Amazon Best Sellers Best Entertainment Collectible Wardrobe Items

9 things you really can't return to Amazon

Buying things from Amazon couldn’t be easier, but what about returning them?

The good news is that Amazon has a fairly liberal return policy. In most cases, you have 30 days to return items purchased directly from Amazon, and the retailer describes its return shipping process as “easy and flexible”

But there are some things you won’t catch a break on: Certain items are “not returnable,” as Amazon puts it.

Here are several examples of purchases that you won’t be able to return to Amazon:

1. Grocery items

You can buy food through Amazon, including options from Prime Pantry and AmazonFresh. Unfortunately, these goods can’t be returned. That includes wine purchases.

In some situations, though, you still might be able to get a refund or replacement. For example, Amazon says:

“If you aren’t satisfied with the condition of a grocery product that you receive from us, we’ll issue a refund up to 30 days from date of delivery.”

If you bought theme park tickets through Amazon, you might’ve scored a great deal. Unfortunately, you can’t return theme park tickets to the retailer.

Quotes in the article

Consider buying tickets from a warehouse club instead, depending on the return policy. We cite Costco, for example, in “15 Stores With the Best Return Policies,” and the retailer does not list tickets among the few items that it won’t take back.

3. Gift cards

Once you buy a gift card, it’s yours. Amazon won’t take returns on them unless required by law.

So, consider buying gift cards from a warehouse club, too, if the return policy or price is better there. Costco and Sam’s Club are among those that sell gift cards. Their selection isn’t as vast as Amazon’s, but the prices are discounted by as much as 20%, if not more.

4. Customized handmade items

You can buy an array of items handcrafted by artisans on Amazon Handmade, a section of Amazon that competes with the likes of Etsy.

In some cases, you can have a handmade item customized — engraved with an inscription or embroidered with a particular design, for example.

Sellers on Amazon Handmade are not required to accept returns or exchanges of customized items, however, unless the item arrived damaged or defective. Still, handmade items must be returned with all packaging as well as any certificates of authenticity, grading or appraisal.

“Products missing all their applicable tags are not acceptable for return,” Amazon says. (Article continues after video.)

5. Most digital products

If you bought any of the following types of digital downloads, you can’t return it to Amazon unless otherwise specified:

Games Software Purchases from the Amazon Appstore for Android Purchases from the Amazon Digital Music store Purchases from the Amazon Video store

6. Hazardous materials

If you’re in the market for flammable liquids or gases, keep in mind that they’re yours once you buy them. Amazon doesn’t accept returns on hazardous materials.

“Contact the manufacturer directly for service, warranty, return, and refund information,” Amazon says.

7. Live plants and insects

Fresh flowers, live indoor plants and insects can’t be returned to Amazon. However, you might be able to get a refund for those purchases.

8. Pet food

Fido’s kibble isn’t returnable either, but you might be able to get a refund for it.

9. Prepaid cards

Pay-as-you-go phone cards and game cards — such as those for World of Warcraft, Xbox 360 Live and Wii Points — are not returnable to Amazon.

Things that are returnable under limited circumstances

Some items are returnable only under more restrictive terms than most items. For example, they might have a shorter return window or the return process might require extra steps. Examples of these items include:

E-books from the Kindle Store: This type of digital product can be returned within seven days of purchase. Kindle books that you receive as a gift can be exchanged for an Amazon gift card, but only before you accept them. For more information, visit Amazon’s “Return Kindle Books” webpage. Collectible coins : You can return collectible coins if you contact the seller within 14 days of receipt and the return is postmarked within 30 days of receipt. Also, the coins must not have been damaged after receipt and must be returned in their original packaging and with any supporting documentation. Jewelry, fine art, and sports and entertainment collectibles : Returns of these items also will be rejected unless they are accompanied by all product packaging and any certificates of authenticity, grading or appraisal. The items must not have been damaged, and jewelry must not have been resized after receipt, either — Amazon even says to photograph the items for your records before you ship them back. Depending on an item’s value, you might also be required to use trackable shipping or insure the package.

Amazon VP Discusses Collectibles, Clothing and Other Popular Categories

By Ina Steiner

In part two of our interview with Marketplace Vice President Peter Faricy, he provides an update on Amazon Marketplace's new collectibles stores and discusses Amazon's growing clothing and other popular categories. Could vintage clothing and handmade goods be next? He also talks about Amazon's curation features called Amazon Collections, which launched in the spring.

Collectibles on Amazon

EcommerceBytes: I'm curious about Amazon's collectible stores. That's something that's new - how is it going?

Peter Faricy: We're very pleased with how it's going so far. I think the two ways that among many that we use to judge it, from the seller side, we've been very pleased with the number of sellers we have in sports collectibles, entertainment collectibles.

