Your cost for cheap CDs on Amazon is about to jump $1 across the board--min shipped cost = $4.00

Just got this in the email from Amazon:

That means that the absolute minimum price anyone can sell a CD for on Amazon (unless they use Amazon's FBA service) will be $4.00. That's a big jump from $2.99 (currently).

Pretty bad news for both buyers and sellers. Only one who makes out is Amazon, who keeps a whopping additional $0.55 of that extra buck.

 

Talking Amazon.com, I guess they don't want to ship outside the USA anymore

Amazon marketplace international shipping rates for one CD:

End of January: $6,89

As of last week: $8,89

Today: $14,29

Yes, tried several sellers and shipping rates nearly doubled since the end of January; $14,29?! Weird. I emailed an American ebay seller asking info about a disc I am interested in, and he told me that shipping rates to Italy are $8

 

There are other threads here discussing the recent USPS international rate increases. Unfortunately, $14.29 when you consider the cost of packaging and handling is not unreasonable now. There's no way you can send a CD to Italy for $8 now; the seller is probably unaware of the increase and will be eating a chunk of the shipping cost when he goes to ship.

 

As a seller, the best recourse now is to sell your stuff through Amazon's FBA program--you ship it to Amazon and they ship it to the buyers in non-US countries. I believe the shipping rates are much lower that way for the buyer.

 

Oh, I'll tell him about it; don't want to rip anybody off. He shipped CDs to Europe recently too. Do USPS offer some kind of discounts if you use their service often? He has a lot of business.

 

You get a slight discount buy buying online, but not that much. Not sure what other volume discounts are available. He could be keeping his quoted S&H rate low to keep his international buyers interested... and possibly increasing his prices on the items themselves to compensate?

 

You may be right. It's the first time I'm dealing with him so I'm unaware about his previous prices

 

It's kind of hard to believe that until a few years ago, there were $5 flat rate Priority International envelopes. (They were roughly half the size of the standard 8.5x11 mailers). They'd easily fit a couple of CDs, or a VHS video or a DVD or two. Sigh...

 

Gas goes up and everything else too.

 

I hate to say it, but I think part of the problem is that people are used to getting a bargain from the postal service. International rates for small packages used to be dirt cheap considering the service being provided.

 

But this has nothing to do with that. If Amazon were raising their prices $1, you'd say "they're passing along costs". What this is, is a $0.55/disc money grab by Amazon for...letting you sell on their site. Prices are already tethered to inflation, and the costs of providing the servers hasn't increased appreciably.

Amazon takes a big bite and you, as seller, can choose to lower your price by $0.45 to maintain the same net to yourself, but the buyer is still being hit with a $0.55 bite that goes straight into Amazon's pockets...

 

Not by double, it didn't.
And Amazon increasing their slice. I thought it would be in their interest not to discourage international sales.

 

He might get lower rates due to the way he ships. What some sellers in Canada do, for example if shipping a lot of items to the UK, is ship all of them in one bulk shipment via a shipping company ie not the postal service. Once it arrives in the UK they pay the local postage and put them in UK mailboxes. It actually works out to be a lot cheaper to do it that way.

 

Thanks for the notice on this email, the change in policy will greatly affect my buying habits until that date. And once Amazon Marketplace changes shipping, it won't be long until the other third-party sites increase their rates. The increase will largely wipe out any advantage a third-party seller may have on a price against Amazon itself, for most CDs and DVDs priced under $8. This is going to affect the used CD market more than people realize.

 

Marcel, I used to ship all over the world (mainly mini lp cds) and one cd to Italy in a dvd size cardboard mailer would cost $6.40 USD. That was up to 8 oz. Now, to ship the same 8 oz. package via first class international is now $12.75 USD and 9oz. is $14.70 The U.S. postal service has made it very difficult to sell international.

 

Indeed. I'm in Canada, and barring some incredible deal on a rare CD, it is no longer economically practical for me to purchase anything from amazon.com marketplace.

 

I guess this is the way Import CDs works: I receive all of their packages in a "Royal Mail" package. A major advantage is that the customs guys won't hit me for CDs (apparently) shipped from the UK.

That's sad. As I reported before, Amazon marketplace's international shipping rates are now $14,29...so does it mean there's a further $2 bucks for order that go directly into Amazon's pockets?

 

It is a shame as I think Amazon will lose a lot of worldwide sales and not necessarily gain them locally because of the postage rate increase which is beyond there control.

 

Amazon is selling some CDs for $3.99 (free shipping, if you buy $25 min.)

 

This is indeed prohibitive price - the cheapest CD is $14,30 then, which does not make sense.
Bye-bye, Amazon US

 

Maybe I am not reading ths correctly, but are you saying that the lowest you can list a CD is for $2.99 and it will be $4 shortly? I see CDs listed at 99 cents all the time and not using the FBA service. Am I missing something?

 

Especially when there is no opportunity to combine shipping - something that Amazon really should address.

 

No, he means the cheapest possible price with shipping is currently $2.99 ($0.01 CD + $2.98 shipping), soon to be $4 ($0.01 CD + $3.99 shipping). One will still be able to list a CD for as little as a penny, though why one would bother to do so is a mystery. It's easier just to give the CD to a friend or throw it away if you really don't want it.

 

I don't know this for sure, but I've always assumed that those 1 cent listings are a way for someone to claim a loss on their income taxes. If you have inventory sitting in a warehouse, I'm guessing the IRS doesn't allow you to value it at zero. If you have a bunch of nearly worthless cds, selling them for one cent plus shipping (part of which you'll be able to keep because of Amazon's generous shipping allowance) is one way for someone running an actual business to claim a loss.

 

Ugh.

I can find used CDs in the $4-5 price range at a bunch of places within a 70-mile radius of here. It's only a buck, but it looks like I'll be spending a LOT less on Amazon Marketplace the rest of the year. Bummer.