for £32.49 (p&p free) whereas a number of zStores are selling it for £17.99. Even with p&p (about £2.50, I think) it's still a massive saving. I assume that some of them are selling from the Channel Islands, which would save the 17.5% VAT (and simply ignore the £18 HMCE limit?).

EDIT D'OH!!! Cost = £17.99. Limit = £18. I blame that New Year scotch!

[ian@huth]

A lot of older software (and some not so old) can be picked up wholesale for peanuts. Dixons used to sell PCs for around £500 with over £1000 (RRP) of software bundled with them but I could pick up that software bundle for £15. Retailers can get software cheap by buying OEM versions and grey imports.