Amazon Account changes, price hikes and an ethical book disposal method

By Sharon Fussell, February 10, 2012

This week’s post is a little eclectic in terms of content, due to having received bits of information on some proposed changes I want to share with you – but being unable to go into great detail until I know more about the impact of those changes.

Changes to your Amazon Account

You may be aware that Amazon is considering changes to the seller account page. They plan to list all the links currently on the front of the page, on the side of the screen. The prominent feature on the page is to be their alerts and information they want you to take note of.

In my opinion they are totally wrong to make any changes, after all, the old adage states ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.’ Many of Amazon’s messages and much of their information is irrelevant to me… and I tend to find that if there is something they want me to take urgent note of they will email me.

As it stands any information I need to know is easily accessed from my seller account, simply by scrolling down the seller page. At present Amazon are asking for feedback concerning the changes – I certainly gave them my opinion!

I hope they do not implement the proposed changes, however, of course if that’s what they plan to do then I will have to get used to it! I personally believe that no amount of feedback which disagrees with their plans will prevent them making these changes.

If you have a chance, click on the link to the test page from your seller account and complete the little questionnaire. Of course, unlike me you may prefer the proposed changes, so it’s worth seeing what the fuss is about.

Beware New FBA Price Changes:

From March 2012, Amazon are making changes to the way they charge on some FBA fees. It will certainly make a difference when it comes to selling low value stock. However, there is little you can do except to pre-empt the charges and…

1 – watch the weight/size of books to ensure you make as much profit as possible for any low value book.

2 – Amazon are making changes to the postage of FBA items by charging by the gram rather than making the weight up to the next price – so it could mean that if you do lose out on one charge – you may gain due to this change.

I am unable to comment further regarding this change until I have had a chance to analyse profits before and after the change – but do watch this space!

Additional information regarding unwanted books:

Thanks to Ingrid for this ethical solution to the problem of unwanted books…

“Hi Sharon,

Another suggestion for unwanted books is to give them to a charity called Healthy planet: their objective is to save books from landfill.

They are always looking for books which they offer FREE to anyone who comes into their centres. There are centres throughout the UK but not in huge numbers.

To find out if there is a centre nearby go onto www.healthyplanet.org and click on ‘Books for free’.

Best wishes,

Ingrid”

That’s all for this week – do let me know what you think about the proposed changes and how they might affect you!