selling your stuff on Amazon - part 8 - advice for newbies in the first 2 posts

funkyfunkymonkey

rare_stuff wrote:

I did not mean to insult or offend any in my earlier post, and the relevent post I made on amazon at stupid o'clock in the morning.

I'm glad to see that I have not been 'flamed' by response reacting against what I did say. Please accept my apologies if anyone was insulted or offended by either of my posts.

On reflection I think the point that the advice given here is purely for the 'hobby' seller and is relatively good in that respect and it does distill much of the garbage of the seller help pages into one place. Though I do believe a better level of advice and more rounded advice from a community of experienced sellers on the amazon board may be superior, though on occassion you may need quite a thick skin to take part in some of the rough and tumble, but generally new posters with questions are greeted warmly and with respect, though the more stupid the question, the probability of being ridiculed may increase.

R.

Hello Rupert/Rare Stuff

Welcome to the thread. One of the main differences with this thread compared to the Amazon discussion board is the whole ethos of 'there is no such thing as a stupid question'.

Before coming here I spent a few years on the Amazon Discussion Board, contributing on a daily basis, and I am well known to several of the 'old timers' over there.

However, it can get very nasty and personal over there and I prefer the more friendly atmosphere here. I have absolutely no intention of 'flaming' you, but I do disagree on your point that the advice here is only for the 'hobby seller', the advice here can apply to any level of selling - alot of the advice is exactly the same as on the Amazon thread, even 5* says it's not so bad.

Interesting that you feel we would 'get a better level of advice and more rounded advice from a community of experienced sellers on the amazon board may be superior' - again, I would disagree, I think the level of advice here is on an equal footing and has the added advantage that if you ask a question you will not be met with a barrage of insults for daring to ask.

Were there any 'pro-sellers' in particular that you would like to know the qualifications of?

FFM

jo_b_2

rare_stuff wrote:

I did not mean to insult or offend any in my earlier post, and the relevent post I made on amazon at stupid o'clock in the morning.

I'm glad to see that I have not been 'flamed' by response reacting against what I did say. Please accept my apologies if anyone was insulted or offended by either of my posts.

On reflection I think the point that the advice given here is purely for the 'hobby' seller and is relatively good in that respect and it does distill much of the garbage of the seller help pages into one place. Though I do believe a better level of advice and more rounded advice from a community of experienced sellers on the amazon board may be superior, though on occassion you may need quite a thick skin to take part in some of the rough and tumble, but generally new posters with questions are greeted warmly and with respect, though the more stupid the question, the probability of being ridiculed may increase.

R.

Hello again.

The difference between the boards is not, in my opinion, the quality of the advice given but the manner in which it is given.

daddyrob

rare_stuff wrote:

I would thoroughly recommend that MSE users who are selling on amazon access the seller discussion boards there, as there is much advice available there, and in the main it is willingly provided by people who sell there for a living and others with massive amounts of experience.

For anybody struggling to locate the Amazon seller discussions boards, here's the direct link:

http://forums.prosperotechnologies.com/am-UKsllconnect

katchambers

soolin wrote:

A 'few' new books

I bought so many on Monday from my new source that after bagging them all up it dawned on me I couldn't physically carry them. I had to sit and wait for my youngest to come home from school and come and meet me. I asked him to bring a trolley, but he refused point blank to be seen with one, so we struggled home laden down with bags.

I came up with a way to avoid having to carry heavy books whilst still keeping my pride/street cred. It's a bit pricey but I bought this fantastic kipling bag from ebags and got cashback (from quidco I think). It's a fair bit at £83 but I have been using it for about 6 months and I really couldn't do without it:

http://www.ebags.co.uk/kipling/new_orleans_s/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=44807

I have it in pink and it is the most beautiful bag in the world! I also use it as a weekend bag occasionally. I take it to the bootsale so that I don't have to lug around carrier bags, and also use it to take all my packages to the post office, it really saves my arms, love it :T

Kat x

funkyfunkymonkey

katchambers wrote:

Oh yeah and it has the cutest little monkey attached to it.

Kat x

Hope it's a Funky Monkey :rotfl:

FFM

katchambers

mishkanorman wrote:

Ive read so many stories like this I often wonder if these buyers do it on purpose to blag some free stuff :rolleyes:

I don't know if I read it on this forum or the amazon seller connection but some genius person said, set up an email account that is different to the one on amazon and then put that email address on your packing slip with the book, then if you get an email to that address saying 'I didn't receive the book' you know they are lying and do have the book because otherwise they wouldn't have known that email!! :T I think it is a fab idea so I have started doing it. I opened a gmail account especially for this. Hopefully this will help us against the fraudsters.

Another thing that I am doing now, when someone says they haven't received the book I am sending them the proof of postage I get from my online postage to prove that I sent the item. Technically it isn't proof without the royal mail stamp but not everyone will know that and it does prove that I PAID for postage, maybe not that I definitely sent it but I think it may ease their minds a bit because I am sure they think that we just don't send books sometimes. I just got an email from someone saying their book didn't arrive and I have just tried sending them the pdf of proof of postage. I'll let you know if that helps or whether they question it.

Kat x

teapot2

teapot2 wrote:

Wondered if anyone has experience of trying to get rid of smoke smells from books? Have tried some of the methods at the beginning of the thread - so far I've put them in fragranced [unused!!!] nappy sacks and sprayed Oust while fanning the pages but very little difference. Just wondering if its going to take a while - anyone else done this or other tried tested [and cheap] methods?

My OH told someone at work that I'd sell their unwanted books!!! This person is a heavy smoker and the books reek :eek: I'm happy to sell them as I think they'll go ok and we'll share the profit if any - they are a mix of OU books and other academic tomes but am a bit concerned re smell. Don't want to get neg feedback as so far its 100%.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Not sure if this just got lost in the tooing and froing or if no one has any experience of smokey books? Thought I'd give it another try to see, particularly wondering if its likely to take a while to get rid of the smell.....

Thanks
Teapot

rare_stuff

http://forums.prosperotechnologies.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=am-Uksllconnect&msg=6798.1&ctx=0

an amazon thread on all aspects, well at least most aspects of cleaning books, excuse the topic drift and humour displayed there.

"Seal smelly book in air tight container with neutroldol for a week or so. Then leave to air, because the book will smell of neutradol. But after that they are mostly OK."

other substances suggested are bicarb of soda

katchambers

Welcome to the amazon board Rare Stuff :hello:

We all appreciate your advice and if you stick around and contribute now and then you will be able to correct us if we say something wrong and maybe even learn something yourself.

I use the seller connection, but as others have said it is not the friendliest of places, and when we learn something from you guys we share it on here.

Also, the two boards will differ because the seller connection will only have sellers, whereas our boards also have people who are considering selling and so we help them start up and get their first sale, and I think that we are helping to stop newbie sellers from undercutting, so you will probably find this board helps all you 'serious' sellers because we are actively stopping the price decrease that happens when newbie sellers undercut.

I am a serious seller, not a hobbyist and I will be doing it full-time soon and I believe both boards can co-exist and help each other from time to time.

Kat x

princessmoneysaver

Yesterday I've started listing items on Amazon again, my baby is now almost 6 months old & has taken up most of my time but I really need to shift the rest of these books/cds etc to get some money. It seems ages since I listed & sold anything so I'm hoping for some "Sold, dispatch now" emails to come through pretty quick!