Selling Your Stuff on Amazon Part 12 - Advice for newbies in first two posts

JesaRose

helsbells wrote: »

Does anyone mention if books have a bit of a cig smell on Amazon? i have a small batch of text books and I can smell it - I do have a good nose for it as I hate it. i would mention it on Ebay although its never come up - should I mention it?

Can you air them to try and get rid of the smell so you don't have to mention it? Otherwise I think you should mention it but it would put a lot of people off. Maybe a light febreezing might help:D

My work orders have slowed to two a day and I have two pending from 3 days ago which is annoying as I just know they will go through as soon as I leave work on Thursday for the long weekend:rolleyes:

hens00

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Great post thank you. Very informative and definitely will be useful to me in the next few months.

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teapot2

helsbells wrote: »

Does anyone mention if books have a bit of a cig smell on Amazon? i have a small batch of text books and I can smell it - I do have a good nose for it as I hate it. i would mention it on Ebay although its never come up - should I mention it?

Hi Hels, I do try and get rid of ciggie smells if poss before listing - some buyers will be ok with it [the smokers prob] others will neg you. Don't laugh but I've found the best way is this; [it helps if you are a cat owner!!]

Get a sealable box or container - I use a big plastic cake box, put a layer of unused cat litter in the bottom and sprinkle on a teaspoon or more of bicarb of soda. Put a piece of card or old envelope on top then place your books in there and put the lid on. Leave for a week or so and then sniff to see if smell has gone/going. If not you can put a piece of kitchen roll with a few drops of not too scented essential oil in the box too but make sure it isn't in contact with books. This does work well and although the books may smell a bit perfumey when you take them out this does fade if you leave them standing on edge with the pages fanned a bit. I don't list the books until I've desmoked them in case they sell too soon [sod's law :eek:]. I've sometimes bought books and not noticed the smell in the charity shop and I got some in a pallet that were very smokey. I'd be careful using Febreze as it can make the pages crinkle if they get too damp. You can stop laughing now

helsbells

teapot2 wrote: »

Hi Hels, I do try and get rid of ciggie smells if poss before listing - some buyers will be ok with it [the smokers prob] others will neg you. Don't laugh but I've found the best way is this; [it helps if you are a cat owner!!]

Get a sealable box or container - I use a big plastic cake box, put a layer of unused cat litter in the bottom and sprinkle on a teaspoon or more of bicarb of soda. Put a piece of card or old envelope on top then place your books in there and put the lid on. Leave for a week or so and then sniff to see if smell has gone/going. If not you can put a piece of kitchen roll with a few drops of not too scented essential oil in the box too but make sure it isn't in contact with books. This does work well and although the books may smell a bit perfumey when you take them out this does fade if you leave them standing on edge with the pages fanned a bit. I don't list the books until I've desmoked them in case they sell too soon [sod's law :eek:]. I've sometimes bought books and not noticed the smell in the charity shop and I got some in a pallet that were very smokey. I'd be careful using Febreze as it can make the pages crinkle if they get too damp. You can stop laughing now

Brilliant - have gone with the bicarb straight away to be getting on with and will investigate the cat litter (not being a cat owner!) when I shop. Can't go with the perfume option as I am allergic to fragrance and airfresheners - stops me going on holiday as hotel rooms are now a veritable smorgasboard of sprays and stinks :mad: (sorry not really relevant just thought I would have a rant:D). You were quite right I listed these particular books then collecting realized that they smelt, was about to de-list and carry out these instructions when I've gone and sold one, its one thats not too bad so fingers crossed - if I email and mention it Im flagging up the problem and sometimes I find its best not to go looking for trouble

soolin

Amazon is becoming a real nightmare, I wish they would stop 'improving' things. The item descriptions come and go, listings disppaear and now all the product info like publishers, date and sales rannking have disappeared from the site. I have piles of books here to be listed and I rely on sales ranking to decide whether to dump or store cheaper books, so that is out the window. For those books with no ISBN I can't even list as when faced with 22 books all virtually identical how do I locate mine based on publisher and exact date?

No wonder sales are down, I am surprised buyers can access the site at all

helsbells

i have alluded to this before but I have had my first 3 rating on my feedback - I have always been 100% and now as sales were slow prior it has taken me down to 98%. Sales since have been really slow and I was wondering will that now have a seriously negative affect on sales? i always send books out the same day and the neutral simply says "slow to arrive" so it wasn't to do with the book itself and i would have sent a dispatch email out the same day so it was a matter of Royal Mail. Do I click the respond button and say it was slow due to royal mail - will that help

soolin

I would probably leave a polite response if I were you, just to show other potential buyers that you have read your feedback. Blooming annoying though isnt it when it isn't your fault.

As for sales, all these changes appear to be affecting different people at different times so it might just be that you are affected through changes not feedback at the moment.

helsbells

soolin wrote: »

I would probably leave a polite response if I were you, just to show other potential buyers that you have read your feedback. Blooming annoying though isnt it when it isn't your fault.

As for sales, all these changes appear to be affecting different people at different times so it might just be that you are affected through changes not feedback at the moment.

thanks Soolin
I was going to put:
Always dispatch same day - buyers always welcome to contact me with regards to postal delays.
which is a bit cryptic but avoids being rude to the buyer. That got me thinking though RM don't accept a compo claim until about 14/15 days I believe but is an Amazon buyer entitled to a refund for slow arrival? IE if you refund aftre 10 days and then it turns up what do you do. Would people make the buyer wait and risk a neg?

JesaRose

My work sales have really slowed down

And the item description seems to have disappeared from the dispatch note

dawn1

my sale are very slow only sold 3 this month