amazon.com marketplace?
 

I'll occasionally see electronics much cheaper than MSRP on amazon.com marketplace. For example I saw a $5K digital camera going for $1000 while browsing today. The market prices can be so cheap compared to what they're selling for. The description says it's brand new with all accessories and warranties. He told me that he bought it from a store in Romania which was going out of business, so he bought 2, one to sell. I asked for pictures of it and got some.. they had a little camera logo on the bottom right, so that made me hesitant (as if he just went to some website and copied/pasted the pictures)

I was wondering how safe amazon marketplace is. These sellers are usually "just launched." There's no way I'd consider this normally, but the amazon marketplace has the "A to Z guarentee" so if the guy doesn't send, or the product is grossly different than described, I can file a claim and get my money back. I think that's how it works at least, am I wrong?

Should I feel safe?

I don't think I would ever buy such a expensive item from somebody who's "just launched" even with the guarantee.

As for how good the marketplace is: I don't find it to be any different than eBay. Most everybody is true to their word. I've only had one problem with the marketplace: I never received one of the books I ordered. It took Amazon less time to credit my account than they stated and I had no problems doing so.

Amazon and Half both have the same policy - they release funds for May at the start of July, so there's a wait period. If a claim is made, they just take it out of that. So it's pretty safe.

I've ordered from the Marketplace a few times with good results. I just make sure to order from sellers with fair to good ratings. And I only order from the "fair" rated sellers if the price is REALLY good and I've read the feedback to see why the rating isn't "good" (usually I find it's because the buyer is a moron.)

Clover, those are most obviously scams.

I hate some people who give me 3 for a rating because going from the East Coast to the West Coast via Media Mail took about a week. So now my rating is only ~3.5, I don't think people check to see why I have that rating because I haven't sold anything since a string of 3 ratings dropped me to ~3.5.

See, now this is exactly what I mean about "the buyer is a moron." Too bad you don't have a better way to dispute that other than leaving your own comment in your rankings (since probably not a lot of people read the feedback.)

With the closing of half.com in a month, I'm thinking of selling my new and used DVDs at Amazon Marketplace. However, I noticed that Amazon doesn't provide a way of selling titles that were released and then recalled such as Ed Wood and Duel. Is there some method to sell these on Amazon?

I've had nothing but good luck with Amazon Marketplace. I've been unemployed for the past 5 months, so saving $$$ is big on my agenda right now. Of course, I've only bought books and a couple of DVDs - nothing more than $10.

I did once purchase a Cardigans poster that took FOREVER to arrive, so I emailed Amazon and had my order refunded in 2 or 3 days... then the poster arrived! :(

Some Thoughts on Safe Buying from Amazon Marketplace
 

Out of approximately 80 purchases that I've made through Amazon Marketplace, I've had trouble with 4 (5%). In two cases I was able to resolve the problem with the seller via email. In the other two cases Amazon made good on its guarantee and refunded my purchase price plus shipping. So I give them high marks and continue to do business with them.

Half.com also has a full refund policy and I have had similar experience with them. eBay, however, charges a $25 deductible (they call it a fee) when reimbursing claims. This makes a DVD purchase on eBay virtually unprotected, unless the seller offers Paypal buyer protection (which most do not). Given eBay's increasing problems with fraud, this makes it a much less reliable site for DVD purchases than the other two.

That said, I am cautious wherever I buy. I seldom buy from new sellers, doing so only with lower priced items. I am particularly careful with DVD sets and/or out-of-print DVDs that command a higher price. These are the sort of things that scammers like to offer, since they make a bigger $$$ hit when they sell them. For those items I make sure I am buying from an established seller with a decent track record (<2 negatives in the past 100 sales).

As with most things, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. My guess is that the camera example that began this tread is one of those cases. After all, a seller can check out other seller's prices (and Amazon's price) before listing. Why would someone offer something at a price far under everryone else's price when simply being a few dollars less than the others puts the seller on top of the list? Answer: the seller is a fraud.

A final note on delivery time: my experience is that 80% of my orders from Amazon Marketplace arrive in 7 days or less. With rare exceptions, if it hasn't arrived within 2 weeks, it isn't coming. So I begin trying to contact a seller at the 2 week point and, if I am unsuccessful, file a complaint on the first day that Amazon allows it.

I've never sold anything on a site such as ebay, half, or Amazon but figured I'd try it on Amazon. Should I offer international shipping or does that open one up to be scammed somehow?

Thanks.

Amazon takes its commission and "reimburses" the seller for approximate shipping costs ($2.26 for media mail, $5.05 for priority and $8.95 for international). They reimburse you out of the shipping costs the seller pays (which is more than Amazon gives back to you so it's a profit deal for them). The big problem with international mail is that it seldom covers your shipping cost (while media and priority don't do a bad job of it on the average). I sell internationally to someone only when they request it. Then I explain how I have to raise the price of the item to cover the extra expense Amazon doesn't cover for us and how much I have to raise it. Upon the prospective buyer's approval I change the price and allow for international shipping. Every time I've done that the buyer has agreed to it and ended up happy. I know I lose some international sales because not everyone is going to bother to ask me but I don't want to deal on a regular basis with the shipping losses and hassle of customs forms and packages for which I can't use my postage program.

BTW, my store for which I do the selling has a feedback average of 4.9. We would have a 5.0 (and sometimes we can get up there as we're always around the 4.950 you need to be rounded to 5.0) if it weren't for the occasional moron type buyer referred to above.

It completely depends on the weight and where it's going. I've seen from about $5.00 above to $15.00, maybe even more.
Normal delivery confirmation is not available for international packages. There are ways to certify or register or whatever but they're a lot more expensive than delivery confirmation within the U.S.

I have sold plenty of DVD's internationally (UK, Japan, Australia, etc.) and the Airmail has never come close to using up the $8.95 allowance.

I mailed a DVD to the UK today, cost $4.00 for Airmail.

We sell mostly books. A lot heavier.

Since this is a DVD board, I thought abintra was referring to DVD's......

I was just going on my own experience, I wasn't even thinking about what abintra was mailing.

Up to 5 oz. first class will be cheaper than media.