Amazon established a subsidiary recently to sell its overstocked and returned merchandise on its own Marketplace. Warehouse Deals is a registered Amazon.com Pro Merchant. Amazon had been selling such merchandise to outside companies. (Marketplace items are viewed when buyers click the "used and new" hyperlink on an Amazon listing.)

Sellers posting on Amazon's boards expressed concern that they would have to compete with Amazon. One seller wrote, "(Amazon) is being paid to be the platform for used books, not to turn around and compete with their sellers." But some posters were not concerned.

Amazon's announcement about its new subsidiary read in part, "Warehouse Deals must compete to offer the best customer experience in terms of price and availability, and will be evaluated by customers through feedback ratings." Some sellers were concerned that Warehouse Deals had what they considered unfair advantages, including that it would be obvious to potential buyers that they would be buying from Amazon. The email address of Warehouse Deals is warehouse_deals@amazon.com, and the "seller's comment" field of every listings reads, "Fulfillment By Amazon."

Another issue of concern centered around shipping reimbursement. Amazon gives Marketplace sellers only a part of the fees it collects from buyers for shipping costs. For example, Amazon charges buyers $3.49 for Domestic Standard delivery of one book, but gives sellers only $2.26 in shipping credits. Sellers are supposed to price their inventory accordingly. This, in effect, gives Amazon, through Warehouse Deals, a pricing advantage, since it recovers total shipping costs from buyers.

As of press time, an Amazon spokesperson had not responded to email inquiries about Warehouse Deals.

As of Monday evening, Warehouse Deals had 1,243 items listed for sale.

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