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I have started the process, registration and now setting up shop. Here is the letter I just recieved after reg.

 

Welcome letter:

 

If you’re adding over 100 different products, consider using an Inventory File Template to upload in bulk. [https://sellercentral.amazon.com/txtfilelisting]

Three Tips for New Seller Success

1. Get Familiar with Seller Central
[https://sellercentral.amazon.com/]

Seller Central is designed to help you manage every aspect of your experience with Selling on Amazon. You can sign in to finish setting up your account, access training materials, get support, and start selling.

2. Learn the Basics of Selling on Amazon
[https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/200154610]

Get answers to frequently asked questions about account setup, listing and managing inventory, orders and payments, shipping and fulfillment, advertising and promotions, and getting paid.

3. Expand Your Knowledge
[https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/200700310]

Visit our help page to ask questions, watch video tutorials, or connect with Seller Support to find answers.

Thank you for Selling on Amazon. We’re here to help you succeed every step of the way.

Sincerely,
The Selling on Amazon team
 
Registration Letter

 

Thank you for registering for Handmade at Amazon. By joining Handmade at Amazon, you are automatically enrolled in a Pro Merchant Amazon account. 

Through 8/1/2016 you will be eligible for a waiver of the $39.99 monthly Pro Merchant fee. 

However, if you sell more than 40 non-handmade items in any given month outside of the Handmade category, the promotional waiver of the $39.99 monthly Pro Merchant fee will be void, effective immediately. Going forward, the subscription fee will be automatically debited from your seller account on each monthly renewal date. 

Referral fees and variable closing fees will still apply to sale of your products. 

Starting today, your new Handmade at Amazon account will provide the following benefits: 
- Dedicated Artisan Profile to share your story, showcase your work, and connect with customers 
- Ability to add new handmade products to the Amazon catalog with up to 10 predefined customizations 
- Hassle-free tools and reports to manage your business 
- Access to one platform, trusted by over 250 million customers worldwide 
-Handmade-dedicated Seller Support available from 6am to 6pm PST, 7 days per week, via phone, chat, and email 
- Ability to configure tax collection settings 

If you have questions about Handmade at Amazon or your Pro Merchant account or need technical assistance, please contact our Seller Support team by clicking the Contact Seller Support link in your seller account. 

Thank you for signing up to sell with Handmade at Amazon! 

Happy Selling, 
The Handmade at Amazon Team


 

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Marko....I will be interested to learn how your experience with Amazon works out. I have also been made aware that Facebook is marketing a similar site. Add with Etsy and a few other sites for artists, it is getting crowded in this space. IMO, Etsy lost their way a while back...Will be interested to see who fills the void.

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Hi Marko---the links only go to a registration function, so since I am not looking to be a seller I could not check them out. My big question is what is a rough estimate of how many pieces you need to have to get started and what does the whole package for start-up and monthly cost? Thanks. I hope it does well for you! Keep us posted. 

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Hi Marko---the links only go to a registration function, so since I am not looking to be a seller I could not check them out. My big question is what is a rough estimate of how many pieces you need to have to get started and what does the whole package for start-up and monthly cost? Thanks. I hope it does well for you! Keep us posted. 

Hi Lee, I read that as long as you only sell handmade items they waive the monthly fee of 39 bucks. As per each piece, not sure. I have been to busy to get it set up yet, but I will go back in and check. I hope it's not more than Etsy, $0.20 per listing. But I also use PayPal and they get a cut. I do not know the exact percentage. I think it is about 4% of the sale. I am going to take it easy and check Amazon out and see if I should stay or go. They haven't said anything about a minimum amount of products, so we'll see what happens when I add a few things.  

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Marko....I will be interested to learn how your experience with Amazon works out. I have also been made aware that Facebook is marketing a similar site. Add with Etsy and a few other sites for artists, it is getting crowded in this space. IMO, Etsy lost their way a while back...Will be interested to see who fills the void.

Yeah, I'm not sure if I should leave Etsy and take on Amazon, or try to manage them both. 

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I'm also registering for Amazon Handmade. They are waiving the $39.99 fee until at least August 2016. They take 12%, I believe, as commission. To register, you have to have an Amazon Pro account. If you are already a seller on Amazon, with an individual account, you have to upgrade to Pro. With a Pro account, they don't charge the $.99 per item that they charge for individual accounts. Pro accounts generally cost $39.99 per month, but are waived, as I mentioned, for Handmade. It wouldn't surprise me if they extend the waiver for a longer period of time, since that's a lot of money unless you're selling a lot.. My biggest issue so far is deciding how to charge for shipping. There are so many options. You have flexibility to have free shipping, or free shipping over a certain specified dollar amount, or really, anything you want. So, it's a question of whether to raise the price of the product and have cheap shipping, or keep the price lower and charge more for shipping.

I'll probably put a few pieces up and see how it goes. There's no minimum number of items, so I can just ease into this...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Agreed, Joseph. Sharpie mugs everywhere. :(

 

yea not only that, but very store wal-mart type stuff. so much for judged items etc etc that they promoted. I was really hoping it was going to be a large online gallery of beautiful hand made work that was hand picked or something(isn't that what they promoted?).

 

There is still some nice stuff though if you look through it, a lot of talented artist.

 

If you have beautiful work, this would just be another place to sell it through, amazon gets tons of eyeballs. I am sure these listings will start blending with normal amazon searches for similar terms. Like Dinner Plates etc. I dunno if they are doing it yet, but I bet it will happen eventually.

 

Edit: I searched Dinner Plates, Dinner Bowls, Coffee mugs, none of the handmade stuff came up yet, or at least wasn't in the first 5 pages of results.

 

What is even more interesting is when you search: "Handmade Mug" it is just a bunch of people who were already selling pottery on amazon before 'handmade' came along. In fact nearly all the results are Prime Available, which is the quick shipping, where a seller has already made the item and has shipped it to amazon's warehouse. 

 

Soo.. I guess you only see the 'handmade' stuff right now if you actually go to the 'handmade' section and search there.

 

What is even more funny, is that none of the people who are prime sellers for handmade pottery show up in that section. That would irk me so bad if I was a hand made potter already selling stuff on amazon.

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I see two things that Amazon has that I wish Etsy did.

1) Waaaaay better customer base to vendor ratio. Approximately 5000 handmade vendors (and growing) to Amazon's epic reach of 245 million customers. Etsy claims over a million vendors worldwide, with 54 million customers. This could make a difference at Christmas time.

2) That 12% fee goes towards offsetting shipping costs. I don't know what the difference is like in the U.S., but Canada Post is expensive, even with discounted shipping labels from Etsy. I wind up burying part of my shipping costs in my list price, because the real mailing cost is VERY off-putting.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

lee, i just looked at handmade and selected kitchen wares by whatever name they have it.  35 pages, nearly all just stuff decorated, not handmade.  some potters on there but they were repeats of the same items,  yes, a few were made by hand but the majority seemed to be from factories specializing in highly painted, colorful plates resembling the one my friend got on a trip to italy.

 

page 32 mentioned a real potter and showed a little of his stuff.

 

i think the indexing by product is so ingrained in the web selling mentality that they do not even consider using a different term like "pottery".  whoever put the pages together suggested that since i was in the tableware section i would also want to see disney door magnets.  EVERY page. (wonder who suggested that??? :rolleyes: )

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