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

dawn1

wilf55 wrote:

wow dawn are you rich now then????!!!!

i wish :rotfl: after cost postage ect i made a profit of £12.16 on the 3 books , but i am happy with that :j

quick-learner , it is loads loads easier than ebay

Amazombie

quick-learner wrote:

I have a 2 book boxset of RHS encyclopedia of garden plants and these weigh quite a bit and for obvious reasons do not want to loose out on under estimating the postage, have tried to find on on amazon site but am getting a bit confused.

Amazon have a standard credit to sellers for postage on books which after their commission is £ 2.26 so you need to bear that in mind when calculating how much profit you are likely to make on any book.

The set you mention are very heavy - probably in excess of 3KG? So they will cost you quite a lot to post. (Cant check actual price because Royal Mail website isnt working) But assuming postage is about £ 8 then you will lose about £ 6 based upon the credit you receive from Amazon.

The set sells for about £ 27 to £ 45 depending on edition so you will still make a profit but the postage loss does have to be borne in mind when listing other items which may be selling for much lower prices.

apprentice_tycoon

tsharp wrote:

This has probably been asked/covered a million times, but what is the value of posting books at 1p? I assume they sell for a total of £2.76, then minus the amazon cost, and then postage, surely it's a waste of time?

I've lifted a passage from the first post here, this tells you how much you'll get for the sale of a penny book - the crucial thing is the weight and size of the book, if it's very light and very slim a penny book will still make money for you, if you can post it 2nd class a slim book may cost you as little as 55p or 75p to post and if your packing costs are low you will make a decent profit.

Penny books are the books that there are so many copies up for sale the price has been driven down as far as it can go and as mentioned earlier you make your money on the postage allowance that you're given not on the price of the book - the key to making a profit is the weight of the book. You will be paid £1.41 in TOTAL for the sale of a penny book so if your postage and packaging costs are low you can probably make more money than if you were to sell it at a boot sale. Pro-merchants will be getting 86p more which makes it a better prospect
Don't be too deterred if your book has competition from 200+ others, it's been said that Amazon rotate the first page so that all of the copies get a turn at being the first that the buyer sees and if your description is clear and you look to be offering better service than the others then the buyer will choose your book.

apprentice_tycoon

quick-learner wrote:

Many thanks
Will do, too late for me now

will print out the notes and will read up on them tomorrow.

Hoping to at least list some books by mid of next week:T

Thanks again

Hi quick-learner,

You'll live up to your user name I'm sure and you'll surprise yourself with how quickly you'll have your first book up for sale.
At a rough guess from the moment you switch on the computer to your first book being listed for sale (including filling in your personal details to get started) will take no more than 5 or 6 minutes. Start with the small books then work up to the RHS ones and take Amazombies advice about the weight - this is where can newbies go badly wrong - if you see a heavy book listed for a very low cost, say less than £4 or £5 don't copy their prices, you'll lose money for sure.

funkyfunkymonkey

Amazombie wrote:

Amazon have a standard credit to sellers for postage on books which after their commission is £ 2.26 so you need to bear that in mind when calculating how much profit you are likely to make on any book.

The set you mention are very heavy - probably in excess of 3KG? So they will cost you quite a lot to post. (Cant check actual price because Royal Mail website isnt working) But assuming postage is about £ 8 then you will lose about £ 6 based upon the credit you receive from Amazon.

The set sells for about £ 27 to £ 45 depending on edition so you will still make a profit but the postage loss does have to be borne in mind when listing other items which may be selling for much lower prices.

For heavy books it is worth considering the information in this thread: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=376644

At £3.99 Kevin the Courier (Selective2007) is terrific value - but be prepared for your stress levels to rise. Customers are very happy though when their book arrives by DHL.

To use Selective2007 you have to buy the service from Ebay, pay by Paypal, then go to selectives website and book the collection and delivery using the Paypal transaction number. Then sit back and wait, first you get an automated email from Selective saying 'You are the winning buyer for the item below', next is an email saying 'We hope you enjoy your purchase. Your payment has been received for the following item:', then an email saying 'Brought A Parcel Service:

Your collection has been booked (if you have sent the information already).
DHL are the main collecting agent for this service, Please ensure that you
get a tracking number from the driver who collects as we cannot trace the
parcel without it.' and finally 'Your Booking Has Been Booked For Collection On The 2nd Feb 07.'

The trick seems to be that if you haven't had confirmation that DHL will be collecting that day by about lunchtime (the message highlighted in red), then rebook and send Kevin an email - so far it has worked for me.

BUT please bear in mind I am recommending this service with a HUGH HEALTH WARNING - it may have worked for me but if you check the feedback there are some very unhappy customers.

FFM

apprentice_tycoon

Ive used payperdrop http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Payperdrop for next day deliveries, it costs £5.99 and not had any problems with them at all, the only drawback being that you have to make your buyer promise to stay in on the delivery day or the fee will have to be paid again for a new delivery but if you can make it work with your buyer it's a very cheap and efficient service, I don't know how these couriers and DHL make any money on this at all

boston_uk

BUT please bear in mind I am recommending this service with a HUGH HEALTH WARNING

OK - who's Hugh and what does he look like???

Welcome to all the new people - welcome to the club!

mishkanorman

Just to give some more info on the 1p book / postage advice,

It also depends on initial purchase price, I got a lot of 1000 books from ebay and after throwing away a good 300 of them due to them not being useable, i ended up with a good couple of hundred 1p books. I selected the best quality ones and stored the rest. On more than a few of the 1p books after postage I ended up with 2p :eek: which was heartbreaking. But every bit helps :rolleyes:

Since going pro seller I receive £2.26 after fees so if the book costs £1.09 or less I have a nice little bit back per book. (I post 2nd class unless its a very expensive or light book)

Anyway its worked out after 4 months of selling this lot ,

I paid £25
Ive got after postage £50
I sold a job lot back on Ebay (:p ) £31
= £56


Obviously ive not included any costs but im happy not to have been at a loss with them, ive also still got about 400 left to sell so im increasing that figure everyday !


I also sell some 'quality' books aswell to boost my sales.


HTHS

Mishka

halojones

I have done well this Month after going pro. I have bought loads of books, although lots have been 1p ones, but I just wanted to list some. The weird thing is I havent sold any of my 1p listings. I have sold 8 items this week alone.

Thanks everyone for all your great advice.

funkyfunkymonkey

boston_uk wrote:

OK - who's Hugh and what does he look like???

Welcome to all the new people - welcome to the club!

Hangs head in shame!!

Generally my spelling is reasonably good, but I do have my moments - and I seem to be having quite a few at the moment.

Can I blame the bad cold I have at the moment?

FFM