selling your stuff on Amazon...part three...

wigginsmum

I only started listing on Amazon on Saturday night (mix of books, cds, DVDs and videos) and already I've made a net profit of £46, so I'm quite pleased.

becky004

wigginsmum wrote:

I only started listing on Amazon on Saturday night (mix of books, cds, DVDs and videos) and already I've made a net profit of £46, so I'm quite pleased.

Am afraid your done for now, once you start you can't stop, you will be seeking out little items to put on amazon everywhere you go. You're doomed like the rest of us to a life of addictive sales!
Well done on the sales.

wigginsmum

Thanks - and I only got over the Ebay addiction a couple of months ago

I must say, I find Amazon a lot less hassle so far. It's lovely not having to worry about Paypal and all those payment issues.

becky004

I invested in a digital camera on Sunday to start on ebay but it's a lot more hassle writing full descriptions and uploading photographs. I think we're going to put that on hold until the ever elusive house move!

grimelda

So, a general question for Amazon sellers, as I have always been interested in statistics. How many books/DVDs etc do people have listed at any one time? What percentage of your items sell within the two months? How many on average do you list each day?

I have so far listed ten items and sold four, so my hit rate isn't that high. But I have only been selling for less than a month so maybe it's not so bad. I don't know.

How about everyone else?

soolin

I had 253 items listed when I last looked. I was selling about three a week, at the moment my sales seem up and I'm selling about 1 a day. I only list when I get a new batch in, so that could be once a fortnight or so.

Most of my books take several weeks to sell, although one I listed last week sold in about 4 hours, but that was unusual.

Soo

numberthree

Hi Grimelda,

I have around 350 books listed and tend to move around 5 a week. I have been selling for about 18 months now and still have one or two of my original stock - I just keep relisting them and every now and again one of the oldies sells!

Some books sell amost straight away and then others don't - there doesn't seem to be any reason why one sells over another, but you can guarantee that those you don't expect to go wil fly out and those you think will sell well will just sit there looking at you!

I am trying to be very good and not visit any charity shops during March to try and reduce my stock a little -too many boxes in the shed and OH is worried as I may be getting a load more from a friend who is having a clear out before she moves home. I'm afraid I have failed miserably and picked half a dozen up the other day!

Sales have slowed dramatically during the last half of Feb and early March - still I have got a couple to take to the PO today thank goodness!

grimelda

253. Wow. I feel like such an amateur. So do you make much money out of it? You've probably answered that question somewhere else before but I don't recall seeing it.

apprentice_tycoon

I have around 400 items for sale and sell around 10 -12 per week, I've been selling for about 4 years now and still have some books up for sale from about 3 years ago which still sell even when I think that they are dead in the water, a long term strategy!

I have a cull every 6 months or so on books that I really don't think will sell but that's only because of space restrictions. If I had the room to store them I'd keep them all because I think that if I waited long enough the book and new owner would meet up through me.

I think that most new sellers have a good start then tail off a bit once the popular books have gone, I think that it has to be viewed as a long term thing and there are 2 ways to work with amazon, you either treat it as a proper business (however small) and drive it along with some time and effort or you list your books and just wait for them to sell. In either case you have to be VERY patient and be prepared to wait.

Kaminari_2

I have about 400 items listed and average about 2 a day (although i have sold 19 in the last 3 days so i am on a bit of a role). I have slowly been building the stock up. I have a few sources of books - charity shops, a friend that does house clearances (i pick and choose what i want and pay about 30p each), another friend who sells at markets for a living who picks up bulk lots of books from the tip (this is a bit hit and miss as i take the whole lot, sometimes a lot of them are good while other times it is full of just reader diegst and bookclub books).

I only list books that are in fairly good condition and that are worth more that a £1 as i don't really have the room to store vast numbers of penny books.
I have sold 211 books since i started selling after noticing this thread last November (thanks AT).

I usually look for quirky books, self help books or educational books as i find there are less of these listed. I have also found that books by the Open University sell really well and at good prices. Also old stage plays sell well too.

I store my books in sainsburys reusable bags but will need to look at other ways to store them soon as i seem to spend a lot of time looking for the ones i have just sold.

If a book is a little dirty i usually use face wipes to remove any general marks and dirt and i also use a good eraser to remove any charity shop prices from the pages or underlining in text books.

It has been a great suppliment to my income and it is highly addictive.
I really can't thank AT enough for sharing her knowledge with us all.