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Tag: Amazon Marketplace

  • Amazon Is Responsible For Defective Third-Party Products

    Amazon Is Responsible For Defective Third-Party Products

    A court has ruled Amazon is liable for defective products, including those sold by third-party sellers.

    To date, Amazon has managed to avoid being held liable for defective products sold by third parties in its Marketplace. A California Court of Appeals ruling changes that, however, reversing a previous decision by a San Diego Superior Court.

    The case centers on a woman who purchased a replacement laptop battery that later exploded, injuring her. Amazon has argued it is merely a service provider, and therefore shouldn’t be held liable. In her ruling, Justice Patricia Guerrero said Amazon’s involvement went far beyond that of a service provider.

    “As a factual and legal matter, Amazon placed itself between Lenoge and Bolger in the chain of distribution of the product at issue here. Amazon accepted possession of the product from Lenoge, stored it in an Amazon warehouse, attracted Bolger to the Amazon website, provided her with a product listing for Lenoge’s product, received her payment for the product, and shipped the product in Amazon packaging to her. Amazon set the terms of its relationship with Lenoge, controlled the conditions of Lenoge’s offer for sale on Amazon, limited Lenoge’s access to Amazon’s customer information, forced Lenoge to communicate with customers through Amazon, and demanded indemnification as well as substantial fees on each purchase. Whatever term we use to describe Amazon’s role, be it ‘retailer,’ ‘distributor,’ or merely ‘facilitator,’ it was pivotal in bringing the product here to the consumer.”

    This ruling will likely have profound implications on Amazon’s business, although what those are remains to be seen.

  • Antitrust Prosecution Comes To E-Commerce

    Antitrust Prosecution Comes To E-Commerce

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it has charged a former e-commerce executive with price fixing, in what would be the DoJ’s antitrust division’s first online marketplace prosecution. The defendant is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and a fine of $1 million for individuals.

    David Topkins, who sold posters and other art through Amazon Marketplace, is facing a one-count felony charge, which was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California in San Francisco. It alleges that Topkins and his “co-conspirators” fixed prices of certain posters sold from September 2013 through January 2014. The charge also alleges that Topkins and said co-conspirators adopted “specific pricing algorithms for the sale of certain posters with the goal of coordinating changes to their respective prices, and wrote computer code that instructed algorithm-based software to set prices.”

    The prosecution of Topkins came about from an investigation into price fixing in the online wall décor industry. The DoJ’s antitrust division is still conducting this with help from the FBI. Topkins agreed to plead guilty and pay a $20,000 criminal fine as well as cooperate with the ongoing investigation. The plea agreement is still subject to court approval. The maximum fine of $1 million can be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either amount is greater. It’s unclear what those figures are in this case.

    “Today’s announcement represents the division’s first criminal prosecution against a conspiracy specifically targeting e-commerce,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “We will not tolerate anticompetitive conduct, whether it occurs in a smoke-filled room or over the Internet using complex pricing algorithms. American consumers have the right to a free and fair marketplace online, as well as in brick and mortar businesses.”

    “These charges demonstrate our continued commitment to investigate and prosecute individuals and organizations seeking to victimize online consumers through illegal anticompetitive conduct,” said Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson of the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office. “The FBI is committed to investigating price fixing schemes and remains unwavering in our dedication to bring those responsible for theses illegal conspiracies to justice.”

    Amazon itself, which has not been implicated in the case, has so far remained silent on the news.

  • Amazon Seller Holiday Deals Program Goes Global

    Last year, Amazon gave Marketplace sellers a chance to have their products appear on high-traffic holiday deal pages on Amazon.com throughout the holiday season. This year, the company is opening up such opportunities to more sellers around the world.

    Deals from sellers will be featured on holiday deal pages like the Amazon Today’s Deals page, the Black Friday Store, the Cyber Monday Store, and other high-traffic site features. This will happen in the U.S., the EU, China, Japan, India, and Canada.

