On-line Stores & Sellers

[Spotted Horses]

@Spotted Horses

I just did some quick calculations:  For a $10 CD, that would mean $4.29 going to Amazon (and not taking into calculations what fees Amazon would charge if the seller wanted them to warehouse the item and ship it for them). 

10 * 0.15
= 1.5

10 * 0.15 + 0.99 + 1.8
= 4.29


PD

p.s.  Just saw your post whilst I was typing mine.  I don't know...perhaps.

I think you are correct, the referral fee and closing fee are both included, but for a high volume seller there would be no $0.99 referral fee, but you would have the $39.99 flat rate per month.

If you ship yourself, you get to keep the $3.99 standard shipping fee for a CD, which may exceed the actual cost.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I think you are correct, the referral fee and closing fee are both included, but for a high volume seller there would be no $0.99 referral fee, but you would have the $39.99 flat rate per month.

If you ship yourself, you get to keep the $3.99 standard shipping fee for a CD, which may exceed the actual cost.

I read elsewhere (not on Amazon's website) that apparently if the item is returned, the seller is still out the referral fee (Ouch!).  I could see though that it could help to keep disreputable sellers off of Amazon.

PD

[DavidW]

As opposed to Arkivmusic, which twice this year I've had to badger about items supposedly in stock, but never shipped.

Yeah I don't use Arkiv anymore for that reason, they are just unreliable.

[DavidW]

If you ship yourself, you get to keep the $3.99 standard shipping fee for a CD, which may exceed the actual cost.

That is false.  I used to sell on Amazon back in the day.  They do not give the sellers the full $3.99.  They usually would give me $2.20 (and by the time I quit they were giving even less!), which is actually not enough.  I remembered on Ebay I would just set it to $2.99 and it would cover everything (for selling a cd).

On Ebay, selling (which I still currently do) is wonderful.  Small fries don't have to pay fees anymore, and you can charge the shipping fee directly to the buyer and get the shipping label right through Ebay.  Just easy, and you get everything.  You really can't beat that.

And as PD as shown that roughly 50% claim I made is actually not much of an exaggeration.

[Spotted Horses]

That is false.  I used to sell on Amazon back in the day.  They do not give the sellers the full $3.99.  They usually would give me $2.20 (and by the time I quit they were giving even less!), which is actually not enough.  I remembered on Ebay I would just set it to $2.99 and it would cover everything (for selling a cd).

On Ebay, selling (which I still currently do) is wonderful.  Small fries don't have to pay fees anymore, and you can charge the shipping fee directly to the buyer and get the shipping label right through Ebay.  Just easy, and you get everything.  You really can't beat that.

And as PD as shown that roughly 50% claim I made is actually not much of an exaggeration.

Apparently it's gotten more costly since I used to sell a few things on amazon. I gave up because they notified me I'd have to supply documentation, which seem to be for validation of tax reporting. I haven't sold anything on eBay for ages, either. When I relocated I sold 3000 CDs to a dumpster, which was easy.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

That is false.  I used to sell on Amazon back in the day.  They do not give the sellers the full $3.99.  They usually would give me $2.20 (and by the time I quit they were giving even less!), which is actually not enough.  I remembered on Ebay I would just set it to $2.99 and it would cover everything (for selling a cd).

On Ebay, selling (which I still currently do) is wonderful.  Small fries don't have to pay fees anymore, and you can charge the shipping fee directly to the buyer and get the shipping label right through Ebay.  Just easy, and you get everything.  You really can't beat that.

And as PD as shown that roughly 50% claim I made is actually not much of an exaggeration.

So, is eBay making it's money through commercial sellers?  And, wow, so were you shipping items out yourself (as in from your home, etc.)?  If so, were they taking a cut of that?  And when did you last list anything on them (Just curious as to when this was and has Amazon changed things since then)?