We recently launched, as you may know, wine and fine art. We're very, very pleased with the reception from sellers in all those categories. We continue to add more and more sellers who are interested, more and more sellers who are joining, and more and more selection.

And then we're equally as interested in judging the customer feedback. In those stores, if you take a look at the upper left hand corner, we have a little link where customers can give us their feedback - it says "tell us what you think." The feedback from customers so far has been very, very positive. So they are off to a very good start and we're very pleased so far.

EcommerceBytes: Are you considering adding additional collectibles categories?

Peter Faricy: Everything we do is, we start with customer feedback and work backwards. But I would say customers are anxious for us to add more categories, so probably the best answer I can give would be, "stay tuned."

EcommerceBytes: What about vintage clothing, handmade goods, they are incredibly popular with online shoppers. Does Amazon currently offer or think about adding those categories?

Peter Faricy: Those are currently not listed out as distinctive categories on Amazon. I think those are very interesting categories, and at the risk of repeating my answer I guess I would say, "Stay tuned."

EcommerceBytes: Sellers can sell those types of products in the marketplace as Everything Else?

Peter Faricy: That's correct, they can. I think that's an experience that's acceptable but not as good as an experience as having a dedicated store where the customer experience of that store really focuses on what customers need to browse and make good purchase decisions.

As we think about every one of these new categories, the very first place we start is, we talk to customers. What is it they are looking for when they're shopping?

The more we can make this customer experience outstanding, the more attractive it is for sellers. Sellers want to sell on a marketplace that has a great customer experience. A quick example of that that I know you're already aware of: we focus a lot on authenticity in our collectibles stores. It's a very different model than you see elsewhere in ecommerce. We're very careful about choosing partners we know sell authentic products.

We made some changes to the detail page so customers can actually see who the third party authenticator is. They often can even see a picture of the authenticate certificate that provides proof of authenticity for those products. That's really good for customers. But I get equally as positive feedback from our sellers because they really appreciate having a store that serves customers that well.

EcommerceBytes: And are you able to talk about how many sellers you have in these collectibles categories?

Peter Faricy: Sure. In sports collectibles right now we have nearly 15 million unique items. We're very pleased with that selection. It's been very popular with customers. We have hundreds of sellers in that category.

In entertainment collectibles we have nearly a million unique pieces. We also have hundreds of sellers in that category as well. We're very, very pleased. Both sellers and selection continue to grow each and every week. If you took a snapshot of both of those stores at the beginning of this year and the end of this year, you would have seen a large amount of growth from new sellers and new selection for customers.

EcommerceBytes: Can sellers apply to sell in those categories?

Peter Faricy: Yes they can, I would strongly encourage sellers who are interested in these categories to apply. The number one factor we are looking for are sellers who serve customers well and who sell products with some sort of third-party endorsement of their authenticity. That's what our customers tell us they want. It's important that our customers know they can trust every single product they see on Amazon. I think it's really important for our sellers to sell alongside other sellers who have that same kind of business model.

EcommerceBytes: And for sellers who don't have an account manager who want to apply, is there a link on the page?

Peter Faricy: There is. It's all self-service. You can go in and apply self-service. We list out the criteria for every category. We give sellers responses rather quickly.

Clothing on Amazon

EcommerceBytes: Clothing is another category that is kind of a walled off or invitation-only category. Is that a category - clothing, shoes and accessories - is that a category that is also seeing that kind of growth?

Peter Faricy: It is. We've added hundreds of sellers this year. We've had great selection growth. It's a very popular and fast-growing category on Amazon. I think the seller interest in participating in clothing and for all of our soft line categories is very high.

Much like we did with fine art and wine, the customer experience in our clothing store is unique and special and really meant to serve the needs of customers who are shopping in that category. It's very popular with customers and therefore is also very popular with sellers as well.

EcommerceBytes: And this is not a category like some others where you can sell used goods, is that correct?

Peter Faricy: That is correct, we do not allow the sale of used clothing today.

EcommerceBytes: Is it similar to the collectibles categories where there is a link to apply to sell in the clothing category?

Peter Faricy: Yes, it's the exact same process, in fact, it's the same technology. We try to list out the criteria so sellers know in advance what the criteria are for any of these categories. Then we allow them to apply with their answers for those criteria, and we try to get back to them very quickly so they know whether or not they're approved and what things they need to do if they want to be approved for those stores.

Other Popular Categories on Amazon

EcommerceBytes: What are some of the other more popular categories on Amazon? Are there any overlooked opportunities in any particular categories? Another one I'll throw out there is jewelry. These are the kinds of categories that I hear sellers talk about a lot.

