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

nearlyrich

I just listed my first books today, amazed how easy it is to do it.

Will let you know how it goes as I have loads of books, hope someone wants them!

tmo3

sold another book today :j for £8 when i paid 75p for it

what do you post novel sized books in as i've only ever sold thin little books before

thanks

soolin

I've just listed about another 30 books, nothing remarkable, a few have no other sellers anywhere but the books themselves don't look like they will sell for much anyway so I've put them up quite cheaply.

FIngers crossed for this lot.

Soo

MUDGUTS

Thought I would jump in at this point with my opinion and observations on selling on Amazon (and eBay).

I have been selling on eBay for two years now, nothing much but doing nicely.

Recently I have wanted to change what I am selling and eventually came up with the idea of selling books. This thread has proved to be very informative in so many ways, so thanks to all those who have contributed.

I registered on Monday at 1330 and had completed this well before 1400, by six pm I had my first sale email and as suggested went to confirm it had indeed been bought and paid for.

Here is what I have learnt from doing both eBay and Amazon In no (particular order):

I use 'Documents Enclosed' slips on plastic posting bags: The packing slip provided by PayPal is not good enough as the postcode seems to come out on two lines so I have to copy and paste it onto my own address slip which I then print onto the reverse of the PayPal slip.

The Amazon one is perfect. If you get text only email you can go to Manage Your Orders>View your recent Marketplace orders and click the order ID then then 'print delivery label and packing list'.

Pricing:

Remember the supply and demand situation and in most cases the rule of matching the lowest price seems to be a good one but whenever I see just one or two of a particular book I will price accordingly so as to get a nice price: If the two other books go and yours is the only one then it can theoretically be priced at whatever you want, if you aim low for a fast sale you could be underselling, it could sit there for months until someone does a search and then buys it at that (low) price. We cannot get inside their mind to know what a buyer are prepared to pay but we do know if they have searched for it they want it… That is important.

Inventory:

I am aiming to have hundreds or possibly thousands of book listed, but quality ones. My theory is that a small percentage of a thousand books sold each month is better than watching over 20-50 and worrying about the fact I haven’t sold anything for a while. I would say that for most people the longer haul, large inventory is best.

The 'pro-merchant’ idea is a good one: Once you are selling over 30 books a month and not before. With eBay I set up a shop and saved loads on listing fees and a lot of time but I had to have sufficient stock.

Packing:

Get to know someone who works for any furniture delivery service: DFS / World of leather / Harvey’s, etc.

These guys have the opportunity to unpack a customer’s sofa / furniture when it is safely in their living room and possibly get a tip. Most people want the packing taken away. Get these guys to stick it into a rubbish bag and drop it off at your house. Tell them to drop it off and pick up the fiver that you will leave in a plastic bag under a stone. This works. The customer is happy because they have their furniture unwrapped, the store manager is happy because the customer is happy, the delivery guys will be happy because they can get a tip and will pick up a fiver for a massive load of bubble wrap every so often and you are getting nearly new packing for next to nothing. Since I started selling on eBay I have only used bubble wrap from this source. Obviously not everyone on the loop needs to know what is going on...

Good luck everyone

apprentice_tycoon

Hi MUDGUTS, it looks like you've go off to a great start, thank you for joining in and sharing your tips :T

apprentice_tycoon

I've started a new thread.....

tabath

Where ? Are we going to carry on as normal in the recommendation thread you started?

apprentice_tycoon

Yes tabath please carry on in this thread, I just wanted to point out the book prices thread - business as usual on here

becky004

Why do people turn books into 1p books?
I had a book listed, there wasn't a huge glut of them just 8 used and 24 new, lowest new price 4.50 quite respectable which I matched. Checked my prices today and someone has listed a new at 1p. What is the point of doing that?
He could have undercut but why go to 1p as it means everyone else will follow suit. Cheapest used was 85p acceptable condition, where is the logic or am I missing something here? :mad:

apprentice_tycoon

becky - I think that you will always find someone who is either desperate to get rid of the book and get the cash or they are completely new. I've spotted new sellers with heavy books that haven't considered the postage on them and will lose money if it sells. So I think that if it was my book I'd just sit it out at your price, let the 1p book sell and hope that everyone else with your book does the same - either that or buy it off him to get it out of the way:rotfl: