Amazon is now an authorized retailer for Apple items. iPhone, iPads, and Apple Watches will soon be added to the site. That may be good for consumers, but it’s bad for Amazon sellers. As part of the new deal, 3rd party sellers will no longer be able to sell Apple products or Beats headphones on Amazon. Those sellers will no longer be able to ship Apple products to Amazon warehouses after November and all 3rd party listings for Apple products will be removed after 1/4/19.
Do you sell Apple products on Amazon? Where will you switch to after this change?
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36 Comments On "Amazon And Apple Reach Exclusivity Deal, 3rd Party Sellers Won’t Be Able To Sell Apple Products"
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They do the same thing for Ring and some Nest products. Makes it harder to see something used, and makes people use ebay or Mercadi (when the site is not crashed)
Ring is owner by Amazon vs apple is not
My question is…if I buy an iphone at Amazon from Apple…same return policy from Amazon apply?
Great news for ebay.
This is actually NOT good for the consumer. The ability of purchasing used/refurbished Apple products will go down drastically, forcing many consumer to buy new instead of used/refurbished. Many people can not afford new Apple products and their only way to get into an Apple, was used/refurbished.
Apple of course is a big winner here, because with less used/refurbished units available, they will sell more new.
On a different note, this deal will be putting many small business out of business and making the 2 biggest (Amazon & Apple) even bigger. Another step in the 3rd world direction. 🙁
It doesn’t say no 3rd party sellers, the article says
“Only Apple-authorized resellers will now be allowed to sell Apple and Beats products on Amazon’s marketplace.”
The bad news is these authorized resellers will have to compete with Amazon for the buy box, good luck!
Authorized resellers are under contract with Apple and will have to keep to MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) policy. That will significantly raise the prices on Amazon, which is what Apple wants of course. To control pricing
Apple has not added any new resellers in over 10 years. So essentially no 3rd party
A good alternative marketplace is whats needed. Not sure how good this is for consumers, as it will drive prices back up to or close to retail price, which Apple wants of course. One of Amazon’s big driving points (for these high priced items) is the price, how many would pay $2-300 more an item for better return policy or customer service? Most of those arent the profitable customers;)
What’s amazon with amazon dominating the business world is really scary!
I don’t understand why everybody is soo quite by amazon having sooo much power without any oversight at all!!
As a good example i have an online store in the past I was able to charge a restocking fee or put some limits on returns, what amazon did is unheard of, they would require u to accept returns even after 65 days as well.
We need to put a stop on Amazon’s terrible business practices.
We are going to wake up one morning having amazon control everything we shop, it’s really scary
@Eli – nothing stopping you from selling things elsewhere.
Nothing . . . except the unprecedented market power of Amazon
As a consumer, I like that return policy.
Customer service is not a terrible business practice. I don’t know how businesses don’t wake up to this yet.
I am not in any type of electronics business. I do spend time browsing the internet and I am aware that many resellers are taken advantage of by would be consumers that manipulate the system so they can essentially get something for free.
I once purchased a mid priced (off label, made by Panerai, circa $500) watch on ebay. The watch was totally fake. The seller asked me for proof, then stopped communications. I escalated and the seller then told me to return it but gave no label nor instructions and went silent so I would forget or let the time limit pass. I sent it UPS and the proof of delivery was labeled “left at door”.
This is an example of a seller manipulating the system.
Will you be able to use Apple gift cards through amazon??
Absolutely not, same way you can’t use Microsoft gift card to purchase a surface pro.
does that mean all the buying groups that buy apple products are done for a big part of their business?
Yes unless they are exporting
eBay
This may also be caused by too many counterfeit products in Amazon.
“It does not, however, affect Amazon’s Renewed program, one which sells certified refurbished electronics through the store.”
If u think that it’s normal for buyers to use a product a whole season & then have the right to return the product for a full refund & claiming that it’s damaged or so, then there is nothing that will wake you up!!
You are making the assumption that what they ultimately return will be the same item that they purchased. People can be interesting. In a similar vein, I read that car rental firms renting out certain pony cars found out that some renters swapped out the power engine for a smaller one. They do not pop the hood what you return a car!
As a seller on Amazon, it’s amazing what sort of buyers they attract with their policies. Ive had beads returned a year later instead of a $2000 laptop, and recently a bunch of bubblewrap with stickers on them in place of $2500 CPU Processors!
Actually, Costco welcomes this just fine. And I know it’s a reputable person I’m buying from. Their return policy keeps me coming back.
i remember the unpleasant experience Costco had when, about two or three years after they started selling laptops, all the laptops started being returned for refund. Even Costco, which is great, has a more limited refund policy on certain electronics.
While the percentage of clients that take advantage may hover between 1 and 2 percent, when you have policies that make shenanigans easier, you will attract more than your share of schemers.
As a former retailer i saw returns of untouched clothing, “never removed from the bag” with kosher potato chip wrappers in the pocket and the correct name of the child written on the coat’s collar. It is hard and illegal to sell such an item without a license to sell second hand clothing.
Costco has a quite fair policy and, indeed, it keeps people like you and me shopping there. In items where there is a strong benefit to keep returning and replacing the overly generous policy had to go. Too many people felt like getting their TV replaced with newer technology annually.
I also would like to replace my TV every year but if my purchase was predicated on returning it a year later it would be theft.
Would you pay $300 more for an iPad from costco due to their return policy? If $300 an iPad is worth it for such a return policy then the rate of returns by such buyers are much higher
For everyone here saying their opinions of how many 3rd party sellers will be hurt by this, You clearly don’t know what Amazon policy is normally. It’s actually quite hard to even now to be authorized to sell Apple. It is a restricted brand just like Bose Which is why you don’t see many third-party sellers as it is.
On the other hand however, there are some pretty big businesses that ARE authorized to sell on Amazon and this will crush them. Maybe it’s time to buy stock in Ebay?
One thing is for sure though, I don’t see how the consumers win here.
Consumers might win by having a low likelihood of fake chargers and cables mixed in, things that might burn down someone’s home.
The number of tricks out there can astound you.
As a third party seller on Amazon, that’s not true. The official policy may be restrictive but most Apple products, especially older models, are wide open for everyone to sell. A quick peek at which sellers on Amazon are selling Apple confirms this.
But consumers definitely are the losers here, from the higher prices that are inevitable to come from this.
It is part of the trend on Amazon, to strike distribution deal and restrict / stop selling used products.
In recent year that was the case with many textbooks.
You cannot sell many of them on Amazon anymore unless you are authorized by publishers and prices for used went up and close to the new now. A used textbook that I could buy for $15 lasy year, this year students are forced to pay for it $90-110.
And it caused prices on other textbook selling sites to go up as well.
I wonder if the FTC gets involved. This sounds like a restraint of trade.
We are going to wake up 1 morning & have 1 retailer called amazon that will control how much we pay on every item we shop!! There will not be any competition & this is very scary for consumers!!
Americans wake up!! We are giving up on everything just for good return policies?!
Big businesses are getting bigger in 5 years like 5 companies will control 50 percent of all USA sales