I tried to become a new seller, and Amazon ripped me off! I sell regularly on ebay here in the UK, and I was doing well enough on that site to consider expanding to Amazon as well.
I went over to the amazon website and I was in luck! They had on offer a free 3 month trial for 'pro' accounts! I needed a pro account because my product is hair accessories, and you can't sell those on the free accounts. It said Pro accounts usually cost 25 a month (40$ US) So I thought, great, I'll give it a shot while they have this offer, and if it pays off I'll keep it. If not, there's no cost for the trial, so I've got nothing to lose. Perfect timing!
Wrong.
Turns out, the GIANT *3 month free trial!!! * button I clicked on wasn't actually a 3 month free trial. It was a 1 month free trial, and if you posted your first listing within 2 weeks, then they expanded it to 3. Not only was this not mentioned when I signed up, but I was NOT ALLOWED to sell my product for 5 full weeks after signing up.
Because my product was hair accessories, I had to email them to get permission to sell it, wait up to a week for them to respond, and then was told that I had that permission but now I needed another permission because my product didn't have bar codes. When all was said and done, I did not receive all necessary permissions to sell my product until 5 full weeks after I signed up. Of course, by now my 2 week limit for first post was far surpassed, so I did not qualify for the 3 month trial, and I was now into my 2nd month after registration.
2 weeks later, 28 (45$ US) was taken, without permission, from my account. Turns out the monthly fee is actually 28, not 25 as the website stated.
My product had been on the marketplace for only 5 days, and needless to say I got hardly any views and no sales in that time. I immediately cancelled the account, but I'm stuck with the unexpected month I had to pay for, after only 5 days of being allowed to sell.
I emailed them regarding the matter, and of course, they refuse to do anything about it, they have my money, and they're happy as a clam to keep it.
Their own system prevents new sellers from being allowed to take advantage of the 3 month trial. Everyone who needs a 'pro' account does so because it's the only account that gives permissions to sell certain items (the majority of items on amazon, in fact). If you need permission to sell, you also need a pro account. So everybody signing up for this trial is going to have to go through the permissions process, and that will prevent them from getting the trial. It will, however, force them to pay an unexpected month's fee.
What a rip off. Enjoy your free money, you thieves!
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