selling your stuff on Amazon - part 9 - advice for newbies in the first 2 posts

apprentice_tycoon

boston_uk wrote: »

OK - help needed please please!!

I have a copy of the Thorough Guide series, Baddeley's English Lake District. Printed by Dulau & Co 1882

All the maps are there though one is torn - nothing missing. It is an 1882 2nd edition with the complete Time and Fare table for that year for the English Lakes in the front of the book. One page of the adverts in the back section has unfortunately been removed but all the others are there.

Apart from signature of owner on map at the front and the half title page, it is unmarked. Cover in reasonable condition with the spine a bit faded. Red cloth gilt lettering.

Now the earliest one I can find is a 1898 5th edition. Nothing on ebay that I can see.

I dont know where is best to list this or what price! Can any of you experts help please??

I'm afraid that I'm usless with old books, maybe someone else can help - in the meantime have you googled?

apprentice_tycoon

m4rky wrote: »

Help please...

I am thinking of selling a few books on Amazon but I am really confused as to what Amazon will charge (it seems quite steep to me).

The books i have are all Computer manuals and are therefore a bit smaller than A4 in size and have around 400-800 pages each and are therefore quite heavy, not sure on exact weights yet, so lets say it weights 1Kg?

Now looking at one of my books I think I want to sell it for £9.99.
From this Amazon will take £0.86 for listing and 17.25% of the final sale price.
Therefore I will get £9.99 - (£0.86 + £1.73) = £7.40??

Do I need to add 17.5% VAT to the Amazon fees??

Also how does the delivery work?

Thanks, i did start looking at this thread but its pretty big!!!

Hi there, Amazon can see expensive but don't forget that you don't have to pay anything till it sells - however long that is, and no messing around with paypal fees either.

Whatever the final figure Amazon shows you when you list your book is the figure that you'll get paid, then out of that you arrange the postage and postage costs, so thin, light books = more profit.

boston_uk

Selling it for £9.99 you would get £4.94 profit after postage of £4.74 (for up to 1250 gms.) if it weighs less than 1kg including the packaging then you'd get slightly more. You get a flat rate of postage allowance from Amazon so heavy books have to be priced to compensate for the fact it is going to cost you more to send than you get from them.

If you go back to the start of the thread and read the first couple of posts you will see how to calculate stuff there. Beware that postal charge are going up too very shortly!

mishkanorman

rufus_t wrote: »

Spooky....I was just logging on to ask a question about Winston Churchill.

I've got a box set of all 4 volumes of "A History of the English Speaking Peoples"

I've seen individual books listed at anything from a couple of quid to 20 times this, but I've never seen the box set together, and as it is from 1963 it doesn't have an ISBN number.

Has anyone any ideas about the best way to list this please?

Ive found this from a different year (quids in eh ?)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-English-Speaking-Peoples-Four-Set/dp/B000MAZYEU/ref=sr_1_14/203-6813010-5492749?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174922664&sr=1-14


But then unfortunately this is a little closer your year ,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/history-English-speaking-peoples-Winston-Churchill/dp/B0000CLIFY/ref=sr_1_20/203-6813010-5492749?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174922664&sr=1-20


I personally would try and confirm the year and then list under the second one for higher than the other two.

hth

mishka

Yorkielass

Having had over a week of no sales I had 2 yesterday, took them to the post office today and one was just over the 1kg rate - really cross with myself as I know I weighed the book when I got it and I'm always so careful when I get a book to check postage costs etc. Anyway i'm taking it home and will try and repackage tonight - don't know if it'll make a difference but the cost of postage is a big difference. Annoyed as it's probably the first time I've been shocked by postage costs.

m4rky - my advice is definently to weigh everything and check on royal mails website - at least when you first start out so you have an idea of weights and postage costs - although like me you'll always get caught out sometimes.

coco2972

Hi I'm really sorry to ask this as I guess it has been asked before but I don't have time tonight to trawl through and look for the answer! Does it matter if i send the packages 1st or 2nd class or even parcel as long as I dispatch within 2 days. It makes quite a big difference to the price!

Thanks in advance

lotto-dreamer

Originally Posted by rufus t
Spooky....I was just logging on to ask a question about Winston Churchill.

I've got a box set of all 4 volumes of "A History of the English Speaking Peoples"

I've seen individual books listed at anything from a couple of quid to 20 times this, but I've never seen the box set together, and as it is from 1963 it doesn't have an ISBN number.

Has anyone any ideas about the best way to list this please?

Have a look at this pagehttp://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=Winston+Churchill&y=12&kn=4+volumes+set+all+volumes&tn=A+History+of+the+english+speaking+peoples&sortby=3&x=59


This is a useful site for prices www.abebooks.co.uk

boston_uk

coco2972 wrote: »

Does it matter if i send the packages 1st or 2nd class or even parcel as long as I dispatch within 2 days. It makes quite a big difference to the price!

Some always send 1st = others like me - 2nd. It depends what you have as your sellers stated delivery options or have put in your descriptions. As long as folks know they dont seem to mind much

rare_stuff

coco2972 wrote: »

Hi I'm really sorry to ask this as I guess it has been asked before but I don't have time tonight to trawl through and look for the answer! Does it matter if i send the packages 1st or 2nd class or even parcel as long as I dispatch within 2 days. It makes quite a big difference to the price!

Thanks in advance

I have been sending second class since the last rise in postal rates, the one before the introduction of PiP as that wasn't officially a postal increase!!

I do post everyday and most orders will either go same day as ordered or next day at latest. I have never once had a customer complain or even mention the postage service I use in feedback or directly to me. Most of my feedback mentions the speed of service and being impressed with it. It's a popular misconception that amazon state what service you use for postage, they only state that the order must be dispatched within 2 working days.

With the upcoming rise in postal rates next week I imagine more people will opt to send 2nd class as amazon will not be increasing their flat rate P&P.

boston_uk

I did get one comment from a woman in Northern Ireland =- she still gave me 5/5 but said she';d have preferred a quicker delivery even on 2nd class - she ordered at just before 11pm on Wednesday evening - I posted it Thursday and it arrived on Monday morning ... You just can't win them all ! Most just say how speedily they get the books as I try to post same or next day depending on when I get to the PO