Amazon is undoubtedly the platform that millions of people go to every day to buy all kinds of products online. Its large catalog of products, the competitive price on the vast majority of products and its fast shipping, together with the security offered by the platform, are part of its great success. However, there are still many who do not dare to buy on Amazon or simply buy on the Internet, and it is that if we are not careful, we can have a bad experience even buying on Amazon. Next, we will show the differences between buying from Amazon directly or from a Marketplace within the platform itself and what it means for an order to be managed by Amazon.
The most experts when making purchases on the famous platform may already know how to differentiate all these aspects, since once we know how to distinguish them, it is not difficult to know who I am buying exactly, who is managing the order and if our item is new or may be second hand, something that is also possible.
First of all, we must know that one of the protagonists of the great success of Amazon is the wide catalog of products that it offers us. In this sense, we must know that all the products we find on Amazon are partly owned by Amazon, while many others are owned by external sellers who offer their products through the famous online sales platform.
In other words, in addition to the business of direct sale of its products, Amazon offers any company or freelance the possibility of offering its products on the platform, being another way of business. In this way, any store or company can sell their products on Amazon, being the best possible showcase for their online sale, in exchange for paying a fee and commissions for being able to sell their products on the famous platform. These sales are made through what is known as the Marketplace .
What is a Marketplace and how does it work?
The term Marketplace refers to all sellers outside of Amazon , independent sellers that offer products of all kinds, new, used or reconditioned through the famous platform.
The steps to make an order to any of these external sellers is the same as to make an order to Amazon itself, so if we do not look closely, we may be buying from an external seller without realizing it. In this case, it is important to know that we will make the payment through Amazon’s own secure payment platform and the money will finally be transferred to the seller without them being able to access the details of our card or payment method used.
In any case, we must make a payment directly to the seller even if they request it and we must automatically communicate this situation to Amazon’s customer service.
Products from external vendors managed by themselves
Now, even if we make a purchase in one of these Marketplace, there can be two different cases, that the offered product is managed by Amazon or directly by the seller himself . In the latter case, it will be the seller himself who is in charge of sending the product directly to us and in case we need to make any claim or change, we will have to manage it directly with the person who has sold it to us.
If for any reason said seller does not give us a solution or we do not reach an agreement, then it is when we can go to Amazon and use the Guarantee from A to Z. A service for which we can request a refund from the external seller through Amazon, who will be in charge of mediating for us.
Products from third-party vendors managed by Amazon
The other case is that the product from the external seller is managed by Amazon. This time it is the famous online platform that will be in charge of shipping and delivering it. In this case, delivery times usually decrease considerably, receiving them as if it were a product of the platform and not from an external seller. These cases usually occur when Amazon has these products in its warehouses, reaching an agreement regarding the purchase price, availability and sale price with the corresponding seller.
How to know if the product is from Amazon or not
As we have previously mentioned, the process does not vary from buying a product on Amazon or on a Marketplace. So if we don’t look, we may not be aware of this detail. However, there is a very simple way to find out at a glance from the product sheet page.
That is, if we search for a product and select one from the list, this will take us to the product file and it is there where we can know if it is an Amazon product or an external seller and if the product is managed or not by Amazon itself.
We can find ourselves in various circumstances:
- Available through these sellers : If we find this literal in the product description, it is clear that said product belongs to external sellers.
- Sold and sent by : We may come across this other message, accompanied at the end by the name of the seller, may or may not be Amazon.
- Sold by … and Fulfilled by Amazon : In this case, it is clear that the product is from an external seller or Marketplace, but the shipping is managed by Amazon.
If this information does not appear in the central part where the product description, price and availability are shown, then we can look at the right side where the Add to cart and Buy now buttons are shown. Just below these buttons is where we can find the information we are looking for, who sells the product and by whom the shipment is managed.
In the event that the product is from a Marketplace, we can find that it is new or second-hand . In the latter case, the status of the product will also be shown, like new, with the box damaged, used, etc. For these products, we will also be able to see who the real seller is and if the shipping and delivery is managed by Amazon or by the seller itself.