The Tarot of the Absurd is now for sale on Amazon!
(Tho why anyone would buy it there instead of here is beyond me.)
It is pretty straight-forward to list a product on Amazon,
if they already carry it.
If they don’t carry it, it’s another story.
I couldn’t figure how to list the deck properly,
so I put it in the “everything else” category,
which, it turns out, is against Amazon policy.
I needed assistance.
I invited over a babysitter, then dialed.
HOLD (10 minutes.)
He answered.
I told my story.
He said:
I couldn’t change the category; I’d have to make a new listing.
It is against Amazon policy to list in the “everything else” category.
I’d have to put it in “children’s toys & games.”
I said:
It’s not a children’s toy: it’s targeted to neither boys nor girls nor unisex children!
He said:
Call the feeds department and wait on hold.
HOLD (infinite)
INTERLUDE while on hold:
After 35 minutes of hold time,
I called Amazon on another line with another phone,
waited on hold, then spoke to a representative.
She said:
Hold times are very long.
Then we were disconnected.
I called back, was put on hold,
then got the same representative.
I told her the issue & my current hold time with the feeds department.
We were disconnected.
Five minutes later, she called me back through the original phone
(somehow, you see, because I was still on hold, over 40 minutes now) & said:
The feeds department would be of no use to you.
They will not be able to change the category
unless you update your Amazon seller account
to a PRIME seller account at $39.99 per month.
Would you like to update your account now?
I said:
I will not even sell forty bucks of stuff per month!
I have ONE item.
She said:
She said, well, too bad.
(pause)
She said:
Do you want to talk to the feeds department anyhow?
They won’t do anything for you.
I said:
I’ve been on hold over 40 minutes! OF COURSE I want to talk to them!
She said:
Okay, I’ll contact you with the feeds department.
During the intervening NEXT 15 minutes of hold,
I decide to fill in a review of Amazon
about how my interaction went
and whether I’d tell others to sell on Amazon based on my experience.
You can imagine I did not write a glowing review.
Eventually, the feeds department answered.
I asked:
Why are the hold times are so long?
They said:
There are a lot of people calling the feeds department.
I asked:
But what IS the feeds department?
They said:
We control the spreadsheets.
I decided it was not important that I understand. I said:
Okay, I need my item in the proper category.
After which there was a lot of discussion, which boiled down to this:
There are some categories that are off-limits
to people who do not pay the $39.99 monthly prime seller fee,
and would you like to upgrade your account now?
I said:
Look. I’m not even going to sell $40 of stuff each month.
It is against Amazon policy to have my item listed as it is listed now,
it is not a toy or game aimed at boys and girls,
and I have one item.
They said:
Too bad for you!
(ha-ha!)
I think at this point someone noticed the
less-than-glowing review I just sent in.
After ten minutes of chatter they let me know:
they were doing me a huge favor
by changing the feed so my item would be in the correct category
which is really off limits to me unless I pay for it
but they are doing me a special favor
and they certainly won’t do it again (they informed me)
so please wait on hold for two minutes
which really turned out to be fifteen
but at the end of that fifteen minutes the category was changed
corrected I think
as it stands now
it should be right.
One hour twenty minutes on the phone,
most of it on hold. Just to change the category.
Maybe someday I’ll sell a deck on Amazon!!!
Anyone out there who has purchased a deck,
I would be most grateful
if you would be willing to write a nice review on Amazon.
You do not have to say much: just a few words of what you like.
I’ll post on my blog when I sell my first deck there.
Please do not hold your breath…
