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

katchambers

funkyfunkymonkey wrote:

Wow! That is saying something - probably not worth the fees then, I was thinking about trying a 'shop', trouble is the listing is so time consuming compared to Amazon - I'd hoped the turbo lister might help.

Oh, well, back to the drawing board.

FFM

Hi FFM,

I wouldn't totally discount ebay completely, personally I think there is a market for books on ebay as there are very few books compared to amazon, there is very little competition except for really popular books like harry potter. I sell my books on ebay and have been listing really slowly. I listed 20 books one month and sold 4 books, I now have 30 up there and sold 4 last month and 2 this week, so the ratio is much higher than on amazon, the problem is it takes soooo long to list. I have been keeping track of the fees by using the free sales reports each month and I only lost money one month and that was £2, all the other months I have made a profit of between £10-£50 (that is after all fees) and for only 30 books listed it's pretty good I think. My big resolution this year is to have every single amazon book (550) on ebay. I use auctiva which does save time, but it is very slow, however I still think it is worth it.

Kat x

funkyfunkymonkey

katchambers wrote:

Hi FFM,

I wouldn't totally discount ebay completely, personally I think there is a market for books on ebay as there are very few books compared to amazon, there is very little competition except for really popular books like harry potter. I sell my books on ebay and have been listing really slowly. I listed 20 books one month and sold 4 books, I now have 30 up there and sold 4 last month and 2 this week, so the ratio is much higher than on amazon, the problem is it takes soooo long to list. I have been keeping track of the fees by using the free sales reports each month and I only lost money one month and that was £2, all the other months I have made a profit of between £10-£50 (that is after all fees) and for only 30 books listed it's pretty good I think. My big resolution this year is to have every single amazon book (550) on ebay. I use auctiva which does save time, but it is very slow, however I still think it is worth it.

Kat x

Kat

Thanks for the advice, I may look into it after I've finished loading up the bin bags with rubbish - still in de-clutter mode. Then again am I just putting off doing my tax return...

FFM

GoldenEye

I am a Marketplace seller but I want to buy a video game from a U.S. seller. I have just placed an item in the basket and proceeded to the checkout. The postage is coming up as £1.99 which is the same amount a U.K. seller would charge. Is this right? I assumed the U.S. seller (based in Florida) would charge more for postage. Can they charge more later? Thank-you.

apprentice_tycoon

funkyfunkymonkey wrote:

Kat

Then again am I just putting off doing my tax return...

FFM

Done it all, :j :j and I've taken heed of my self administered telling off and got started on the next year's paperwork yesterday evening

funkyfunkymonkey

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

Done it all, :j :j and I've taken heed of my self administered telling off and got started on the next year's paperwork yesterday evening

That's not fair

Okay, the tip's not open tomorrow, so I shall pack up today's sales and do my return.

Not a happy FFM

boston_uk

funkyfunkymonkey wrote:

Hi Ann

have you told them how much you will be refunding them? If not you could offer to refund the total minus the 'actual' cost of postage - which they will see on the envelope. However, to avoid negative feedback I do usually offer a full refund. In the past Amazon have offered to back me on the offer of 'minus postage' when they have agreed that it was the buyer's fault - not sure if that is against distance selling rules or not.

Also, hopefully to make you feel better, you will not incur any fees with Amazon if you refund through their system - you will get your 86p selling fee back as a non PM. There are no 'listing fees' as such on Amazon.

Happy New Year to you.

FFM

Well this good news! Though according to my reading of the distance selling regs, I think you have to refund the total amount paid. I have told them I would do this, but only if they returned it unopened and in original packing - just in case they try swapping one of their grotty copies for my "Like new" one!! Damn but I am cynical - more so when the emails I get are almost illiterate. Not sure I am allowed to specify this but I did enclose the packing slip with my address on in a "doc enclosed" stick on tenzalope and it has a "if undelivered" label on too across the sealed flap, so they don't have to open it first.

We will see I suppose - thanks FFM for the good news about the fee though !!

Ann

bukup

I have just created a new listing,my first of many I hope.....thankfully I researched the book as it was not listed,and it seems to be moderatelly rare ! Shame there is no d/j.....anyhow,please check the listing out if you do not mind,and tell me if you think it is good.The book is called The Case of the Tea-Cosy's Aunt .
Would someone be so kind as to explain the 'SKU'....
A kind member suggested using it,I just can not get my head around understanding it-at all !
Once again many thanks for all your advice,3 or 4 more sales since yesterday...
Happy New Year to everyone :beer:

boston_uk

As I said before I am going to get a PM account for various reasons - but was just reading up and it says that the seller fee of 86p is waived for every book listed AFTER the PM account is taken out. Does this mean I will be charged for the 150 I have already listed if/when they sell? Or does it mean I have to take them all down and relist the lot as well as the other 3 boxes I just sorted after I get the PM account??? Presumably the converse doesnt apply - if I close the account I dont get "free" listing when sold if it was listed when I was a PM



Am wondering if it is gonna be worth it ...

bukup

boston_uk wrote:

As I said before I am going to get a PM account for various reasons - but was just reading up and it says that the seller fee of 86p is waived for every book listed AFTER the PM account is taken out. Does this mean I will be charged for the 150 I have already listed if/when they sell? Or does it mean I have to take them all down and relist the lot as well as the other 3 boxes I just sorted after I get the PM account??? Presumably the converse doesnt apply - if I close the account I dont get "free" listing when sold if it was listed when I was a PM



Am wondering if it is gonna be worth it ...

Hello-I am very new to this,but reading between the lines it is only really recommended taking out a PM account if you believe you will/are selling 30+ more items a month.The reason this figure is quoted is 30 x 85p = £25.50
and the PM costs £25.00 + vat ,a month.As it happens I think the account will be worth keeping for myself,as the fee spurs you on to keep listing....
There are many pros and cons with this type of selling,ask yourself if you truelly believe you can make a good profit from the items you want to sell.If for instance the books come up at being listed at 1p each,then it would hardly be worth doing (unless you are selling 100's a month).Where as if your books are valued £3,£5,£10,£20,£30++ ,there seems a greater chance of making a good profit.
I do hope this makes sense?????
I hope you make the right decision for you and not for the sake of an account that offers more-just for the sake of it!
Kind regards........bukup....;)

funkyfunkymonkey

boston_uk wrote:

As I said before I am going to get a PM account for various reasons - but was just reading up and it says that the seller fee of 86p is waived for every book listed AFTER the PM account is taken out. Does this mean I will be charged for the 150 I have already listed if/when they sell? Or does it mean I have to take them all down and relist the lot as well as the other 3 boxes I just sorted after I get the PM account??? Presumably the converse doesnt apply - if I close the account I dont get "free" listing when sold if it was listed when I was a PM



Am wondering if it is gonna be worth it ...

Hi Boston

Yes you do get the 86p waived after you become PM. There have been instances where the 86p continued to be charged but this was a mistake and I believe was rectified by the seller logging completely out and then back in again.

If this didn't work it is relatively easy once you are a PM to download your open listing report and upload it, this would make sure your listings were replaced anyway.

I was a non PM for the first 2 weeks of my 'Amazon life' and did so well that I decided to go PM, the 86p was never applied after signing up for the PM account.

Happy selling

FFM