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Goodbye Amazon

princeton-audio.com

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Re: Goodbye Amazon

#51

Post by jakemoshenko »

Dayshine wrote: post #26
zelon88 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the risk of keeping inventory value that you're never going to sell. Amazon takes their speakers, but will never send the unsold units back. Making expensive speakers according to MRP projections with no reliable demand is a time-bomb for a small company like this one. Especially if they're already unsatisfied with Amazon's performance, why would they risk thousands of dollars worth of product for no reason? It d…

https://services.amazon.co.uk/services/fulfilment-by-amazon/... >Requesting a Removal Order (Return or Disposal) of Product Units >What is a removal order? >It’s either a return of a product unit back to you or a disposal of the merchandise by the Fulfilment Centre. >How long will it take to get the item(s) back? >Typically, return requests take 10 to 14 business days to pick, pack and dispatch.

As of this time I can't actually find their listing on Amazon, but it's likely that they're "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com" as the traditional retailer, and not using FBA with their own webstore.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#53

Post by aruggirello »

Dayshine wrote: post #26
zelon88 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the risk of keeping inventory value that you're never going to sell. Amazon takes their speakers, but will never send the unsold units back. Making expensive speakers according to MRP projections with no reliable demand is a time-bomb for a small company like this one. Especially if they're already unsatisfied with Amazon's performance, why would they risk thousands of dollars worth of product for no reason? It d…

https://services.amazon.co.uk/services/fulfilment-by-amazon/... >Requesting a Removal Order (Return or Disposal) of Product Units >What is a removal order? >It’s either a return of a product unit back to you or a disposal of the merchandise by the Fulfilment Centre. >How long will it take to get the item(s) back? >Typically, return requests take 10 to 14 business days to pick, pack and dispatch.

This applies to sellers, not suppliers (when a product "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com"). The Amazon supplier terms and conditions are atrocious, they squeeze you like a lemon.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#54

Post by accountyaccount »

Dayshine wrote: post #3

>I'll repeat that: Amazon.com, a reseller, told us that we were not allowed to raise the price of our own product for any reason. I don't believe this... Were you actually selling using "Sell on Amazon/Fulfilment by Amazon"? Or some 3rd party using Amazon for you...? >Amazon's policy is to never return unsold products to manufacturers https://services.amazon.co.uk/services/fulfilment-by-amazon/... says that: >Typical…

Amazon doesn't allow companies to sell their product for a higher price on Amazon than on their own site (or elsewhere). This is what I assume they're referring to.

Obviously Amazon wants to push sales on Amazon, but it kind of sucks as a company when you feel like you have to sell your product on Amazon to get the exposure of your competition... but then doing so generally means a cut in your profits because you can't actually incentivize _not_ using Amazon, which in many cases can be better for the consumer and the producer.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#55

Post by cracell »

theossuary wrote: post #34
jasode wrote: post #4

>Our Site:1 speakers are lovingly handcrafted. We make them one at a time, to our customer's desired spec, [...] If all goes smoothly, this process takes about six weeks. >Amazon relentlessly pushed us to accept lead-times that were typically only four days, and sometimes demanded fulfillment of orders in as little as 24 hours--including delivery. Amazon is not really an appropriate distribution platform for 6-week c…

As a customer of Amazon I think Amazon should definitely be an appropriate distribution platform for anything. They have digital downloads, monthly subscripts, extremely large items; I don't think it's unreasonable to allow items with long fulfillment times (especially items handcrafted based on customer request). I've been very fed up with Amazon's selection, the number of scams and reduced quality on Amazon has see…

The scams and reduced quality are entirely Amazon's fault.

They've done very little to cut down on them. But I don't think they have an appropriate system in place for any sort of custom device like this.

Maybe they should but they don't today. The gist I got from this blog post wasn't that Amazon is unreasonable but that they expect their small business partners to match their own turn-arounds because that's part of their brand.

I think that's entirely reasonable of Amazon since they do not currently have custom product support.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#56

Post by fanpuns »

Wait, you were selling custom items on Amazon and were shocked when they wanted delivery immediately? There are legitimate complaints to make against a company like Amazon, but you not understanding the nature of your chosen distribution channel is not one of them.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#57

Post by bitL »

bostonpete wrote: post #21
hannob wrote: post #7

When I read sentences like this: "We steadfastly refuse to be purveyors of cheap, plastic, mass-produced, craptastic speakers made on an assembly line in China that contribute nothing of value to the lives of our customers or the town we call home." I'm always amazed how much subtle racism seems to be acceptable when it comes to talking about China. This sentence contains so many hidden assumptions, e.g. "product fro…

Many Chinese goods traditionally have had a reputation of low quality. Maybe that reputation is outdated or perhaps it was never quite accurate (?), but either way I don't think it's reasonable to label a reference to that reputation as racist. Nor is wanting to build businesses that benefit your local community racist or particularly wrong.

In the 1900s, Germany was known for mass-producing cheap pieces of cr-p. In the 1960s, Japan was known for mass-producing cheap pieces of cr-p. In the 2000s, China was known for mass-producing pieces of cr-p. Do you see the pattern?

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#58

Post by cwyers »

hannob wrote: post #7

When I read sentences like this: "We steadfastly refuse to be purveyors of cheap, plastic, mass-produced, craptastic speakers made on an assembly line in China that contribute nothing of value to the lives of our customers or the town we call home." I'm always amazed how much subtle racism seems to be acceptable when it comes to talking about China. This sentence contains so many hidden assumptions, e.g. "product fro…

Also, what parts of these speakers are Princeton actually making themselves? When I go to their site, they have pages upon pages about "tonewoods," but the only hardware customization they offer is changing the look of the knob and grille. I'll bet dollars to donuts that every part of this that actually makes sound is made on an assembly line in somewhere in Asia, maybe even China.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#59

Post by macspoofing »

I don't fault either side here. Amazon in principle is doing the right thing - pressuring their suppliers to lower prices and improve shipment times. In this case they went too far and this company got fed up and left.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#60

Post by icc97 »

hannob wrote: post #7

When I read sentences like this: "We steadfastly refuse to be purveyors of cheap, plastic, mass-produced, craptastic speakers made on an assembly line in China that contribute nothing of value to the lives of our customers or the town we call home." I'm always amazed how much subtle racism seems to be acceptable when it comes to talking about China. This sentence contains so many hidden assumptions, e.g. "product fro…

Things made in Japan or Germany or South Korea are all typically high quality. US companies don't outsource their work there for cheap labour.

However anyone moving their production to China is doing it for one reason only, that it is cheaper.

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