I wondered if anyone was selling their handmade items on Amazon? I’ve seen a few old threads from last year about ‘Handmade at Amazon’ and didn’t get a good vibe. I’ve had an email from them through my own website (which made me assume that it wasn’t just a computer generated email … maybe I’m hugely naive!), which led me to ‘apply’. I was accepted and now keep getting emails about how to list etc. Does anyone have any experience on this?? Any thoughts or help would be very much appreciated.
Word of warning - I’m not sure how happy the folksy bods would be about us discussing an alternative selling platform as that could have a negative impact on them if shops were to move from here to elsewhere because of what we say. But since I have nothing positive to say about handmade at amazon I’ll carry on…
I don’t sell on there and when discussing it on a different forum people were surprised by how high the fees were when they did sell items so make sure that you are happy with the fee structure if you do start using it (nb the $40 monthly fee is currently being waived but that ends soon and $40 is about £32 per month or £380 per year just to list items). It is also very much geared towards the american market - if you go onto amazon.co.uk and try to find a link to it you won’t (or at least I can’t, I think a uk version is coming later) I only seem to be able to find it from amazon.com. If you are selling to the american market you need to make sure you have the appropriate insurance in place.
Have a read of this if you really want to be put off
http://www.luckybreakconsulting.com/blog/the-problem-with-selling-on-handmade-at-amazon/
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Thank you Sasha … I really didn’t think about that … sorry Folksy! I’d love to just sell on here but am finding that I just don’t get a huge amount of views or sales so I was just considering options. I’ve heard quite a few negative comments about the other place, so think I will swerve it and delete all those emails! Thanks again!
The UK version is launching soon: I have already started listing items for it. I have only negative experiences of the US site (no interest whatsoever, which lead to me listing very little, which led to no interest, which…). I think that the monthly fees have now been waived until the end of the year: for me, I will give it a go, but I’m effectively closing my US shop and adding a few more items to it to try to sell over here. I don’t have any expectations however, given my performance on the US site. I think that good advice would be not to put all your eggs into one basket, and see what works best for you.
I’ll keep an eye out for the UK version, it seems that we have to spend more time listing and advertising than we do making!! One day I’ll be able to potter in my shed and give up the day job (just need that husband of mine to earn a bit more!!). I agree with not putting all you eggs in one basket, more baskets just mean more work! Thanks Rhiannon!
I would be very careful with Amazon a while back I just had a look into how to sell on there and the next minute they took out £30 out of my account and then again did the same thing , in the end had to get our bank to get the money back for us , a night mare dealing with Amazon.
I never even go and look on my Us shop as it was an absolute waste of time listing my items. The only message I got through it was from a scammer who was persistent for months even though I never answered their e-mails.
I got the the invite to the UK one and was going to list on the German and France sites as well but since then learned that you have to be able to speak in those languages to sell on them.
Thank you for letting me know how you’ve got on - it’s always good to hear from people who have had first hand experience.