Amazon Marketplace is an e-commerce platform owned and operated by Amazon that enables third-party sellers to sell new or used products on a fixed-price online marketplace alongside Amazon’s regular offerings.

Owner: Amazon.com Marketplace

Overview:  Items purchased on Amazon from third-party sellers are either fulfilled by the merchant (FBM) or by Amazon (FBA). FBM goods are kept in the third-party seller’s inventory, and shipping and customer service are handled by the third-party merchant. Hence FBA goods are stored in Amazon’s fulfilment centres, and shipping and customer service are also handled by Amazon.

Amazon charges its third-party merchants a referral fee for each sale which is a percentage of the sales price. Sellers using FBA must pay additional fees which include a pick, pack and weight charge. Third-party sales on Amazon account for around 31% of Amazon’s annual sales. Finally, In 2016 Amazon.com aided more than 10,000 sellers to generate more than $1 billion of annual sales.

The incredible ease of creating an Amazon account has led to massive increases in third-party sellers joining the platform, with over 1,000,000 sellers joining in the year 2017 alone.

Criticism: first of all Amazon’s dispute resolution policies and practices for Amazon Marketplace have drawn criticism from many sellers. The Verge has reported that many fear a complaint lodged against them with Amazon more than they would an actual lawsuit.  above all their specific complaints are that policies are vague and contradictory, that buyers are often taken at their word and therefore businesses are forced to admit and correct wrongdoing for perceived or minimal shortcomings rather than contest the complaint since there is no other way to get reinstated.

Rules meant to protect sellers have also been weaponized, with many merchants devoting their energies to getting competitors suspended or removed from the site entirely.

On July 3, 2019, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Amazon.com Inc., stating that the online retailer can be held liable under state law for third-party sales on its portal

Suspension: Amazon takes a zero-tolerance stance on what it calls seller performance. Amazon suspends seller accounts, sometimes certainly.

Suspended sellers are prohibited from opening a new seller account.

Suspension reasons on Amazon Marketplace

• Seller Performance: This is where Amazon deems a seller to be performing under its required standards.
• Product Performance: This covers products that may have been reported to Amazon for quality issues.
• Delivery Performance: This covers both dispatch and delivery timescales.

Non-suspension restrictions

Sometimes Amazon may restrict certain sellers’ items or ability to sell without suspending the whole account.

• Staging Status: This is where a seller is newly launched and or Amazon wants to temporarily restrict the seller’s ability to sell items without suspending the account. Sellers often report their account appearing to be in vacation mode and unable to re-activate their listings.
• ASIN Creation Privileges: Sellers can create new items for sale on Amazon without any supervision. Any seller found to be abusing this functionality has what Amazon considers the privilege removed.

Brand

Many sellers are setting up a private label of their products, almost fashion, sport and cooking. However, brands are focused on a particular topic and their brand products are related to one another or are coming from the same domain

See also

1. Amazon tax – Information about paying sales tax as a seller or as a buyer
2. Amazon.com controversies –   finally Include information on the misuse of Marketplace facilities

Read More: History of Amazon Little known facts