A question about : selling your stuff on Amazon...part four...
This post doesn't cover every single thing you may come across but there is enough information to get you started in selling your stuff on Amazon, the contributors on this thread have a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to help out if you need it
Here I have described selling books but the same information pretty much applies for CDs etc
get started
If you don't already have a sellers account you will be asked to fill in your bank details etc and there are a few security things that they go through but nothing too arduous
To list a book for sale you click the BOOK tab and from there go to POWER SEARCH, key in the ISBN number and it will take you to the page where all the other identical books are, go to SELL YOURS HERE and fill in the details.
You have to choose a description of the book's condition -like new -very good etc and then you have a large space for a few more descriptive words. I always put in 'smoke free home' if it smells nice and clean and 'same day dispatch' - because I'm at home all day so I can get the orders out - comments like these can make a book stand out from the rest. There are a number of sellers from the USA with books listed on the UK site so you might want to add 'UK seller' to the description - and anything else that is truthful that you can think of to make your book sound a better deal than the others, there is lots of space for 1000 characters so you can get creative with your description.
When you list a book for sale there is no photo needed or fee charged, it's only when the book sells that you have to pay (out of your takings) so you can have a book listed for months for free.
Also when you list the book you will see the price that others are charging for the same book, you might want to get yours sold quickly and undercut them slightly or you could decide to stick it out for a better price, check them all out and see what you think is a realistic price for that particular book, you will see some extremely low ones and ridiculously high ones.
high priced books - why?
If you see some books like yours with really high prices don't get too excited yet, this is often a ploy by some sellers to sell for a silly price, then they bend over backwards to buy the book in - can't see how it would really work in practice though. You can check how realistic these high prices are by looking at www.bookfinder.com if there are a few others like yours at a similar high price then that's great! it doesn't really mean that it will sell for that price, you could end up lowering the price as the weeks go by but you might have a nice surprise.
The crucial point to remember with Amazon is that you have to be prepared to sit it out and wait for a buyer to come along, this could be weeks or even years so your cash may well be tied up long term so if you are buying books purely to sell on only spend what you can afford to set aside without missing it
the condition of your book
The condition of the book is important to get the best price so watch out for creases and bends also gift inscriptions, notes and highlighting etc, you will have to mention them all in fairness to the buyer and you don't want any awkward emails later or poor feedback in your ratings. This may make your book less attractive than the others but if it's a sought-after book it may sell even if it looks a bit tatty so it's worth listing it to try it out
If the book doesn't turn up using the SEARCH it may be by a different publisher or be from a book club, you can still list it but you must state why yours is different to the others in the description but it may not sell for the same price as the others.
buyer waiting
You may occasionally see BUYER WAITING in a box to the right hand side of the books details, this is a very nice thing to see! The buyer has preordered your book and so long as the condition and price of yours matches what the buyer requested then the book is as good as sold, you list it as normal and you will get the sold email a few hours later. If there is more than one buyer waiting there will be a note giving the average price that the buyers are willing to pay, if you are happy with this go ahead and list yours around that price, or if you fancy a gamble and you're not in a hurry to sell then list it for a higher price and see if there is someone out there that hasn't pre-ordered and would pay a bit more than the waiting buyers, you can always reduce the price later if you get fed up with waiting.
selling fees and postage allowance
There are fees when you sell the book, these are made up of a fixed amount of 86 pence plus a percentage of it's sale price. You get to see what these are when you list the book, it shows you what the charges will be, and what you'll be paid so you can see if this is acceptable to you before you commit yourself to selling it, having said that you can withdraw it at any time. Amazon gives you £2.26 to go towards the postage of the book so if it's a light paperback there will be a little money for yourself left over on just the postage allowance alone, this is how you can sell a book for as little as 1 penny and still have a small profit.
