selling your stuff on Amazon - part 7 - advice for newbies in the first post

GoldenEye

Amazombie wrote:

Ive just checked the buyer waiting list for software and there are 4 or 5 PS2 game listed with buyers waiting at £ 15. Ive compared the list to all other buyer waiting items and there is no one willing to pay more. Consequently, your item should sell immediately once reduced to £ 15 but not before and its unlikely the potential buyer will know you have a copy listed until you do reduce it.

Many thanks for the brilliant advice Teapot2 and Amazombie. I also appreciate you checking the buyer waiting list! I reduced the PS2 game to £19 then an hour later to £18. I then received an email saying that it had been sold! I'm assuming that a different (and sneaky) buyer, not on the waiting list bought the game. I'm happy!

I started out on Marketplace approximately 2.5 weeks ago and I have now sold 16 items making around £160. My only problem is that only one person has posted feedback despite repeated requests. Should I be bothered about this? I am selling items regardless of feedback so I must be doing something right.

hilary1

Sold another game today - am really pleased.

xx

funkyfunkymonkey

GoldenEye wrote:

Many thanks for the brilliant advice Teapot2 and Amazombie. I also appreciate you checking the buyer waiting list! I reduced the PS2 game to £19 then an hour later to £18. I then received an email saying that it had been sold! I'm assuming that a different (and sneaky) buyer, not on the waiting list bought the game. I'm happy!

I started out on Marketplace approximately 2.5 weeks ago and I have now sold 16 items making around £160. My only problem is that only one person has posted feedback despite repeated requests. Should I be bothered about this? I am selling items regardless of feedback so I must be doing something right.

Well done on your sale! Sorry I wasn't around to answer your earlier question, but Amazombie and Teapot gave good advice.

Don't worry about the lack of or lateness of feedback. 25% of sales is a good rate of feedback once you get going. Also, Amazon send a reminder email after 3 weeks (used to be 30 days) to the buyer asking them to leave feedback. I wouldn't recommend sending requests yourself for feedback - some Amazon buyers get irritated by this and leave negative feedback.

The fact that no one has got back to you suggests that they are happy with their purchase and the Amazon reminder flushes out non-deliveries - the reduced time of 3 weeks also seems to have increased the quantity and scores of feedback left, maybe because the buyers still remember buying the item.

FFM

funkyfunkymonkey

dawn1 wrote:

had a good day , i was listing books all afternoon , just finished putting the last one on , when i got a phone call , i have got some books i need to get rid of , do you want them , well of course i said yes please

Lucky you Dawn, I think we'd all like to get phone calls like that

FFM

cazmanian_minx

Wooohooo! Just sold my first book that I specifically bought to sell on :j :j :j

D&D 3rd edition Epic Levels Handbook in near mint condition - £2.00 from the British Heart Foundation shop, sold it for £12.99 :beer:

After fees that's £12.15 but the postage is going to take around half the profit I think, they're heavy books.

Off to update my spreadsheet!

Caz

numberthree

Well done cazmanian Minx!

It's a great feeling isn't it.

I have stopped going into my local British Heart Foundation shop (as well as a couple of others where I live) as the book prices have just gone through the roof. Often books are now being sold at £2, which doesn't allow any margin for error - even if you happen to come across a top 100 book!

Fortunately I still have 2 or 3 I can visit which are still selling for 50-80p so that is a lot better, but sadly our Red Cross shop has closed and they were a brilliant source of books for 10p!!!

cazmanian_minx

There's nowhere I've found here other than car boot sales that'll sell books for under 99p. And Oxfam's gone through the roof! I was browsing in an Oxfam books-only shop a few weeks back, I was the only person in there and the manager was teaching a new-ish member of staff how to price up books. They started at 50% of cover price for books in reasonable condition, rising to 70% of cover price for as-new condition - how they ever sell anything these days is beyond me!

Caz

Amazombie

numberthree wrote:

I have stopped going into my local British Heart Foundation shop (as well as a couple of others where I live) as the book prices have just gone through the roof. Often books are now being sold at £2, which doesn't allow any margin for error.

I think British Heart have had a serious rethink about their book prices at national level as its the same here recently. All their prices have doubled or tripled.

To be honest charity shops selling books for 10 or 50p are silly. The idea is to make as much money for the charity rather than selling ridiculously cheaply so others can make a profit selling on.

apprentice_tycoon

Amazombie wrote:

I think British Heart have had a serious rethink about their book prices at national level as its the same here recently. All their prices have doubled or tripled.

To be honest charity shops selling books for 10 or 50p are silly. The idea is to make as much money for the charity rather than selling ridiculously cheaply so others can make a profit selling on.

I agree with you Amazombie that their sole purpose is to raise money but the last time I took some books to a charity shop I had around 5 or 6 carrierbags full, the member of staff asked me to take them into the back as she was up a stepladder at the time - the place was heaving with books, they had shelves on the wall that were full and there were open boxes of books everywhere. I made a comment about there being so many and she told me that they just get overwhelmed with them and can't shift them as fast as they get them in - maybe if they were cheaper they would get a better throughput, it was a logjam in there.

juno

I was in our expensive charity shop the other day, and they had a sign up saying they price things cheaply, but if you feel its worth more you can give them an extra donation. And they sell really tatty books at £2.50, but most are £3.30+!