Peter Faricy: I do think there is a wonderful opportunity in jewelry, but I would broaden it to all of soft line: jewelry, watches, clothing, shoes, accessories, handbags. Those are categories that are growing very fast on Amazon and are very popular with customers, and I think without question there is still a lot of unique selection that sellers are able to bring on to Amazon that could be very popular with customers.

Obviously you know the ecommerce world very well. Electronics as a whole, and all our hard line categories, are very popular. They continue to grow very fast and those categories are very popular with customers. There are still wonderful opportunities there. I also wouldn't overlook an area like consumables - particularly health and beauty products. There's lots of great opportunities for great sellers to come join Amazon and sell a lot of those products as well.

EcommerceBytes: Do sellers have to be the manufacturer of those items or do they have to be an authorized distributor?

Peter Faricy: It depends on the brand, but I would say in general they have to be an authorized reseller. That would be the safe, broad answer to give. If they are an authorized reseller of those goods for the manufacturer, we would love to have them come join Amazon.

Curation on Amazon

EcommerceBytes: I want to shift gears a bit and talk about curation features. They're really popular on the web these days. Does Amazon offer those features?

Peter Faricy: Give me some examples when you say curation features so I know what you mean?

EcommerceBytes: You can have a customer who decides - maybe they're a fashionista - and they can create a collection so they look at the Amazon site and say, "I like this outfit," and they put together a pocketbook and shoes and a belt, or a collector might put together a themed item. Whether it's a seller, whether it's a - they call them "taste makers" now, fashion bloggers, or just customers who can create these collections and share them with other people. Does Amazon have those kinds of features?

Peter Faricy: We do. We launched earlier this year Amazon Collections. This allows, exactly as you are describing, a customer to pull together a collection of a bunch of different products that may have a common theme. The categories we were just speaking about - collectibles, and art and wine - we think are going to be very popular collection categories.

You could even think about use cases. I read some customer feedback the other day about our fine art store. The customer was an interior designer, and she was saying how excited she was to be able to sort the art by color. Often you're trying to design a room around a theme of a color. It's hard to see over 45,000 unique pieces of fine art and be able to divide them up by color. But these collections are going to play a similar role.

You know, as you think about being an interior designer, I can imagine pulling together a collection that would include furniture and art and other accessories for the room. I think they're going to make a huge difference in soft lines, where you can pull together clothing, shoes, accessories. I know there's a number of collections that already exist, and it's a very popular feature on Amazon right now.

You can find Part One of our interview with Amazon Marketplace Vice President Peter Faricy where he discusses how sellers can showcase their products on Amazon's holiday promotion shopping pages. Part Three of the interview will appear in this week's Newsflash newsletter where he discusses Amazon's advertising and online payment solutions for merchants, and talks about the outlook for holiday sales.

About the author:

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes. com.

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Individual vs. Professional Amazon Seller Account (How to Choose)

A common question I get asked from new sellers is about what type of Amazon seller account they should set up. Specifically, they ask if they should set up an individual seller account or a professional seller account.

Each type of selling account has its respective benefits, and it really depends on your specific needs. To figure out what type of Amazon seller account you need, let’s start by looking at how Amazon describes each account type:

The Amazon Individual Seller Account

Here’s how Amazon describes the individual seller account option:

“The Individual selling plan is for sellers who don’t need access to inventory tools and reports for volume selling. Under the Individual selling plan, you don’t pay a monthly subscription fee. You pay a per-item fee in addition to applicable fees.”

The Amazon Professional Seller Account

Here’s how Amazon describes the professional seller account option:

“In the Professional selling plan, you pay a nonrefundable monthly subscription fee regardless of whether you list or sell anything. You don’t pay a per-item fee when an item sells. All other fees are charged as applicable. The Professional selling plan gives you access to inventory tools to upload batch files and manage your orders through feeds and reports. These tools are beneficial to most medium - to large-size businesses.”

Key Differences between the Amazon Individual Seller Account and the Amazon Professional Seller Account

Below is a chart that shows the key differences between the 2 account types:

The above chart is directly from Amazon and does a nice job of comparing the two account types. That said, there’s a lot here, and it’s important to drill down to the details that are most important:

The Amazon professional seller fee rings in at $39.99 per month. However, that $39.99 monthly fee removes the individual seller fee of $0.99 per item. So, if you are selling more than 40 items it almost always makes sense to get the professional seller account. Only Amazon professional sellers are eligible to have their items featured in the “buy box.” The buy box is the featured seller on a listing within Amazon. For example, on this listing “Windy Castle Gift Shop” is the seller in the buy box:

This means that if the seller clicks the “add to cart” or “buy now” buttons (red arrow), they will be purchasing from Windy Castle Gift Shop, as they are the seller in the buy box. If you are selling this item and are not in the buy box, you will show up as one of the sellers featured below the buy box, or in the list where it says used & new (37) by the blue arrow. As you can see if you aren’t in the buy box it’s a bit more difficult for customers to buy from you.