The opposite is true with heavy books - the postage allowance of £2.26 will be paid regardless of the book's size so it may cost you over £4.00 to post it, if you can get a really good price for the book then this will balance out but check your weight carefully, if it is over 1 kilo have a look at the Standard Parcel chart on the Royal Mail website (address below) this will be cheaper but it's a day or so slower than 1st or 2nd class.
postage costs
The critical thing to bear in mind when you look at these figures is how much the postage will cost, this could mean your profit will get severely dented if you get it wrong.
When you list the book check the weight on kitchen scales, add a little on for a padded envelope then look at the Royal Mail website www.royalmail.com to see how much it will cost to post, second class is OK if you send it the day that it sells, if it goes the next day then it will have to be first class. You will need to get a Certificate of Posting from the PO just in case it gets lost and you need to claim, when you go to the PO ask for a few blank certs to speed things up next time.
If you are lucky enough to sell a book with a value of over £32.00 you will need to send it by Special Delivery so that the full value is covered if it goes astray, you will need to build the extra cost of this into the price of your book, it will be at your expense not Amazon's.
where is your information stored?
All your OPEN and CLOSED listings are to be found on the SELLER ACCOUNT page. From this page you can look at RECENT TRANSACTIONS and ACCOUNT SUMMARY this is your imformation hub, all your coming and goings are here.
You can close the sale whenever you want if you change your mind and also you can edit it later to change the price and details if you like, you will find that other sellers will be undercutting your prices so you could decide to reduce and undercut them or sit tight and let their book sell first giving yours a clear run.
The other way to approach this is to match the price of the lowest book, if you go even lower the competitor will see in his OPEN LISTINGS that he isn't the lowest priced any more and the knee jerk reaction is for him to undercut you and then it will spiral downwards with you both getting less and less for your book. If yours book matches the lowest priced book then the alarm bells won't ring when he looks at his list and then the buyer just has to decide from the description which he prefers, hopefully yours is better
after a book sells
When your book sells you will get an email with a packing slip and address to print out and the money will be paid to your bank account at 2 weekly
intervals.
sale is pending?
On occasion you may get an email telling you that the sale is pending - this is usually because there is a problem with the buyers credit card. You are advised to wait 72 hours, if they haven't sorted the snag out by then you are free to re-list the book.
wrapping your book to post
You will need some light padded envelopes for postage, get them anywhere but the post office, they are so expensive there, you will see some on ebay or if you need loads then viking direct is the place to look.
The cheapest wrappings are the free pieces of bubblewrap or foam that supermarkets use to cushion fruit and veg, the book gets wrapped in this then put into a sturdy envelope. Pound shops are a good place to look for bubble envelopes, you may be able to get an assortment of sizes for very little cost. Thick sturdy plastic has been suggested as a covering for the bubblewrapped book too, this is very good if the book is larger than a normal A4 envelope. Use the address that's on the packing slip and add a return address too just in case
if your book doesn't sell
If your book doesn't sell after 60 days the listing will close and you will get an email to tell you of this, it's easy to relist, you just click on your list of closed listing on your Seller Account page, they will all be there, you can edit them if you want and click to relist. If you don't do this within around 2 or 3 weeks the listing will be lost and you have to start from scratch.
sell overseas?
You can choose to sell your book to overseas buyers - you can select this option when you list you book but you need to be really sure of your postage costs because even though you are given an extra allowance you can go seriously astray with your profit if you get this wrong. The books can be posted with the Printed Paper rate
If the the parcel is worth over £32.00 in value it won't be covered if it gets damaged or lost when it is sent by normal Royal Mail air or surface mail. You can send it by either Airsure or International Signed For - these are both Royal Mail services and you can read the details on the website. For example a parcel to the USA can be covered to £500.00 for the normal cost of the airmail + £4.30 so you will need to add in that extra £4.30 to your figures.
if you're a real pro
If you find yourself selling quite a number of books per month you may want to consider taking out Pro Merchant subscription, this means that the 86 pence standard fee is waived and you never have to relist a book again - well not for 3 years at any rate, the monthly fee is £28.75 so if you can sell over 33 items you're up on the deal. You can cancel at anytime and only be billed for that current month.
what sells best?