PD

Apparently it's gotten more costly since I used to sell a few things on amazon. I gave up because they notified me I'd have to supply documentation, which seem to be for validation of tax reporting. I haven't sold anything on eBay for ages, either. When I relocated I sold 3000 CDs to a dumpster, which was easy.

Dang!  I wish that I'd known you then!  We could have worked something out.

PD

[DavidW]

So, is eBay making it's money through commercial sellers?  And, wow, so were you shipping items out yourself (as in from your home, etc.)?  If so, were they taking a cut of that?  And when did you last list anything on them (Just curious as to when this was and has Amazon changed things since then)?

Yup, yes and no they took no cut except when I paid to promote an item.  Just a few weeks ago for Ebay (I'm not clear what you're asking).

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Yup, yes and no they took no cut except when I paid to promote an item.  Just a few weeks ago for Ebay (I'm not clear what you're asking).

Sorry, my fault.  I was asking a combo of questions about both eBay and Amazon.  The first sentence was about eBay and the rest was about your Amazon experiences.

And what does eBay want to promote an item (I'm guessing that that means being a kind of featured listing?)?

PD

[Madiel]

There is one advantage to using Amazon: their refund policies seem to keep the MP vendors honest. Twice in the last two months I've had MP vendors voluntarily refund a charge instead of going through lost in the mail loop-de-loop. Apparently both times they claimed to have an item in stock, dinged my card and claim it was shipped before ordering it from their distributor, only to find it wasn't available (or available at the price they based they listed it on Amazon).

As opposed to Arkivmusic, which twice this year I've had to badger about items supposedly in stock, but never shipped.

I honestly don't think that behaviour (people listing things they don't in fact have) constitutes an "advantage". As far as I'm aware doing that on eBay would be a direct breach of the rules. And it's a waste of the customer's time in any case.

[JBS]

I honestly don't think that behaviour (people listing things they don't in fact have) constitutes an "advantage". As far as I'm aware doing that on eBay would be a direct breach of the rules. And it's a waste of the customer's time in any case.

True. But what I was calling an advantage is that Amazon's policies give the customer an advantage against the vendor they wouldn't have had if they ordered directly from the vendor.  I didn't have to badger MovieMars to give me back my $90.
(Also, I was giving my best guess at what happened.)

[DavidW]

And what does eBay want to promote an item (I'm guessing that that means being a kind of featured listing?)?

PD

Yes it is a featured listing.  I pay them to put my product top on the search on expensive items.  I would not do that on something cheap, it wouldn't be worth it!

[DavidW]

True. But what I was calling an advantage is that Amazon's policies give the customer an advantage against the vendor they wouldn't have had if they ordered directly from the vendor.  I didn't have to badger MovieMars to give me back my $90.
(Also, I was giving my best guess at what happened.)

Oh MovieMars.  I'm still mad at them for listing cds they don't have.  I even tried to get Amazon to block them back in the day because they kept with the same fraudulent listings.  I'm really surprised that they are still around now, I would have thought they would be banned from Amazon for all their BS.  There is no justice in the world!

[Brian]

I just received notice that grooves.land has shipped my ill-fated Monteux-RCA box, 6 days after I placed the order. Keeping fingers crossed that it doesn't vanish like the JPC shipment. I did get a letter in the mail from the USPS asking me to confirm that I didn't receive the JPC package as part of their lost package investigation.

Since JBS just posted in the Bargains thread that Groovesland has only 8 copies left and 4 days of sale time left, curious if your package arrived in good condition.

[JBS]

Since JBS just posted in the Bargains thread that Groovesland has only 8 copies left and 4 days of sale time left, curious if your package arrived in good condition.

To ease the pressure a bit, I might add they've been saying they have 8 copies in stock for the last week or so. Before that they had 7 copies in stock. So either someone cancelled/returned an order or they got in fresh stock.
I'm not sure if I'm going to order it: I want to wait for the next billing cycle on my credit card to start, which will happen on the very last day of the sale
Also even their regular price is about $60 less than the Amazon listings.

