Amazon Services

Apparently Amazon is getting into selling services, so they sent me an invite to apply for it. I’ll check it out, have no idea what their take is yet but might be worth trying.

Anyone else looked into this?

I did some research, but I’m still not even on the fence with it yet. Let us knowledge how it turns out

Did you find out anything about their fees?

I think it’s 20%

Jeff

WoW! Thats a big cut, don’t think I’d like that very much. :shock:

That’s he number that stuck in my mind too, but I’ll have to look it up.

“Amazon will take a percentage of each service fee. Though it does not disclose its share, according to the Verge, “language from the beta version of the website shows Amazon taking 20% on standard services, 15% on custom, and 10% on recurring.””

Home Inspection Services are really an impulse buy. People don’t even think about it until their offer on a home has been accepted. At that point, the decision on who to hire is an unsophisticated one.

Most folks will call from a list their agent gave them and price shop. Others will simply book whoever picked up the phone first. Many will go to google and hire the guy with the best looking website.

All this is to say that your marketing dollars are better spent on digital marketing or taking a Realtor out to lunch. Neither of those options are going to eat 20% of revs.

Also, Amazon is designed to cater to price shoppers. No thanks.

Hi David, nice to chat with a local inspector, checked out your website, very nice!

I guess if you bump your rates by 20%,it could work out just fine.

Been invited, filled out form, no price structure yet in place for Home inspectors. You have to see the forest for the trees. This goes beyond your prices. Like Frank said have 15% higher Amazon price. I see potential for owning your area on the web if amazon places it right for search engines. Amazon results are always at the top.

Something to think about

Thank you sir!

This is a good point. You can piggy back the SEO of a multi billion dollar technology company for 15%-20% of the rake with no upfront fees and no risk. That is appealing.

As far as PPC goes, amazon does buy a lot of PPC too. If they are willing to SEO and PPC on your behalf and assume the risk of the search engine marketing for you, it may be worth it.

Also, people like and trust amazon. Instant credibility.

Having said all that, it is still an expensive lead…

You also have to pay a monthly fee for each person that is under the referral program. 30 a month I believe.

I looked at it and thought maybe this can be used to get more market share. But that’s a hope and I’m guessing Amazon understands that keeping referrals is better for them than you.

20% is too much a cut. I would try it but Amazon is a price shopper site so Amazon would make money at 20% and more money at the monthly fee, they can’t lose.

I thought about enough to know if I get a $400 inspection they get $80, that means I get a $320 inspection and how long before we see guys on Amazon doing $320 inspections to get business which means those guys are working for $256 and that’s your new competition.

I think this is a bad idea, 20% x 5 inspections you give Amazon $400 a week or $20,000 a year. You could buy a lot of SEO for 20K.

In the long run Amazon has reduced you to a commodity.

Legitimizing this will be a great step backwards for the inspection industry. It will further push the mentality of the public towards pricing us like goods instead of professional services. In the long run, it will drive prices down or keep them stagnant. The lowballers or poor marketers will jump at this opportunity since they are already of the mindset that low pricing is the way to go, and that giving away money in the form of “everybody gets a discount”, or a percentage of each inspection is a good business model. Sure not my idea of growing a strong, LASTING, business. JMHO.

Those lowballers will get rated on Amazon though. If I charge $500 with lots of great reviews and another guys charges $300 with bad reviews, I win. Just sayin, it’s just like home advisor or Angie’s list in a lot of ways