    “It’s a huge benefit to customers during the holidays to have millions of small and mid-sized businesses from around the world selling on Amazon,” said Peter Faricy, VP for Amazon Marketplace. “We have heard from customers that they value the breadth and depth of unique products only offered by sellers. This year customers will find thousands of limited-time holiday deals on high quality items and can browse hundreds of millions of other attractive offers at low prices across popular categories like consumer electronics, toys, clothing and many others. It’s now easier than ever for sellers on Amazon to reach customers in their local area or anywhere in the world.”

    “The sales spike from our deal earlier in the year was so fast, it was beyond our imagination. Customers rushed to the deal page and within minutes our inventory disappeared. For our upcoming holiday deals, we are preparing to have triple the inventory level available to meet high customer demand,” said Darwin Deng, President for Patozon.

    According to Amazon, Amazon sellers experienced record growth during the holiday season last year. On Cyber Monday alone, over 13 million units were ordered worldwide from sellers of varying sizes. This was up 50% year-over-year.

    Image via Amazon

  • 2013 Was A Huge Year For Amazon Marketplace

    2013 Was A Huge Year For Amazon Marketplace

    Amazon announced on Thursday that 2013 was a record-setting year for Amazon Marketplace sellers, and that it now has over 2 million of them. Throughout the year, sellers sold over a billion units worldwide, worth tens of billions of dollars, the company says.

    Marketplace sellers had a particularly good holiday season with over 13 million units ordered worldwide on Cyber Monday, up 50% year over year.

    If you’ll recall, Amazon gave Marketplace sellers access to high-traffic holiday deal pages, which no doubt contributed significantly to the big year.

    “Amazon gave us an opportunity to offer an incredible holiday deal on Cyber Monday and we hit it out of the park,” said Eli Silver Sakkal, president of Amazing Deals Online. “We experienced an unprecedented 5,000 percent sales growth spike on an item we listed with an attractive holiday deal price. I know it sounds unbelievable, but it’s true! We sold more than $1,000,000 in product in a single day. Being a Marketplace Seller on Amazon has allowed us to benefit from the technical infrastructure they’ve built up over the years while reaching millions of loyal customers worldwide for a modest cost to us. We have enjoyed an 80 percent increase in units sold on Amazon this holiday season without having to invest a penny in our own infrastructure. Amazon by far has been our most successful sales channel this holiday selling season.”

    Amazon says Marketplace sellers have continued “rapid adoption” of Fulfillment by Amazon with the number of active sellers using it growing over 65% year over year.

    Peter Faricy, VP for Amazon Marketplace, said, “It has been an incredible year for Marketplace Sellers including popular brands and businesses of all sizes selling on Amazon. Our customers have told us they appreciate the hundreds of millions of products listed by Marketplace Sellers that range from all types of apparel to a vast selection of electronics items.”

    “Our goal every day is to make selling on Amazon as easy as possible,” he added. “Fulfillment by Amazon is a wonderful service as it gives all Marketplace Sellers the option of warehousing their inventory in our fulfillment center network. It has been a game changer for sellers because their items become eligible for Prime benefits, which drives their sales and benefits consumers with additional Prime selection.”

    Fulfillment By Amazon shipped more units in the Q4 than the total number of units combined in all of 2009 and 2010.

    The number of businesses using Amazon Payments also grew by 50% year over year on Cyber Monday.

    Image via Amazon Marketplace

  • Amazon Marketplace Sellers Get Access To High-Traffic Amazon Holiday Deal Pages

    Amazon Marketplace Sellers Get Access To High-Traffic Amazon Holiday Deal Pages

    Thousands of Amazon Marketplace sellers are getting the opportunity to have their products appear on high-traffic holiday deal pages on Amazon.com throughout the holiday season, opening up the possibility for a big increase in traffic and sales.

    Amazon announced on Monday that sellers are being invited to offer holiday deals to be featured on such pages, including the Today’s Deals page, Gold Box Today’s Deal page, Black Friday and Cyber Monday deal pages, and category holiday pages. As the company notes, the most popular holiday categories (like electronics and toys) will have numerous deals each day from various sellers all season long.