[Spotted Horses]

Since JBS just posted in the Bargains thread that Groovesland has only 8 copies left and 4 days of sale time left, curious if your package arrived in good condition.

The latest update (as of yesterday) is that the package cleared customs and is schedule for delivery tomorrow (Friday).

The first package that I ordered from grooves.land (the pair of Rodzinski box from Sony collecting his NYPhil and Cleveland recordings) arrived in good shape. This shipment seems to be taking a similar route. It took the about a week before it was shipped, Netherland Post tracking said it was at the shippers warehouse for the better part of a week, then it started moving in the European postal system. After it arrived in the U.S. it seems to have cleared customs in a day or two. Overall shipping time, May 6 - May 24 (assuming it arrives tomorrow as expected).

I am still kicking myself because when I made the Rodzinski order I noticed the Monteux set for only $99. I hesitated because I'd never heard of grooves.land before and thought I should wait until the Rodzinski boxes arrived before ordering again. Before that happened the price had gone up to about $128, where it is now.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

The latest update (as of yesterday) is that the package cleared customs and is schedule for delivery tomorrow (Friday).

The first package that I ordered from grooves.land (the pair of Rodzinski box from Sony collecting his NYPhil and Cleveland recordings) arrived in good shape. This shipment seems to be taking a similar route. It took the about a week before it was shipped, Netherland Post tracking said it was at the shippers warehouse for the better part of a week, then it started moving in the European postal system. After it arrived in the U.S. it seems to have cleared customs in a day or two. Overall shipping time, May 6 - May 24 (assuming it arrives tomorrow as expected).

I am still kicking myself because when I made the Rodzinski order I noticed the Monteux set for only $99. I hesitated because I'd never heard of grooves.land before and thought I should wait until the Rodzinski boxes arrived before ordering again. Before that happened the price had gone up to about $128, where it is now.

Your Precious will soon be in your eager little hands!   

PD

[DavidW]

@Spotted Horses I think your story provides good incentive for the rest of us to switch to digital downloads!

[Spotted Horses]

@Spotted Horses I think your story provides good incentive for the rest of us to switch to digital downloads!

I have mostly switched to digital downloads. Sometimes the physical media (which I immediately rip) is the better or only choice. This is often the case with the big sets. Sometimes they are not available at all as a download, sometimes they are much more expensive as a download, sometimes the label will spit up the download into individual discs, which makes them much more expensive if you get them all, or sometimes the only way to get it is to hunt down all of the individual releases that were incorporated into the set, which is time consuming and expensive. Sometimes the download is a good deal but doesn't include the booklet (which is significant for a big set which includes recordings made over a long career).


At this point my physical media purchases are mostly either big sets like this one, or used copies of a CD which I could download, but without a booklet.

[DavidW]

I have mostly switched to digital downloads. Sometimes the physical media (which I immediately rip) is the better or only choice. This is often the case with the big sets. Sometimes they are not available at all as a download, sometimes they are much more expensive as a download, sometimes the label will spit up the download into individual discs, which makes them much more expensive if you get them all, or sometimes the only way to get it is to hunt down all of the individual releases that were incorporated into the set, which is time consuming and expensive. Sometimes the download is a good deal but doesn't include the booklet (which is significant for a big set which includes recordings made over a long career).


At this point my physical media purchases are mostly either big sets like this one, or used copies of a CD which I could download, but without a booklet.

Same here, I prefer big sets on cd.  Mostly because it is easier to navigate and I also like to gradually work my way through them by moving the one I listened to the back of the box if that makes sense.

[Spotted Horses]

Same here, I prefer big sets on cd.  Mostly because it is easier to navigate and I also like to gradually work my way through them by moving the one I listened to the back of the box if that makes sense.

That's what I used to do. Actually I would turn a disk backwards in the box once listened, since I wouldn't necessarily go through it in order. But can't do that when they are ripped. I suppose I could move to Flac files to a "listened to" subfolder. In practice I rely on a spreadsheet where I recording what I have listened to, along with a brief "review."