I am in shock. Amazon is strong-arming my Aunt.
They want her personal checking account number. Aunt B. is a loyal Amazon customer. She spends over $1,000 a year there. Yet they are waging a scorched earth war to get her banking info.
Amazon has nothing to lose. We have turned them into a near-monopoly.
Here's the story:
Aunt B. recently sold her first book on Amazon.
She shipped her book to the customer, and Amazon is KEEPING the all money that the customer paid!
They informed her that they will ONLY PAY HER if she gives her checking account number so they can make direct deposit.
Aunt B. does not think her checking account number is Amazon's business.
Her credit card information is already on Amazon. So why not simply add the amount to her credit card? Or to use PayPal, or to mail a check?
Amazon refused.
My Aunt called customer service. They finally told her that if she closed out her Amazon accounts, they would send her a check. But they WOULD KEEP $10 over their commission to pay for mailing the check.
So Aunt B. closed out her accounts.
Then they pulled the 2 sneakiest tricks of all:
Amazon emailed saying that they STILL might not pay her, and would re-evaluate her case in 90 DAYS! They said to contact them again in September, and at that time, they will think about sending her a check.
So they have her money, and are making interest on her money for 1/4 of a year.
She then emailed proof that the customer had received the book. Plus, the customer had given her a 5 star rating as a seller.
Amazon then emailed her to provide their department with her name and address or they would not mail the check.
Aunt B. wrote down her full name and address. But when she clicked reply, the email could not go back to the sender!!!! And the email did not give her a department to send her email address.
In their final email, they told her to click on a link if she was dissatisfied with their service.
The link lead to nowhere.
Like many, I am guilty of browsing the bookstores for good books. After finding a good one, I order on Amazon. My old favorite bookstores like Borders are going under. I realize how short-sited my habit is. Once all of the Amazon competitors are knocked down, prices will go sky high.
I want to give a list of mail order bookstores that are terrific alternatives to Amazon:
Ursus
Strand
Alibris
EBay
And of course, Borders and Barnes and Noble.
I want to conclude that a friend who sell books on EBay noticed several times when he listed a book at a very low price, almost instantly, Amazon would lowball that price.
I guess that's how you make it to America's number one monopoly.