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

grimelda

I haven't sold anything in well over a week. So I am hoping this thread will work its magic and let me sell something.

I did do my first experiment with Ebay, listing a book which was going for £0.01 on Amazon. I put it down with a starting price of £0.30, hoping that if I began low, people would think it's a bargain and bid pretty high. So far I have a couple of days left and it's up to almost £2. After Paypal fees I won't get much for it but I decided it would be interesting to see what happens.

pinkpie

I've been selling for a while but never quite sure what to do in this situation and wonder what you think - sold a book on the 23rd and found that the book had some unlisted damage so mailed that day to ask if the purchaser wanted a full refund or the book at 50% discount. Haven't heard a thing! Mailed again yesterday incase the mail somehow didn't get through but still nothing.

Obviously I'n worried that they will leave bad feedback so should I just refund the whole amount and assume they don't want it or are away from the computer, or give them longer to reply?

Mr_Clingford

Hmm, how bad is the damage? What category was the book listed in? You could always check bt.com and see if their phone number is there too.

ant2006

Interesting idea Grimelda.

When you sell the book on eBay, would you purchase the Amazon one and then get the Amazon seller to send the book direct to the eBay purchaser? Thereby not even needing to handle or incurr any postage charges yourself?

I wonder if that is possible.
Or am I stating the obvious & that's the whole premise behind your experiment anyway?

Mr_Clingford

I don't think she is suggesting that, but saying that her book is listed by other's on Amazon at £0.01.

pinkpie

Thanks hadn't thought of that - just had a look but no luck!

The book was listed as new with some cover damage but when I went to wrap it realised it was worse than I had noticed when listed - it was already for sale at less than 50% of the next cheapest new copy to reflect this and I offered it for half of that price (we are talking less than £2 now for a £13 book)

I have done that once before and the buyer was pleased as the text was unaffected and they didn't care about the cover. might give them a few more hours but i don't think I can keep hold of their money any longer as it's not right and i don't think I should risk sending it on the off chance....

Mr_Clingford

I'm sorry that I can't be of help as it is a tricky one; if he wanted it as a present then he wouldn't have bought it in the firstplace. If it is expensive to post then I can see why you wouldn't want to, but if it is reasonable then maybe why not. Will you make a loss if you sell it at £2? If so, then no point in selling, just refund and profusely apologise. Difficult.

ant2006

To be honest pinkpie, for £2.00 I dont think anyone is going to get hugely upset by a bit of damage.

It's probably more convenient for them if you send it instead of them having to order another one & add delay into receiving the item. Might be worth putting a note in the package explaining the situation. Tell them to get in contact if there's a problem & you'll sort something out together.

But, my opinion / perspective on things might be different to theirs & yours.

grimelda

Yes, I meant that this book was being sold by others on Amazon for £0.01 so I decided to put it up on Ebay instead at a price which wouldn't even cover the Ebay and Paypal fees if there was only one bidder.

Happily the experiment seems to be paying off (so far).

jobytc

After a moribund Feb I sold a CD last week and a book of nursery rhymes only in acceptable condition today for a fiver just got to go back to the British Heart Foundation now (and back up north so I can visit the cheap charity shops where I come from rather than these expensive London types)!