Are Amazon partner programs worth it?
Hi all, we have been approched by Amazon a few times for vendor program once earlier in the year then again for Amazon Strategic Services. The programs are invite only and make it seem a privelege to work with Amazon, but I'm very weary as we already pay enough to Amazon fees and referrals. Are the programs worth it or are they another way for Amazon to fleece us. Anyone have any experience with these programs?
Are Amazon partner programs worth it?
Hi all, we have been approched by Amazon a few times for vendor program once earlier in the year then again for Amazon Strategic Services. The programs are invite only and make it seem a privelege to work with Amazon, but I'm very weary as we already pay enough to Amazon fees and referrals. Are the programs worth it or are they another way for Amazon to fleece us. Anyone have any experience with these programs?
6 Antworten
Seller_jGVxVIjqaXgJJ
HI, I would say the vendor programme is definetely worth it, it is basically allowing you to supply yhrm, We were approached a few years ago, and I have been trying to get on it ever since. I wish I did. Obviously there are draw backs, but you do become an Amazon Supplier.
Seller_yAX3uUmi4WvDj
Hi,
Same situation for us as well, been approached by Amazon strategic services a couple of times, fee is pretty heavy to participate and would like to find out if its worth it. Would be good to get first hand experience from someone who has been through it and can advise better.
Seller_esvgLzKXw2YAl
I'm not on the Vendor program, but have seen various reports about it.
The biggest issue with it seems to be things like having to accept stock back and the length of time to get paid etc.
Personally, it's not something that I would want to get involved in, as you do lose a fair bit of control.
I suppose at the end of the day, a lot will depend on your specific circumstances as to whether it's worth it or not. Talk to them if you have been invited and get the nitty gritty first.
Seller_1obJSRPh1MeNl
Hi, definitely NOT worth it as they expect you to supply the products to them at a very, very low price. They take over the product page that you have built for several years and you are not allowed to then sell on the same page. So lets say something is selling for £14.99, you tell them it costs you £5.50 they expect you to supply to them at £6-£7 so therefore you barely make anytrhing if you take out fees, shipping to them etc. We tried it many years ago and Amazon basically hijacked all of our ASIN and it took years to get them back. Amazon put us on a trial so they do not want to buy in bulk from us and ship themselves, they buy when they sell a unit and we ship to the customer, so exactly like drop shipping but Amazon's rules!!! Think long and hard as it was not worth it for us
Seller_D4iQc00S2iLLW
I'm with Strategic Services - previously ASP360 - for 2 years now (on other account). What you receive is:
- additional performance stats (ABC, Movers&Shakers, IDQ, Ads performance) - most of these things are available through eg. Helium10 but here they come straight from the source
- Marketplace consultant - contact person who can be really helpful giving some guidance and resolving some issues
- Listing execution services - email based help with listings change
- Premium support - to deal with your cases
- Escalation contact - a single person who will oversee and escalate your cases, if they weren't resolved by support within 2 days or were closed without satisfying resolution.
Now, if you are data geek and use Helium10 or other tools for listing optimization, PPC optimization etc., the reports part of the programme alone is not worth it. If you don't use external tools for analytics, then these reports can give you quite valuable info.
The core benefit of the programme is Support and Escalation.
If you, like me, used to bounce from one bot-like reply to another for weeks with a single case, or was forced to remove ASIN because someone somewhere made an error and it's unrepairable when dealing with standard SS - Escalation contact is godsent and worth every penny. Not that you would use it much - since signing in, suddenly all the troubles went away, I use Escalation maybe once a month for minor cases as I had no serious one since a year.
If you intend to expand your business on Amazon, then yes - it's worth it. It is like business insurance policy - there won't be a case you wake up and see your selling account is blocked because of some trivial error and there is no one you can turn to - being in the programme you have a "certainty" there will be someone to help. I can say I sleep better since joining.
Seller_iqMZDTwfRQhHQ
I was approached about 18months ago for the Vendor program and had several conversations over the phone all of which were good. I was a Vat reg sole trader though and wanted to go forward as a vat reg Ltd company (you can't change once accepted) - it took over 8 months for HMRC to give my company a vat number and by the time I was ready and verified again the offer had gone and no one is replying to emails. I never got formal T&Cs as I had to enter all the new company info for that but in phone calls and emails I gave the 'wholesale' price I wanted, expecting bit of negotiation but it was accepted no problem. They told me they would make orders of what was needed but anything I couldn't fulfil would not count against me. I would still control listings and could list myself and would have help in optimising. Only thing I saw as negative was you couldn't use the preferential courier rates to get stock into Amazon. I had to also register with GS1 as the amazon codes I used to list my brand weren't acceptable (found this really strange!) as I sent in a spreadsheet of all the items I was going to sell (doesn't need to be your whole catalogue) in preparation.
I looked for other people's experience at the time and the little out there seemed old and negative but actually nothing like the terms I was being offered. I would check what you're being offered - I would take the chance if offered the same terms again.