The books that I've found to be the best sellers are paperback self-help books on any kind of off the wall subject you can think of like angels, reincarnation, astral travel, psychic stuff, stopping smoking etc.
University text books are often a good find but tread carefully if you think that they are more than 2 or 3 years old, there may be a newer edition which will be the one that the students are now buying but check them out with the Amazon listings, you may be OK with them, if there isn't a new edition you might find that your book will have a very good price. These kinds of books are harder to buy from High Street shops like WHS so they sell well second hand.
what doesn't sell very well
Given time and the right price probably every book will find a buyer but this could take years, if you are in this to buy and sell for profit the books to avoid are the current popular chart novels, slightly more obscure novels might be OK for a modest profit.
Other books to avoid are the glossy coffee table books that are mainly photographs, I have a Rolling Stones book and a Prince William biography that are going to be with me for a good long time, with heavy books like these you can't reduce them to a really low selling price because they will cost more than the postage allowance to post so you will be subsidsing the postage cost out of your profit - having said that there is always a newbie selling these big heavy books for next to nothing oblivious to the fact that he will be actually losing money if it sells.
charity shops
A few sellers have been a bit reticent about buying from charity shops to make a profit, I don't have a problem with this, the shops need the cash in the till, not unsold books on the shelves and from my own experience the books that sell well on Amazon are the ones that won't sell in a little charity shop...example...I bought a book on the practice of anaesthesia, a medical student that needs this book is not going to even consider looking around the local charity shops for such a specialist book, they will just go straight to amazon for it. I'm sure the staff at the charity shops assume that a book like that will never sell so they are delighted when they do. Boot sales can be very good to buy from!
tax - are you now a trader?
On the subject of buying books etc to sell for profit you need to bear in mind that, like with ebay you are straying into the world of trading and you may find yourself in a taxable situation so take advice from your local tax office and be sure to keep all your receipts from the books, packing materials & the post office.
and to finish
Good luck with your selling, don't be disheartened if you go for days without a sale, just when you feel that it's all gone pear shaped you will get a small flurry again to keep you going.
Please join in the discussion thread, it's all about sharing ideas and experiences, everyone is welcome.
Best answers:
- To avoid any confusion by merging two similar threads, I've started a fresh Amazon thread. This is started as usual with the handy 'Introduction to Amazon Marketplace' Guide by Apprentice_Tycoon.
Welcome to all Amazon sellers old and new!
For ease of viewing I would recommend that you alter the number of posts displayed per pages on your user settings. To do this, click on 'Quick Links' on the beige bar towards the top of the screen. Select 'edit options'. The thread display options are about halfway down the page. The maximum posts per page is 40.
Previous Amazon threads are HERE - I've just sold an old video for Ј5.74 & yesterday sold an old Playstation game for Ј14.95, that's a lot more than I would ever have got on ebay. My OH is busy looking through the old bookcase upstairs seeing what else we can list & sell before our baby comes in August - should make a nice nestegg to pay for various things we will need!
- I've got a CD on Amazon at the moment, 3 used copies available in total from different sellers including mine. 2 of them are @ Ј4.22 then the 3rd is at 1p - why? They could easily undercut both me & the other seller but why list at 1p - that's stupid!
- Hi Yvonne, that CD at 1p will sell soon and then it's a level playing field but it does seems nuts, I agree
- Hi all
Ive been reading this thread for a while and have to say thanks for all the info, and i hope you can help with a couple of questions i have.
I finally decided to give Amazon a go and listed 50 odd things yesterday. Ive just had an email saying i have a sale ( yippee ) its only a dvd and its only for a couple of quid but it all counts so im more than pleased.
My only problem is that i dont have a printer so i cant print out the slip details amazon send, am i ok to just write this out?? I can use the printer at work but im off til Tuesday and i really wanted to post it on Monday. What are your thoughts??