    Amazon Marketplace VP Peter Faricy said, “It will now be easier than ever for our millions of customers to find popular and unique holiday products from our sellers. We know that customers expect to find the lowest prices on Amazon and love browsing the holiday deal pages for great bargains. We are excited that for the first time ever our sellers will be able to showcase their unique and high quality items on the holiday promotion shopping pages.”

    Michael Silberstein, operations manager for NYC-based electronics retailer Focus Camera, said, “Our Gold Box Deal promotion earlier this year was an outstanding success. We listed a popular camera at an unbeatable price that was showcased on the premier placement of Amazon Today’s Deal page for several hours. As a result, we received an enormous increase in sales during the promotion, especially for an item priced over $200.”

    “The Gold Box Deal promotion helped us sell approximately 30 percent of the cameras we had in stock in only a few hours,” he added. “Considering our large inventory, the amount of orders we fulfilled greatly exceeded our expectations. The Gold Box Deal attracted so many customers that we can’t wait for our next chance to participate during the holidays. Amazon is undoubtedly our most important sales channel during the holiday season. If our items are listed on Amazon and the price is right, sales are guaranteed.”

    Gold Box features are shown to all Amazon customers with an account, and new customers see Gold Box “Quick Picks” a few days after their first purchase. These deals include a daily deal, a selection of “best deals,” and lightning deals, which pair a single item with a limited number of coupons.

    Many others should be feeling similar effects throughout the season. According to Amazon, over 2 million sellers experienced record holiday growth during the holiday season last year. In the U.S. alone, unit growth increased over 40% year-over-year.

    Stu Eisenman, president of Delaware-based E-Revolution Ventures, said, “We experienced a tremendous increase in sales for the products we’ve offered as Best Deal or Gold Box Deals. Not only do our sales increase for that item but the deal brings attention and increased popularity to the product that lasts well beyond the promotional deal. As a smaller retailer we were never able to offer our customers the same shipping savings as larger competitors. By participating in Amazon’s FBA program, we can take advantage of the economies of scale. Through the FBA program we’re able to leverage Amazon’s reputation for customer service into increased sales. We can focus on analyzing which items are hot sellers during the holiday season and take steps to ensure ample quantities are available.”

    There are concerns about online spending going into this holiday season. eBay, which released its earnings report last week, gave some less than stellar guidance for the season, and according to the New York Times, online retailers are worried about uncertainty created by the government shutdown.

    Amazon will release its report this Thursday. We’ll see what kind of guidance they give.

  • Amazon Third-Party Sellers Saw Tremendous Sales Over The Holiday Season

    Amazon Third-Party Sellers Saw Tremendous Sales Over The Holiday Season

    Businesses selling their goods on Amazon had their best holiday season yet, according to Amazon. The company has over two million third-party sellers on Amazon Marketplace, and unit growth from U.S. sellers grew over 40% year-over-year.

    “We value the breadth and depth of selection that businesses selling on Amazon offer our more than 188 million active customers worldwide,” said Peter Faricy, VP for Amazon Marketplace. “The entire Amazon Seller organization is focused on helping third-party businesses succeed and grow on Amazon. We do this by creating a dynamic marketplace platform that helps every seller deliver the best possible selection, service and prices to all Amazon customers.”

    Amazon says third-party sellers sold enough smartphone and tablet screen protectors to cover every NFL stadium four times over. That’s not surprising considering the amount of mobile device activations reported for Christmas day alone.

    Interestingly, sellers also sold something like 50,000 Santa hats and 500,000 guitar picks. Amazon says sellers also sold “enough mustache pacifiers to give one to every baby born in Washington State next month,” and “enough tea lights to keep a votive illuminated continuously for over 200 years.”

    Amazon says sellers using its various ecommerce services (like Webstore, Payments and Product Ads) set records in sales volume, traffic and services performance.