Amazon: Requirements for Listing Collectible Books Published
Collectible Books Requirements
Amazon limits sellers in the Collectible Books category to those meeting certain criteria. This helps to ensure that customers are able to buy with confidence on Amazon.com, and reflects buyer concerns about product condition assessments and descriptions provided by sellers.
Sellers must meet the requirements below in order to list products in the Collectible Books category.
General Requirements
* Sellers in the Collectible Books category must be Pro Merchants, who pay a monthly subscription fee to access the tools necessary to list their products.
* Collectible Books products must be listed using the publisher’s ISBN-10 or ISBN-13, where available.
* For pre-ISBN books or books published without ISBNs where no existing page is found in the Amazon.com catalog, sellers must create new product pages using the following information: author, title, publisher, date of publication, and place of publication.
* Sellers must have low order defect rates and high seller performance ratings on Amazon.com or an Amazon site to be consider for approval to list in the Collectible Books category.
* Sellers must provide a full refund for all items returned within 30 days.
Product Quality
* All books listed in “Collectible” condition must be signed, limited first editions, or have other desirable qualities that could reasonably be assumed to increase the book’s value to a collector.
* All products must be authentic. We do not allow any counterfeit, replica or knock-off products.
* All products must meet North America product safety standards. (For more information, see the following Seller Help page: Choking Hazard Warning Requirements (CPSIA).)
Product Listings
* All listing data and images must be suitable for all ages and appropriate for our global community. Listing data and images may not depict or contain nudity or pornographic, obscene or offensive items.
* Sellers must follow Amazon listing standards for any product sold on Amazon.com.
o Sellers must have reviewed the Amazon Marketplace Listing Rules and agree to appropriately and accurately classify their products.
o When creating new product pages for books, sellers must submit product titles and product descriptions that are clearly written and assist the customer in understanding the product.
o Sellers must match to existing product pages, where possible, and may not create multiple pages for the same item.
o Sellers must submit product descriptions for their specific offerings that state clearly how their item is different from the generic product depicted on the product detail page.
* All product listing data must meet specific standards for the Collectible Books category.
o Sellers must have reviewed the Collectible Books Condition Guidelines and agree to accurately classify their books according to the guidelines and to provide the required information when submitting listing data.
o When listing First Edition, First Printing collectible books, sellers must specify the date of publication in their description and include additional textual information that indicates that their item is a first printing of the first edition.
o When listing Signed books, sellers must specify the signer, whether it is the author, illustrator, or other contributor, and also note details of inscriptions or other personalizations that appear in the book.
o Seller must indicate whether a collectible book has a dust jacket and, if so, accurately describe the condition of the dust jacket in their listing comments.
* All product images must meet Amazon site-wide image standards as well as Collectible Books-specific standards.
o Sellers must certify that they have reviewed the image guidelines published on www.amazon.com/images and that all images they upload will conform to the guidelines.
o Images must have white backgrounds and cannot contain inset images, watermarks, or unauthorized content.
o Offer-specific images must show unique features of the book that demonstrate that it is collectible.
o Sellers are responsible for the quality of all images they upload, even if the seller has obtained some of their images from another source.
* All products must be sold as listed. Customers must be able to complete all aspects of ordering and purchasing a product using only the Amazon platform. We do not allow custom listings that would require buyers to communicate with sellers before or after the purchase in order to receive the product they want.
The link to apply for approval is found here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200327860
Interestingly, this appears to mean that Amazon will be lifting the $2499.99 price cap for books, at least in the media category. This would explain why some booksellers report having been able to list ‘collectible’ paperbacks for as high as $99,000,000 the last couple of days.
In that case, Amazon should consider a sliding scale for commissions. Why would a seller want to pay a full 15% commission on a sale at Amazon, when they could pay Abebooks a maximum commission of $40?
This has already been a significant consideration (Amazon fees exceed Abe’s as soon as the book price hits about $300) and will only get worse. Sell a $1000 book on Abe and you owe $40; sell it on Amazon and you owe $150. And so on…
