Advice on ebay book selling

AnnaLicious_2

I've a vagely experienced ebay seller, but only with baby and household items. I am putting around 75 books individually for sale on ebay. None are suitable to go into a bundle of books, so listing on their own. They are all either hardback or trade paperback, excellent condition.

I've listed around 10 so far, but wanted some advice if anyone has some? I've been listing them as auctions, start price of around £1.99, and actual postage costs.
Would I be better to list as fixed price buy it now, free postage?

I am checking the completed auctions and amazon used book prices as I go, to make sure I'm not wasting my time listing a book that usually sells for 2p.
Thanks.

hermum

Don't forget that there are caps on p&p in books.
Also if you sell with free p&p then you pay a fvf on the postage part as well.
The completed listings will tell you the best way to sell if any of your title have sold recently.

Crowqueen

I find that fixed price and inclusive postage ("free" to the buyer) is often better.

It will vary from book to book, but a while ago I noticed that I was buying books outright rather than bidding on them because I wanted the book in a couple of days, not in a week's time when the auction expired. As a buyer seeing the price up front rather than having to do the mental arithmetic (as I have to do on Amazon) is more likely to get the seller a sale.

If they are part of a long series (e.g. fantasy/sci-fi, detective novels, genre fiction) then I would definitely do BINs. People are always looking for the "next" one. Also non-fic books as well - if someone is looking for something for reference they are going to want to buy it quickly. Mass-produced modern printings of literary classics (e.g. Dickens, Austen, Hardy etc.) are usually also better sold on BIN - capture the back-to-school market with those. I usually now reserve auctions either for books that are collectable, have some value as objects in their own right (e.g. photography or art coffee table books, premium editions e.g. The Illustrated Lark Rise To Candleford) or are vintage/historical.

Also don't forget that hardbacks are very expensive to post. What a buyer has to pay £5 for on eBay (including postage) they can often get for 99p in a charity shop in town while browsing or shopping for other things. So you may find it difficult to sell a lot of the low-end heavy stuff successfully.

Good luck, though. Once you find the right market, you could potentially make a killing. I mostly buy books online now and very, very rarely buy them full-price in Waterstones any more. There are a lot of very big booksellers and a couple of the regulars on the community forums make a decent living at bookselling.

AnnaLicious_2

Thanks everyone. I actually think that was some of the most reasoned advice I've read in ages! It's a free listing weekend, so I'm going to motor through all the books I have left and list them as 'buy it now' with 30 day auctions.

pitkin2020

AnnaLicious wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I actually think that was some of the most reasoned advice I've read in ages! It's a free listing weekend, so I'm going to motor through all the books I have left and list them as 'buy it now' with 30 day auctions.

If your talking about the upcoming free listing weekend then i'm pretty sure its for auction format only, and doesn't include BIN's. The email they sent out is below.

Open to all users registered on eBay.co.uk
(except business sellers and below standards sellers)

Valid for auction-style listings at any starting price

Items listed using professional tools are excluded

Items will only be eligible for this promotion if they are listed
with the Quick Sell or Advanced Sell (Sell Your Item) forms
or the eBay iPhone application

All other eBay selling fees will still apply