Amazon

In response to concerns raised by our independent customers we have decided to stop selling our range of toys directly in to Amazon

Our decision was helped along by the following blanket email from Amazon

2009 Purchasing Terms

Additional Marketing Allowance - 3.5% based on net receipts for the full trading year

Volume Rebate - minimum 3.5% retro for achieving a 2009 turnover at least equal to 2008 turnover (based on net receipts for the full trading year)

Returns agreement - full right of return on all products including damaged, defective and recalled goods or 2.5% based on net receipts for the full trading year

Payment terms - payment terms are 60 days EOM, or 2.5% early payment discount on 30 days EOM

To be honest we did not try to negotiate and I am sure that the buying team would have been reasonable but why bother?

Amazon's pricing is probably one of the biggest issues our retailers have to deal with and as a toy wholesaler specialising in supplying the independent stores we were happy to walk away

But now you know how they achieve their retails (but don't tell Amazon we told you!)