Amazon.com announced to sellers on Thursday that it would be changing zShops to a new Storefront format, and merchants with zShops listings must migrate to Amazon Marketplace. Beginning October 24, 2006, Amazon will replace all current zShops Storefronts with the new Storefront format that will display all of a seller's Marketplace listings exclusively. No other sellers' listings will be displayed on the seller's Storefront.

Amazon allows sellers to list in an auction format (http://auctions.amazon.com), on zShops (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=1161442) and in Marketplace. The formats are actually a bit confusing:

Marketplace items appear in Amazon.com search results and also appear in zShops, but only Pro Merchant Subscribers may list an item directly in zShops and create a zShops Storefront. Buyers can discover zShops stores while searching and browsing zShops listings. Sellers can sign up for the Amazon ProMerchants Program and pay a monthly fee of $39.99 for certain discounts and benefits (http://digbig.com/4mxgb).

As of October 24, customers will no longer be able to find zShops listings. Sellers' zShops listings will remain visible from the Seller Account page for about one week following October 24, after which they will be removed.

Sellers can create book detail pages (including pre-ISBN) or list books in bulk in Marketplace with the Book Loader tool (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=16068301). Sellers can create product detail pages for all other products, one at a time, using the Create a Product Detail Page tool (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=10683361).

On October 24, 2006, current zShops Storefront URLs will be automatically redirected to new Storefronts.

For feedback related to the new Storefront featuring Marketplace listings, contact Amazon.com at zshops-changes-feedback@amazon.com

http://www.amazonsellercommunity.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=122979

Seller reaction:
http://www.amazonsellercommunity.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=122980