Do you love the convenience of shopping on Amazon but hate knowing that your money is going straight into space on a billionaire’s phallic-shaped rocketship? Here’s a quick breakdown of how you can shop on Amazon and still support small businesses.
So while we’ve had our own brand and website for a few years now, we have been primarily a “marketplace first” business. That means that we rely on large marketplaces like Amazon or eBay to find customers and sell our sweaters. And we’re not alone. Over half of the products on Amazon are sold by what’s called “third-party sellers.” They’re businesses, just like ours, that utilize the Amazon platform to reach a wider audience. The other 47% are Amazon products that they produce themselves. Today I’m going to show you how you can tell the difference.
When you’re looking at a product on Amazon, the first thing you want to do is scroll down until you see the area that designates where the item is shipped from and who sells it. There are three different designations Amazon gives that can tell you how the product got to Amazon and where your money is going.
Amazon Products
Amazon products, ones that they either produce themselves or buy wholesale to sell to you, all say “ships from and sold by Amazon.” That means 100% of your money goes to Amazon, and if you have a Prime membership, you’ll get 2-day shipping when you purchase this.
Third-Party Products Fulfilled by Amazon
The next example is from one of our sweaters, Party Savior. If we scroll down here, you’ll see it says “Sold by WedgeNix and Fulfilled by Amazon.” (WedgeNix is us, it’s the legal name of the company, Ugly Christmas Party is the brand.) This shows that we are selling the product, but that we sent it into Amazon fulfillment, so you’re going to get that 2-day Prime shipping with this sweater. When you buy it here, Amazon takes their cut which is about 20% plus the cost of shipping it to you, and we get the rest.
Third-Party Products Fulfilled by the Third-Party Seller
Our finally example is our Jesus Saves sweater. It says “ships from and sold by WedgeNix.” This means we did not send it in for Amazon to ship to you, so it’s not Prime eligible, and you’ll get it with free standard shipping, about 5-7 days. In this case, Amazon takes their 20% cut and the rest goes to us.
Now, if you don’t want to support Amazon at all, you can also use it as a search tool. In order to be listed on Amazon, third-party sellers have to have a website for their product. You can find what you like on Amazon, then Google the specific brand name to find their website, like this very website you’re on, and order your product through that. When you order directly, the third-party seller doesn’t have to pay Amazon their commission, advertising costs, shipping costs, etc. It doesn’t work every time, and it won’t work with items sold by Amazon, but there’s a little hack to support third-party sellers.