Amazon Reviewer's Comments

Amazon has a great reputation selling books, music and other entertainment products. When you buy or sell with Amazon’s auctions, you are guaranteed the safety and satisfaction that all Amazon’s services offer.

Amazon has a good auction service; however, they lack some additional user features offered by the higher ranked auction websites like opening a store or adding to an item’s description. In addition, navigating through the category layout is time consuming and many products are missing pictures.

Ease of Navigation/Layout:  

With the exception of the category layout, Amazon is easy to navigate. They remain consistent incorporating a similar layout as Amazon.com’s book and music selections.

However, since Amazon is so large they do not use the same selling techniques as many other auction services. They do not include a featured items selection or sellers and the homepage and details pages are minimal. You can still find everything you are looking for on Amazon auctions; it may just take a little more effort.

Standard Categories:  

Amazon includes many item categories to assist you in buying and listing products. Many categories are broad, but become more specific as users narrow their searches. For example, although there is not a standard category for cell phones listed on the auction home page, there are cell phones available on Amazon’s auction services listed as a subcategory in “Electronics & Photography.” However, if you prefer to the search feature often presented relevant results to specific item searches.

Buying:  

Amazon has an excellent buying system that presents useful information about each auction item including the seller, when the auction started, where the item is located, the number of bids and payment options. One disappointing feature associated with Amazon auctions is the deadline countdown clock. You have to refresh the page every few moments for the clock to reflect real time.

Selling:  

All the basic features a seller would need to have a successful sale are available through Amazon’s auction service. However, they do not have some of the fancier features like cross promotion, extra picture options or customizable listing layouts offered by our higher raked services like eBay.

Amazon charges 10 cents to list each item and you can relist once for free. Amazon also charges 25 cents plus 5 percent of the final sale, including shipping and handling, for all items sold. There is also the Pro Merchant Subscription for $39.99 a month for sellers that often list many products.

Amazon does not allow you to cross promote additional items you are selling from your details pages. However, they do include a “cross link” feature with Amazon.com. This feature lets you promote your auction item with new books, music or DVDs located on Amazon.com. For example, you can cross link your “The Lion King Board Game” on Amazon.com’s “The Lion King” DVD page.

User Options:  

Amazon has several feedback and account management options. They encourage feedback and recommend that all buyers check seller feedback prior to bidding. Through your account, you can manage all the items you’ve sold, bid on and won. However, you cannot save favorite categories, sellers or searches.

Browsing/Searching:  

We found Amazon’s search features consistently produce relevant and comprehensive results. If you know exactly what you are looking for, this is the best way to use Amazon’s auction service. Unfortunately, we found many searches that did not have gallery or detail page photos.

Help/Support:  

Amazon provides a huge help and knowledgebase. The only difficulty we found when using the help section is that it covers all aspects of the Amazon experience, not just the auction services. Wading through some of this information can be time consuming and daunting. However, they include email and telephone contact information

Summary:  

Amazon is one of the most easily recognized names on the internet, and has a loyal following. However, they are still cutting their teeth in the online auction business and could be a major contender if they reorganized their layout, included more item photos and user options.