Only professional seller accounts have the ability to have sales tax collected on items they sell. Sales tax for FBA sellers is a bit of a tricky issue, but if you want to collect sales tax you need the professional seller account. Amazon requires an additional level of approval to sell in certain categories on the platform. Below are examples of categories that require you to have a professional seller account to seek approval:

Automotive & Powersports Jewelry Watches Sports Collectibles Video, DVD, & Blu-ray Collectible Coins Entertainment Collectibles Fine Art

The final major difference that I will point out is the ability to use product data feeds, and granting access to other users. These features are only available on the professional selling plan. If you want to use 3rd party apps and tools, then you will need a professional seller account. In my case, the tools that I use to help run my business require me to be signed up through a professional seller account.

Which Amazon seller account type is best for you?

The individual Amazon seller account is best for someone who:

Wants to get their feet wet selling on Amazon and keep costs as low as possible at the beginning Is selling less than 40 items per month Doesn’t have the need for the additional features of the professional seller account

The professional seller account is best for:

Any sellers selling over 40 items per month Any seller wanting to collect sales tax on their items Any sellers who want to use 3rd party apps and tools Sellers who want to be displayed in the buy box Sellers who want to sell in certain restricted categories

Can I start off as an individual seller account and then switch to a professional seller account later?

Yes, you can switch at any time you would like.

This is the route I took when I first started selling on Amazon. When I was doing it part-time as a hobby I used an individual seller account. Then, once I was selling over 40 items per month, I upgraded to the professional seller account.

Here’s how to upgrade your Amazon seller account:

Login to your Amazon Seller Account Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Account Info under Settings In the Your Services section click Manage Click Upgrade next to the account type

Note: If you want to switch from a professional seller account to an individual seller account, steps 1 to 3 are the same, and in step 4 click downgrade.

Conclusion:

This post walks through the main decision factors that I would look at when determining which account type is right for you. If you are in doubt as to which option is right for you, and you are selling less than 40 items per month, I’d start off with the individual seller account. Then, once you are selling 40 items per month or need additional features, upgrade to the professional seller account.

Want to learn more about getting started selling on Amazon? Here’s a general overview of my recommendations for getting started selling on Amazon.

You can also take my free email course where I share some of the tips I’ve learned from operating my own multi-million dollar business to help you get your first sale on Amazon.

Amazon Dropshipping Guide: What Is It and How To Start

If you heard something about drop shipping business on Amazon and interested in becoming an Amazon Seller and open your own successful marketplace read this detailed guide.

Create A Seller Account

First, create your Seller Central account at https://services. amazon. com (this is your seller account, not the usual customer account). During the registration process (which is very intuitive and not difficult), you'll have to choose between Individual and Professional plans. The Individual plan is suitable for small sellers who plan to sell less than 40 items per month. This plan does not have a subscription fee rather, it charges a fee per product. To be honest, it's not a drop shippers' choice. You likely want to choose the professional plan which has a small monthly service fee ($39.99) and allows you to list thousands of products without charging you a fee for each item. By the way, sometimes Amazon has the first-month-free promotion for this type of account.

The registration process will ask require:

your credit card number for the case of advertising charges your bank account information for depositing your funds once you make a sale company name, address, and contacts (e-mail, phone number) tax ID (your social security number or your company's federal taxation number) the categories of product you'd like to sell.

After filling all data your account will be activated and accessible at https://sellercentral. amazon. com/

Note: Amazon restricts and limits some product categories to ensure that customers can buy with confidence from all sellers. To register as a seller of those types of products you will need to satisfy additional requirements. Those restricted categories are: Automotive and Powersports, Clothing, Accessories, Shoes, Luggage, Collectible Books, Collectible Coins, Entertainment Collectibles, Fine Art, Fine Jewelry, Gift Cards, Grocery and Gourmet Foods, Kindle Accessories, Major Appliances, Sexual Wellness, Sports Collectibles, Textbook Rentals, Toys & Games (Holiday Guidelines), Video, DVD and Blu-ray, Watches, Wine.

Familiarize yourself with Amazon's policies and restrictions. You can find Amazons drop ship policies and agreements at the Amazon Seller Central Help center. It can seem that there are too many rules but really, it's not so difficult to follow them, especially if you'll use special Amazon oriented automation software. For example, the TrackMyOrders App has special options to exclude restricted products from future listings, so you can only upload items that will not cause restrictions to you.