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

JesaRose

I have got a free way to do ebay listings with as many photos as you like and nice backgrounds. All it takes is a basic knowledge of HTML which I learnt from this book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Easy-HTML-eBay-Nicholas-Chase/dp/0789732319/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254158698&sr=8-1

You can produce your own template which I save in Turbo Lister then just add photo links in from hotmail which gives you feee space to upload photos

Within a couple of hours of reading parts of the book I had a template up and running. It takes a little bit of effort but once you have done it once its brilliant

soolin

Has anyone ever bought a book that has a 'good' side to the purchase but also a 'uh oh 'side.?

I have just collected a small job lot of books, I paid very little for them and I bought them unseen so it was a gamble anyway as the last lot i bought were nearly all 1p books and technically I suppose I barely broke even. Anyway, one of the books in the lot today weighs a smidgen under 3kg so part of me was thinking I bet that has no value and even if it does how on earth will I send it. Came home and checked and it is an £80 book, so whilst I am nervous about how to ship for Amazon purposes if it sells, I am also pleased that it has a good value and a good sales ranking.

Looking at my discard pile though for books not worth listing my tip for today is don't ever spend money on economics books!

bing0

soolin wrote: »

Hi there

I have a rolling stock of about 1500 items, virtually all books. I sell between 45-65 a month . I list a couple of days a week minimum and will replace and remove 'dead' stock.

I am not a 'good' seller though, I cna't always guage the market well and I often buy books that are worthless (although I think I am getting better). I prefer to buy in bulk and then sift through them and I usually expect to discard about 75% of the books I buy as unsuitable. The books I discard I use for my charitable sideline and do charity stalls where 100% of the proceeds go to the charity hosting me.

Thanks for the reply,sorry I have taken so long to answer.I listed 30 books last week of which 28 were not currently available . I looked this morning and had sold one,great.....28 of the books were for £14.99 and above,2 were for £2.50.Guess its a start though.....:rolleyes:

I'll be back for a longer read up later.Kind regards

redcar_2

Hi

I wonder if someone who has been through the Royal mail compensation route can advise. I've had a US buyer let me know their book has not arrived after 3 weeks. I sent it surface mail as I was told it would take 2-3 weeks to the US at the post office. I know there is a postal strike which has backed up some books but I was horrified when I just checked on the RM website to see that it quotes up to 6 weeks for surface mail to the US anyway. I realise I should have checked this before I posted. The only good thing is I have a COP.

Should I refund the buyer now - she hasn't asked for this yet just given me a 1 feedback - or do I need to ask her to wait for 6 weeks and then make a statement that the book hasn't arrived? If I refund her and she doesn't contact me again can I still claim from RM? She has given me a 1 in feedback rather than contact me direct so I'm not sure she knows how to mail me direct. Also if I reply to her feedback to highlight the mail strike would this stop her removing her neg feedback if she wants to?

I know she could put in an A-z as well but not having had one of these I don't know what the process there is either.

I've sent her a grovelling e-mail to explain about the strike and was wondering about giving her a small goodwill refund of 5-10% for the delay. Any thoughts?

soolin

Unfortunately you used the wrong service for Amazon, they require airmail so you will lose any A-Z claim. The Post Office may also have been misleading in their estimate, whilst it is possible for a surface packet to be there in 3 weeks the actual estimate from their web page says:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1;jsessionid=HQFSL5DNM2RKOFB2IGVFFHQUHRA0WQ2K?mediaId=3800039&catId=400037

North America - up to 6 weeks

Personally as you used a service not supported by Amazon I think I would be tempted to refund in a few days rather than make your buyer wait too long. A,azon are very strict with buyer satisfaction, if you are a small seller your 1* could already put you in a dangerous position, you need to work out the best way of trying to get that removed.

Unfortunately an A-Z claim will do you a lot of harm, but strangely enough even a refund now will affect your status.

Too late now i'm afraid but in future it is airmail only for non UK buyers. If that works out too expensive then don't offer books outside the UK. All my books are weighed on listing and I suppose less than 10% are offered to the US, although the percentage is slightly higher for those offered to Europe.

redcar_2

Thanks Soolin.

I've written to the buyer again to say I will refund her now if she wants. I guess I have to just trust she will contact me again if it does appear... I've not mentioned not wanting her to use Atoz as I think that seems a bit suspicious. I've asked though if she can hold off a bit to allow the book to arrive.

I am a bit peeved at what the PO told me as if I'd been told 6 weeks I would have realised I needed to send it airmail at the time but accept it was my fault for not checking details on the website and being in a rush to get it posted.

I am quite a small seller so its a bit worrying what you say about the effect of the 1*. Luckily all my other ratings have been 5* this year but I only have 9 feedback including the bad one so it is a bit of a dent. Do you know when and how the axe falls? Once its all resolved I may ask her to consider removing it but as you say I used the wrong postage method so she is justified to be annoyed at the lateness even if it does arrive.

I picked up the comp form at the post office today. Reading some of the other threads it seems quite difficult to prove the value of the item (I have no receipt of my own as I've had the book for years) in a RM claim. Any advice? Do you think it would it be more likely to succeed if I don't mention its Amazon or if I do? Will I be stuffed if I don't have something from the buyer after the six week period to say it still hasn't arrived?

Thank you again for the helpful advice.

soolin

I'd just submit a claim based on the selling price of the book and if RM refuse to pay out kick up a fuss. Some sellers have had to do that on Amazon (see the seller boards) as like me many people buy books in bulk so it is not posisble to accurately value one single book.

redcar_2

Thank you again Soolin

The buyer has requested a refund now so I've done that. Not overly optimistic that I'll get my payment if it does arrive or statement/ Rm refund if it hasn't but I guess chalk that down to the learning curve. If nothing else its a bit more space on the shelf which is my real motivation to sell them!

Have explored my customer metrics page as well so understand I think a bit more on the ramifications of it all.

Have not yet asked her to remove the feedback - will wait until she is OK with the refund. Softly softly and all that!

ler-trading

becky004 wrote: »

Thanks Soo I really hope so, am excited but filled with trepidation at the same time incase it all goes pear shaped!

Hi people,
Im new to these forums and am just replying to becky004's suggestion that I should sign up to this forum as I hear that people are interested in pallets of mixed books and Im sure she will vouch for my service.
I currently sell them on a pallet in boxes and there seems to be about 1500 books in each lot.
The current going price for a pallet is £120 but am open to negotiation for regular arrangements. Delivery can be arranged at a fee of £75 per pallet.

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becky004

Have bitten the bullet and gone for a pro merchant account! Can anyone point me in the direstion of the buyer waiting lists as I have been trying all day and can't find it!
As for Ler's comment above I have had about 40 boxes, gone through 11 boxes so far and will have covered my costs by selling on both Amazon and Ebay (wherever the better price is!). So everything else hopefully will be profit!