Amazon’s big mistake
Just got this from Amazon:
“In September, gift certificates will no longer be available as a disbursement option for sellers. This disbursement change applies to all sellers and is not a reflection of your seller eligibility.
“As a seller who has used the gift certificate disbursement option in the past, we want to be sure that you are aware of this upcoming change and take the necessary action to avoid any disbursement disruptions.”
And with that, eBay becomes a viable selling option again. I use the money from the stuff I sell on Amazon to buy new stuff on Amazon. It’s a great way to budget my money and a nice way to hide it from my wife. ;-)
I haven’t sold anything on Amazon recently, but I was thinking of putting a few books up there in the coming weeks to put towards future Amazon purchases. If I go through eBay, I’ll rake in less money thanks to PayPal deductions, and that money won’t be available for Amazon purchases. I’d have to buy those comics through a dealer who accepts PayPal. That ain’t Amazon, who keep feebly attempting to create their own PayPal and failing.
Bad move, Amazon.
August 7th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
“It’s a great way to budget my money and a nice way to hide it from my wife. ;-)”
Isn’t married life wonderful? I do the exact same thing with my Amazon credit card and the gift certs I receive from it. Anything used on Amazon is out of sight out of mind for her so it doesn’t get added into my monthly comics buying budget! :-)
August 7th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Holy crap that sucks! I wonder if I’m getting the same notice… urg.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Trip - Yeah, if I let the money go to the bank account and then pay for an Amazon order directly from the bank account with the same money that was just deposited in there — well, it wouldn’t go over so well. It’s the same exact thing, but once the wife sees it, kiss it goodbye. (Or, well, let it pay for diapers or something. I suppose she has a point there, but we’ve always held that the hobby pays for itself.)
Laura - Give it time. It’s a coming. The thing I don’t get is WHY. Wouldn’t it be easier to avoid all that money transferring and keep it in house at Amazon? It must be an accounting thing somewhere along the way. I bet it’s to make sure seller pay taxes on it or something, but it’s stupid.
I miss the old internet, when everyone really was an outlaw. This serious internet sucks.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:43 am
I know you’re an Amazon fan, but Buy.com takes Paypal as a payment method. At least you’d be able to keep your eBay-to-new-product conversions strictly online…