selling your stuff on Amazon - part 5

purplepatch wrote:

OMG, it's a fine artform!! Hats off to you.

I agree, stunning!

purplepatch wrote:

Just to add that things have really taken off for me too this week. How strange that we all seem to be reporting increased activity. Why this week in particular???

I wonder if we'll remember this conversation next February when the wheels will fall off the gravy train again?

Teapot, have you looked at your competition recently?

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

Hi catz - nice to see you over here! well done on the sale, there'll be more and you'll get sucked in like quicksand - just look around at this thread, there are people here buying 100's of books in one go - these were normal folk a few short weeks ago......

I was normal till I met AT, look at me now! Awaiting my first collection of a 1000 books (just hope their not all fit for RISI!!!!!). This thread is a great inspiration.

This is just a few ideas on how to list quickly, or at least it's how I do it with large lots - not necessarily the right or best way but might give you some ideas - would love any ideas/feedback from you guys - 'cos I'm sure I still have loads of room for improvement.

Use a hand held scanner
I've heard you can get these worth the money on Ebay, but I bought mine direct from https://www.barcode-solutions.co.uk it's a ZEBEX Z-3080 the man there was really helpful, I placed my order over the internet and he then phoned me to check which type of connector I needed, he asked what it was for and when I said Amazon sales he set it up for me before sending. The price was quite high (£75 including next day delivery) but I had just bought 2000 books and it proved to be a god-send - but not worth it if you are only listing a few at a time. When the scanner arrived it really was 'plug and play', I didn't have to set it up or anything else.

Use standard descriptions
Start a word document and set up some standard detailed descriptions depending on the condition of the book eg

• acceptable - First class despatch, UK seller, spine and covers creased, edges of pages yellow
  
• good - First class despatch, UK seller, spine creased
  
• very good - First class despatch, UK seller, spine uncreased
  
• like new - First class despatch, UK seller, looks and feels unread

If you look through some of your own existing descriptions you will probably see that they are all very similar like the examples above - but do make them 'your own' and make sure the seller knows what they will be getting. You should find that you then make sales before other sellers who can't be bothered to describe the book and only tell you about their fast postal service (if anything at all). I regularly sell before one of the big players who never puts in a description - I know from experience he is a good seller, but other buyers wouldn't necessarily know what the different Amazon Categories mean eg Very Good should mean no creases on the spine etc

You can then quickly click between the Amazon listing page and the word document and double click on the correct descriptive paragraph and then copy and paste into the Amazon description.

Sort before listing
When you first get your books sort them into those that have an ISBN and those that don't and then into piles of small paperbacks and large paperbacks.

Then when you do a batch of listing you can get through the ISBN books quickly - the sooner they are listed the sooner they will sell. You can spend more time later searching out the non ISBN books, they can sometimes take a while to pinpoint (but they are also often the rare ones and sometimes worth the extra effort and time needed)

Sorting into sizes allows you to put similar sizes together and keeps storage space/boxes tidier eg small pbs into small fruit boxes, large pbs into the larger size boxes.

Use SKU's (if you are a convert)
By sorting before listing the chances are you will be putting alot of books into the same box at the same time, this makes the job of filling in an SKU much easier because the 'drop down' lets you see the SKU's you have already entered. eg you could use 270606 box 01 - 1, 270606 box 01 - 2 etc as you fill up your box - you would only have to update the 1 to 2 to 3 each time you listed a new book on that day (not sure if that makes sense - you may need to try it to see what works for you)

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Anyway, here endeth the long and fascinating lesson by FFM (anyone still awake?)

Am I an Amazon geek or what:question: :rotfl:

Have a look at https://www.bookaway.com on the First Edition? tab.

FFM

Hi folks.
It looks like Amazon listened to my email. They have put back the oldest - newest option when looking. It has been invaluable tonight. I just got through a couple of hundred books.
I have bought great shelving.
I got it from a local superstore. I have kept 3 bays and I am selling 2 on ebay.
If you would like to see what 1500 books on shelving looks like then click on this link.
Please do not bid from here as this is not me trying to boost sales!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Retail-Gondola-Shelving-Display-and-Storage-Shelves_W0QQitemZ110003033049QQihZ001QQcategoryZ46704QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This is just to show you what you can buy if you find a local store closing down.
They are brill and really easy to put up.
Matt