Amazon Marketplace cutting off low-volume sellers

Again, if they figure it out, yes they'll remove the listing. But if they determine you made the listing to circumvent catalog restrictions, they will also close down your seller account and you will never, ever, be able to sell on Amazon again. So I would be very careful when doing this.

 

I think this was largely precipitated by the increasing number of foreign and/or bogus sellers the Amazon Marketplace had been seeing for many newer music releases. I kept seeing flash in the pan sellers on Amazon's fulfillment program obviously stocking Chinese counterfeits. Everything from Paul McCartney to Bowie. If I noticed it, I'm sure labels started noticing it.

 

just got a clear rewrap sold directly by amazon. looks new so i'll let it go

 

That and also to get rid of the .25 and .99 competition for those artists catalog titles on CD.

It must be a bummer to see your first rate evergreen titles being sold for .99. But kicking those lowest priced sellers off of Amazon won't cure the problem.

I don't think Amazon can turn the music industry back to 1995. No matter what they do.

 

No more 1 cent CDs plus postage.
The cheapest non re-mastered U2 Joshua Tree CD is now $17.50, It used to be 1 cent.
In fact quite a number of CDs are now back up or close to their retail rates.
Maybe that was the plan.

New and Used:

• Audio CDfrom $17.50

 

Check Goodwill. I see U2 cds there all the time

 

The reseals and scratched/defective CDs I've gotten from Amazon Marketplace have been from big-volume sellers, not small-timers - so if Amazon is doing this because of a high rate of customer returns of items, I'd say they're targeting the wrong sellers.

As for the end of $4 shipped CDs (1 cent plus $3.99 shipping), I won't miss that at all. In terms of accuracy of description and pressing/version, and honesty about condition, I've had by far my worst experiences on Amazon Marketplace - I've had much better luck on discogs and eBay. And I find that plenty of titles can be had for only $1 more ($5 shipped), and sometimes for the same price ($4 shipped) or even less, from those two sources.

 

Amazon just didn't want to spend the customer service resources anymore policing penny ante CD sales. It's a dying market and labels were likely pressuring them on the wave of third parties undercutting new retail pricing on big sellers.

Small CD sellers are just about the only ones I trust anymore. The problem for me as a used CD consumer is that we are seeing corporations conspiring to end its marketplace for good.

In a couple of years, this forum may be one of the last reliable places to pick up used CDs.

 

I don't mean to sound like I'm telling you what to do, but I really think you should dispute that. That's misrepresentation, and plus, if all this is to help crack down on counterfeits and illegal copies and they can't identify an obvious reseal, then they're not only shooting themselves in the foot but they're also not taking any steps to correct their mistakes which led to this point.

If nothing else, I would at least try to find a way to contact them and say that you were given a re-wrapped product and it was sold as new. They won't change anything and they probably won't even care, but willful misrepresentation of goods for sale is illegal (and if they genuinely can't tell an obvious reseal from a factory seal, then they shouldn't be in the collectibles market!). They have the money to make everyone look the other way, but it's still good to call out any and all BS.

 

How do you know it's a rewrap? If it's an import, a lot of those come from the factory unwrapped, and wrapping is added just to appease customers in places like the US where it's expected.

A lot of factory sealed product, even from US labels, now comes without additional packaging like the title sticker across the top of the case or the (mostly no longer used) dogbone across the opening.

 

Start boycotting Amazon, at least for music. Maybe not too effective as to size of Amazon, like Don Quixote and the windmill. But what the hell

 

Yeah, I'm sure they'll really feel the sting of 5 Steve Hoffman Forum members "boycotting" them.

 

I think that's a weird entry. There's The Joshua Tree: Amazon.co.uk: Music with used copies from £1.06 and up. It also has a much higher sales ranking.

 

where the barcode is one the back of the cd insert there was a big white sticker over and the booklet looked like it hand been handled


there was also no sticker on the top of the case. it was the Hollywood vampires cd and didn't appear to be an import

 

Is it US only? Any sellers from UK or elsewhere getting these messages?

 

The way I see this is Amazon is getting a really big head They live in there own bubble..
This lawyer speak document I read .. should be shoved where sun don't shine whoever
authorized it. So long winded and tedious how about just say we no longer let
third party sellers sell used goods..
I miss days of Amazon 1 cent cds and cds that can't be found..
Big to fail is what I think of Amazon when there so many other
business out there that offer more ..
I see Amazon going under in 10 yrs do to increase competition.. infighting etc.
Never will I forget or forgive.. how they destroyed the new and used book stores..

 

They will likely fire big ticket CD sellers at the same time, over-stepping their own policy, and harming many sellers and hurting Amazons bottom line as well.

eBay did some moves that hurt their business and the only way to get the profits back was to offer free listings.

 

The big picture is that Amazon is growing increasingly tired of carrying media products at all. They know it's a shrinking market going forward and aren't that worried about preserving it since they make money on other things.

 

The used media market is not shrinking at the rate that the new media is. Used product was the saviour for many a stores that embraced it. Used music and movies is a billion dollar biz!

 

Amazon sold over 120 billion last year.

 

Matt that appears to be a promo copy so it probably was rewrapped. I used to get CDs like that for airplay when I was doing the radio show.

 

Does this link work for U2 The Joshua Tree 1987 (Amazon UK)
Amazon.co.uk: Buying Choices: Joshua tree (1987)

Probably have to contact the sellers for more information, after / or waiting for lower prices.

Old cd listings are still accessible (for now) they just take some finding.

This would be a difficult one to find using a general search;
Tangram: Amazon.co.uk: Music

 

I always use the UPC code to locate older CDs on amazon. I have found/bought dozens of old CDs this way.

 

thank you. amazon sold it as new

 

Got the e-mail about a month ago asking for receipts/invoices for items I'm selling. I responded saying I had none, that I was just selling CDs that had been in my collection that I no longer want. About a week ago got a 2nd e-mail saying I had 15 days to provide receipts/invoices. I deleted it. Whatever happens happens. If they shut down my measly 8 item storefront, oh well, their loss as they won't be able to collect their huge fee whenever an item got sold.