selling your stuff on Amazon...part 2

Bella13_2

Amazon's instructions on how to package (yes, when I sold my very first book, I got a bit panicky and thought I would see what they said! - and this is it -http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/3149411/ref=cs_hd_lp_3/026-3119986-8838068) do say to use new material, but I guess one like new is okay (realise this is probably too late in the day to help you seabiscuit, but thought I would post the link anyway)!!

I always forget to try and get the "free" bubble wrap from supermarkets' fruit sections, but do bubble wrap most books, then use a brown envelope folded to size and stuck down with plenty of brown tape. Have occasionally used jiffy envelopes, but I can't seem to find them particularly cheap without having to buy loads and loads (too high initial outlay for me!)

Edit: Okay, how do you post a link so that it works by clicking on it please?!?!

Kaminari_2

I'm extemely lazy and bought a big bulk lot (300 jiffy bags!!) works out just under 10p per bag so not too bad. I remember Soolin mentioned the 99p shop. I picked up a pack of 12 here while i was waiting for my bulk lot. It works out to be less that 10p as well. I know it is a bit hit and miss if they have them though. My father in law swears by wrapping the books in cardboard and taping them.

apprentice_tycoon

Links -

start your post in 'go advanced' -
go to the page that you want to link to -
copy the jumble of letters and numbers that are in your browser bar -
at the top of the page that you are posting on you will see an atlas and paper clip symbol -
click on this and you'll see a hyperlink box come up -
delete the http code that's already there -
paste the code that you copied from the browser bar.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/3149411/ref%3Dcs%5Fhd%5Flp%5F3/026-3794441-8312409

If you want to embed the link in a word so you can say look here, you do this by typing the word you want, highlight it, make it bold if you want it to stand out more then while it's still highlighted click in the atlas and do as I said to do before.

mike55_2

klondyke wrote:

Sorry I quoted you - there were several bits of text I could have used to try to make the point that, many books are binned by charities, so why not try to help save them, if the (the charities) are agreeable?

No suggestion that you, in particular, or anyone on this board donates rubbish - but if you get the chance to have a look at some of the stuff that comes in, you would see books covered with scribble, coffee, pages torn out - and worse. They obviously go straight out - but with them go the unsolds which have been on the shelves too long for comfort but may be saleable on Amazon/ Ebay etc.

I was talking about whether all charity shops would 'give the time of day' to someone making the request I suggested , though I personally see no reason why they shouldn't. Of course we give the 'time of day' to both regular and casual customers and donors (even of rubbish - as we probably won't know till they've gone:) )

Anyway, sorry you think I am uncharitable by spending several upaid hours a week helping to raise funds (rather than make profits for myself.)

Still, I reckon the feeling is mutual now - I hope we never meet in the shop I work for:)

klondyke? i feel it's only right and proper to apologise to you. i felt as if i'd been pinpointed as 'abusing' the ignorance of some of the people that price books in charity shops, and because you quoted me, i took it personally and thought you were thinking that i 'cherry-pick' all the good books from charity shops. i don't, honestly, and when you mentioned 'giving people the time of day', i felt like a rag and bone bloke but without the balloons.

please accept my sincerest apologies for misreading your post. i was tired and hacked off, but thats no excuse.

i let my wife read what i'd posted and suffice to say, i got an earful.

so once again i apologise. i've now got a red ear where she clouted me, to match my red nose from having cold, and red cheeks from embarrassment, from the reactions of other posters as well as 'her indoors', and my apologies extend to all the other posters.

with a bit of luck we'll get back on track, but i can safely say that i'll never go out of my way to buy from charity shops again. i'll stay with the classifieds.

thanks for reading.

mike - with red nose, cheeks, and one red ear

be back soon - busy listing books that charity shops can't sell. i bought a job lot that was going to be tipped. hopefully the 65 pounds i paid will give me some brownie points. but i'll pm you sometime and have a quick word why the mention of charity shops riled me.

klondyke

Phew! Thanks for the apology - I must admit I was completely gobsmacked, though I suppose partly my fault for quoting you. Just wanted to reinforce the point about binned books and your bit came to hand.

Do please keep buying from charity shops, even if not ours - all of them need the money!

I have to admit I hadn't thought about people 'abusing' our ignorance if they make a 'find'. That's life - and good luck to them if I have made a mistake - though I usually check abe/amazon for anything a bit out of the ordinary and try to price a bit lower. But, it needs the 'right' customer to come and notice - better chance of that on the net. We do have a few dealer customers, but they are mostly after the 'bric-a-brac'. Fortunately my colleague who deals with that really knows what she is doing though will sometimes get advice from Sothebys or the like. Still, she will never let a known dealer beat her down on price, though she might to someone else! Now there is discrimination!

Some of our larger branches do use abebooks, ebay and amazon for selling their better/rarer items - and where I reckon an unsold item really shouldn't be binned, I can pass it over to 'experts' to sell. (Our little branch, with no room even for a computer, still gets the credit for the sale!)