Also does it make much difference if i send it first or second class?? Im thinking second as it means more profit for me but im new and dont have feedback yet and dont want to upset my buyers.
My other probably unrelated question is about postage. Im sure i read about something happening in August which will effect postage on this thread and im just wondering if someone could fill me in or point me in the right direction. Thanks. - Hi Corgi
Welcome to the new thread
Don't worry about the printer, just write out the address and email your buyer to say that the parcel is on the way, that way they have a link straight back to you if they need to contact you.
We've discussed the virtues of 1st and 2nd class and it is very much a personal choice. I always post 1st class on the day of order because I make that my key selling feature in the description but others post 2nd class and get glowing feedback too but I really would suggest that if you are posting 2nd class it's got to be at the first opportunity to post it, a day later it has to be 1st.
Pricing in Proprtion is the name of the pantomime that the Post office has dreamed up for us all in August, there is a thread here with a link for more info - AlmightyCorgi, I sent some out with a handwritten thank you note kind of thing. And I've also recevied some like that when I've bought from Amazon Marketplace. As long as you mention that they bought it from amazon marketplace, I don't think it matters too much.
- Have to say - the best purchase I had from Amazon Marketplace was for a children's book, that I discovered when it arrived, had been bought from the Author who had included a compliment slip with their Autograph
They are selling more of their books, and Im tempted to buy direct via Marketplace, even tho It might cost me more, at least I know the profit is going to the person most deserving!!
and no they didnt include a printed sales slip - Thanks guys
And In the time its taken to write my last post and this one ive sold another Cd. Cant believe i havnt tried amazon before and i have this board to thank!!!! - I've just listed a few more books.
I've only sold 6 items since I started on Amazon but I've made Ј34.79 when the fees have come off which is a LOT MORE than I would have got on ebay - most of them hadn't sold on ebay after being relisted loads of times.
Thanks to Apprentice Tycoon to all your help with these threads as I would not have done this without your help. - I used to have an ebay shop that was just for china and antiquey stuff and decided to close it a few months ago. I had the 'bright' idea a few days ago to re-open it just for books so I could pick a few out from my amazon list and take advantage of the cheap listing fees and long durations that you get in a shop to move a few along.
I've just spent the best part of an hour listing 8 books to go on ebay - and I know now why I've not done this before. The photo bit is easy so no problems there...then I used SEARCH to see if there are any others with the same title, are they cheaper because they're tatty? how much are they asking for postage? this involves many clicks not a quick glance down the list on one page as on amazon
So then I get my turbo lister page up, try and get as much information in the title as possible, next problem is finding a category to put it in which isn't always obvious, then the description..I surely have to write something about the book other than it's condition because there's no gereral synopsis and reviews let alone a page count and size mentioned, I haven't read the book and never will so it's a quick speed read of the backpage notes to pick out the bullet points and get them typed up. Then decide on a price and postage cost, shall I take 'best offers' or not?
I am truly FED UP and I'm off to do some gardening or cooking or scrubbing the kitchen floor or cleaning the bathroom with a toothbrush...anything is better than listing books on ebay. - Just sold another Playstation game for Ј5.77!
- I have been selling on Amazon for three weeks now, and have been very pleased with the results. However, for the first time, I have gone two days without any sales.
So, I thought I would just have a whinge about not selling anything since Friday to see if part 4 holds the same magic as part three seemed to have for many of you lol!
Regards
Pipkin - I had a cancelled sale yesterday nut I was too busy to post a whinge.
I did, however, decide that I'd have whinge today - and the same book sold this morning !
So I wonder if just thinking about typing a whinge works as well :-) - Istarted listing on Amazon last week - listed about 25 items in total. the frist day after I listed themI sold a book - I was on a high. However I havent sold anything since so Ihave come on to have a whinge and see if that will give some luck!!
- I see that Amazon suggest you should only use new packaging. Do you? Or do you occasionally recycle padded envelopes?
- I always send 2nd class with recycled packaging & never had a complaint yet.
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