Why Add-ons?
If you already know what an add-on product is, you probably already hate them. Why the heck did Amazon come up with the add-on program in the first place and what is it? Best we can figure it, here’s why we think Amazon started the Add-on program:
- The Amazon Add-on program was intended to increase the catalog with a lot of new items which would have been unprofitable for Amazon to sell and ship before due to their small size, low weight and low price.
- Before the program, many of these items were offered in large multi-pack sizes and were not appealing to the average consumer who just wanted one.
- Some of these items were never listed before and Amazon hoped that customers will have a larger range of products available to purchase. The growing catalog size over the past year or so indicates that this might be true.
Sellers Hate Amazon Add-ons
If you wake up to find that one of your items has been declared an add-on item, you’ve probably noticed that sales have tanked. Finding an item while scouting that ends up being an add-on can feel like a waste of time.
Rational buyers want to buy what they’re looking for. They don’t want to buy a bunch of extra stuff just to get at the one item they really wanted.
Even more frustrating is that the algorithms used to decide add-on items can be inconsistent. Especially difficult for customers (and sellers) to understand is why some items in a product line are add-ons and others are not.
However, we do believe that there is at least one advantage for both buyers and sellers. In some cases, it’s more practical for both FBA sellers and customers when it comes to non-bulk products. You now have the opportunity to sell/buy one box of teabags, as opposed to a multi-pack of of several boxes. After all, as a customer you might need just a small quantity.
Add-ons Hurt Amazon’s Brand
Since the very beginning, Amazon’s goal has been to put the customer first.
And with very few missteps, they’ve stayed true to their mission.
But the Add-on program has instantly devalued the Amazon Prime program for many customers. Customers who had been members of Prime had become accustomed to making many small purchases for exactly what they needed. Now with the Add-on program, they can’t.
Newer Prime subscribers don’t have this issue, but I was surprised to see Amazon punish its early adopters in this way, even if it made financial sense.
Conclusions
On one hand, customers have plenty of new offers, theoretically, FBA sellers can boost sales (although very few have seen this positive effect yet), Amazon Prime members can have the items shipped in no time versus 3-5 days for standard customers, there’s the option on non-bulk items and smaller size/quantity.
On the other hand, most rational consumers who will not spend $25 on cheap products just because they were interested in one item, products from the same brand may be eligible either for Prime or Add-on (often in confusing ways), and there’s a definite fear of losing Amazon Prime subscribers due to changes in the perceived usefulness of Amazon Prime.
8 Responses
I have never really seen Amazon Add-on items in this light, I usually love them as they save on me having to pay for shipping. But I do agree with you that they are very annoying and hard to find as what an add-on item now may not be tomorrow.
Thanks for enlightening me on the other side of this thing.
I hate the Add-on item policy. Our son needed an air soft clip for his air soft gun before heading off to camp with it..we didn’t want or need anything else from Amazon. But because it was an add on item we would have had to find another $17 worth of Amazon items to purchase before they would send out the clip. Even asked their customer service rep if there was the option of paying for shipping (and we have a prime membership) – was told that no policy exceptions were allowed. So we bought it from another online site that simply charged us a $3.00 shipping fee.
As a Prime member that has, admittedly, been spoiled by free shipping, searching for a much needed item only to find that it’s a dreaded ‘add-on’ — something that seems to be happening with increasing frequency — feels a bit like waiting for a bus when you’re running late and have a limited-stop Express pull up that will be passing your stop, but won’t let you off — even more annoying and frustrating than having no bus show up! That’s generally when I either hail a cab or head directly over to eBay, depending on the scenario.
And Amazon have made the classic retailer mistake of telling us all about their problems instead of finding a way to have it not be a problem for either themselves OR their customers. Like, for instance, requiring that we either buy a minimum number of them , or else cover the cost of the shipping, which most of us have said repeatedly that we’d be be OK with. But maybe a 2 tier shipping rate, with us Prime members paying slightly less than non members so we can still feel ‘special’. Problem solved!
I spent at least an hour trying to find additional add on items that would be useful and trying to get to checkout and pay the shipping. It was very annoying and frustrating, so I finally gave up and found another site with the items I needed in the first place.
I have never really seen Amazon Add-on items in this light, I usually love them as they save on me having to pay for shipping. But I do agree with you that they are very annoying and hard to find as what an add-on item now may not be tomorrow.
Thanks for enlightening me on the other side of this thing.
The add-on policy is stupid even from a business standpoint. I recently needed a particular cable adapter that was available from Amazon for $6.50 – as an ADD ON, so I couldn’t buy it because there was nothing else I needed at the moment. So I bought it from Staples for $18.50 (literally the same model and brand!).
So I “get” that maybe the handling charge for Amazon doesn’t justify $6.50. But surely the extra handling charge for a big efficient operation like Amazon isn’t going to be $12. Why don’t they just charge a little more for Add-Ons to buy them singly to cover their marginal extra cost? The could charge $6.50 as an add-on and, say, $12.00 as a single purchase, and I still would have bought it still saved money.
Hi Peter,
Yes, we totally agree with you. This policy barely makes sense, especially when you factor in that Prime members get free shipping anyway. You’d think that Amazon would at least make some concessions for that, yet here we are. Given how unpopular this whole idea is, it’s hard to imagine that Amazon finds it profitable. I guess we just cross our fingers and hope they decide to scrap the idea in favor of something that would actually result in more sales.