Anyway, thanks again for getting back on this. Good luck with your trading.

mike55_2

thanks klondyke.

it wasn't just the fact that abe, amazon, and ebay could be checked, especially ebay where a book can earn a fortune, but i don't sell on abe, or ebay.

but just so ppl know why i wanted to pm you, i'll say it here. that looks confrontational, but its not meant to be in any way, shape or form. i don't want another red ear

the person i mentioned that i bought the last lot of books from had the 'front', to say to my wife, that because he's in a rough area of town, the books weren't ever going to sell cause the ppl who used the shop couldn't read :rolleyes:

thats not a good thing to say is it? especially as the shop is quite near to a university and quite a few books were educational. and not good for charities on the whole.

i'm not saying all charity workers, whether unpaid or paid, are thick - but i think this one might have been.

the sad thing is, but not for me in particular, is how many ppl, whether skint or looking for a quick buck, or book are using charity shops for gain.

and who am i to judge? there seems to be some very 'poor' ppl on here.

i'd rather spend 50p or a quid, buying frank skinners biography, than buy it for 1p + 2 quid p+p from amazon. thats because i might want to read the book. i've read it so that was just an example. i didn't recycle it on any profit making site afterwards.

but can you see where it all falls down?

maybe its better not to answer that question, cause i know some ppl have to supplement their incomes, and that's how.

but thanks again.

want a 2nd hand frank skinner book?

apprentice_tycoon

mike55 wrote:

the sad thing is, but not for me in particular, is how many ppl, whether skint or looking for a quick buck, or book are using charity shops for gain.

and who am i to judge? there seems to be some very 'poor' ppl on here.

Mike - you've smoothed it all out with Klondike and I think that that's great but now you've taken a pop at all of us who have ever bought a book with the sole intent of selling it on.....

My point of view is clear on this - the shops are given the books to sell, they price them up, they put them out for people - anyone - to buy.

I visit a shop, I pick out the books that I think will have a better 'audience' elsewhere, if my hunch is correct and they sell this gives me a profit - the shop gets their cash whether I manage to sell it or not. There have been many times that the book I've chosen was so popular there was no money to be made on it at all and it went back to the shop, this way they get to sell the same book twice over and I lose out - it's all a bet, sometimes I lose, sometimes I don't, but the shop gets it's money regardless of how I fair later on

I'll go back to my example of the text book on anaesthetics, a medical student wouldn't be at all likely to trail around the charity shops in town looking for this book, they would go straight to Amazon to buy it. I doubt if that book would have sold to anyone (except maybe another Amazonian) from a charity shop. The staff would, I assume, be pleased that they got their money from the sale of such a difficult book, their sole aim is to get money in their tills and not have unsold books on the shelves.

I also say that I find it hard to go into a charity shop and come out with nothing at all, there is always a vase, birthday card, diary, t-shirt or sweater that catches my eye so the shop makes a sale regardless of if I buy a book to sell on or not.

I'd really like it if Klondike was to say how things are from the other side of the shop counter, does he/she see it the same way?

purplepatch

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

Mike - you've smoothed it all out with Klondike and I think that that's great but now you've taken a pop at all of us who have ever bought a book with the sole intent of selling it on.....

Mmmm, I have to agree.

I also am often to be seen coming out of charity shops without any books but lugging toys that my daughter has spotted :rolleyes: - in fact she refers to the charity shop as the toy shop (she is only 2 though!).

I do indeed use the charity shop to gain. I wouldn't exactly describe myself or my family as "poor people" but yes with me having given up my City job 3 years ago to bring up my daughter, and having a hefty mortgage to pay on only one salary, yes - the money I'm making from Amazon does help.

I've even been known to buy a couple of 1p books on Marketplace!!

And outweighing by far any profit I've made from charity shops since starting this book selling lark, I have in recent weeks also donated about 100 good videos (admittedly not lucrative ones on Amazon but very saleable for the charity shops at £1 or £1.50 each) and 4 bags of good quality clothes - so I'm not all bad

larmy16

The books I buy from the charity shops tend to all be lumped together and they are usually the cheapest hence that says to me the charity shop does not expect to sell them like the novels. (Lucky me - and thank you charity shop - I really do need to supplement my income and this book selling is a blessing to me).

So maybe they are glad that someone buys all these bizarre self help, and far out books (existentialism for example) as I think most of the dealers are looking for valuable bric a brac and silver and possibly designer clothes.

I have to say the £1.00 rail in one of my charity shops has kept me fairly well clothed over the last few years and I have picked up some great shirts for my son. I also bought a beautiful picture for £10 the other day, so yes even though I am book hunting, I buy other stuff too. Also as AT (absolutely terrific) says quite a few of the books go back too as I am not a 1p seller.

PS. Some time ago I picked up two very large sized items from the £1.00 rail and I put them on ebay at a very small profit plus accurate postage. I think the chance of a size 30 lady going into that shop were probably very small and those clothes may well have ended up in the rags. As it is the two buyers were thrilled and I made a teensy profit.

voodoozoe

Well as I understand it, there is a key word in this buying and selling thing we all do (whether it be Amazon, ebay or antique dealing)...and that is "redistribution."

It is a never ending cycle in the lives of these goods that one person is just a small part of.

Whats to say that a "real" book expert doesn't go on Amazon, buy one of our books and sell it privately to a book collector that they know for vast amounts of money? The buck (book!) doesn't necessarily stop with us!!! But it all depends on your personal expertise and knowledge.

This whole buying and selling game is about shifting stuff about between people until it finds a proper home and money may change hands a few times until it does.

I personally think that charity shops are overpriced on a lot of items...if they find antiques and rare books they should be sent off to proper auctions, not put in the charity shops with over-inflated prices because "somebody THINKS they might be worth something!!!" They will sit there a long time gathering dust because when people want to buy antiques they don't go to a charity shop!!!

In summary, I think that if a person is clever enough to make profit from simple buying and selling(wherever the goods are FROM) honestly, with no scams then GOOD LUCK TO 'EM!!!!!!!!