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

wilf55

well done teedy woop it louder mate!!!....im listening

rare_stuff

livelife wrote: »

Hi rare stuff do you use autopricing software? Is it worth it - or only for certain kinds of sellers?
Mike

Hi Mike,

Yes I do use autopricing software. I mainly use it for the time saving features in order management, printing off packing slips, address labels, emailing customers to confirm order, advise of dispatch etc, which saves a considerable amount of time when dealing with 20+ orders (and rising) a day. As well as the benefits of listing sessions involving listing 100+ items a day. The time saved is quite staggering!

The pricing side of it is much more complex though, and I rarely run the pricing software more than once a week. Always set to match, rather than undercut, and with a complex set of rules on which sellers to ignore when pricing. When it runs I always check individually the price changes it suggests and amend if required, before uploading the changes. I have a current stock of approx 6000 books and checking prices on all of them would be impossible and a neverending task. Though I have to admit that sometimes I get caught out and price match to the realms of unprofitability, though this is somewhat mitigated by having a royal mail account which allows me to send items upto 2kilos in weight 2nd class for less than most people could send a 600g item!

I would not recommend the use of it for any amateur seller as it costs more than the monthly amazon pro-sub! And even a seller with a few thousand items in stock may find it unprofitable to run. I do know some sellers with stock levels of several thousand who have also trialled it but found it not worth the the monthly fees due to their stock type and number of sales.

I hope that has answered your question!

R.

boston_uk

looks like there is a delay on SDN mails - still waiting 2 hours later for the SDN for an order that I found on my seller account.

Feeling a bit down - we'd sold our house, put in and had accepted an offer on another - and our buyer has now backed out ...

Back to dusting everything in sight in case of a viewing ...

rare_stuff

boston_uk wrote: »

looks like there is a delay on SDN mails - still waiting 2 hours later for the SDN for an order that I found on my seller account.

Feeling a bit down - we'd sold our house, put in and had accepted an offer on another - and our buyer has now backed out ...

Back to dusting everything in sight in case of a viewing ...

i'd check your email/isp spam filters, most of todays orders have come through within minutes. The longest delay being 20minutes.

Though who knows whats going to happen tomorrow evening as they have announced maintenance for wednesday evening! And amazon maintenance is a bit like bubbles in newly hung wallpaper, push down one bubble and another appears elsewhere! :rolleyes:

boston_uk

Hmmm- went to investigate a bit further and the first amazon mail had somehow gummed up my mail box for over 3 hours! Had to ring the isp - neither of us could even delete it let alone download on POP3, so they reset and all is now well - though still haven't had the SDN!!

Update: now had them all through so all is well

Refund_Queen

Hi,
really sorry if this is in the wrong place but I have a couple of questions re buying books from amazon. In order to get the free postage I understand that you have to spend £15+. I tried doing that today, bought one book for £12.xx and so chose another to bring it to just over £15. When I went to checkout I couldnt see anywhere that said it would be free P&P, just that it would be a standard £x.xx for delivery.
Can anyone advise what i did wrong?!
Also, I saw alot of books selling at 1p? Is this right? I could have topped up my bill to £15 ordering countless of these penny books!
Thanks!

pinkgem

Refund_Queen wrote: »

Hi,
really sorry if this is in the wrong place but I have a couple of questions re buying books from amazon. In order to get the free postage I understand that you have to spend £15+. I tried doing that today, bought one book for £12.xx and so chose another to bring it to just over £15. When I went to checkout I couldnt see anywhere that said it would be free P&P, just that it would be a standard £x.xx for delivery.
Can anyone advise what i did wrong?!
Also, I saw alot of books selling at 1p? Is this right? I could have topped up my bill to £15 ordering countless of these penny books!
Thanks!

only Amazon.co.uk themselves offer free p&p on orders over £15

you can't get free p&p on items purchased from Amazon Marketplace sellers

1p books are sold by Amazon Marketplace sellers, you have to pay £2.75 p&p on top of each 1p book.

ruthiejane

Refund_Queen wrote: »

Hi,
really sorry if this is in the wrong place but I have a couple of questions re buying books from amazon. In order to get the free postage I understand that you have to spend £15+. I tried doing that today, bought one book for £12.xx and so chose another to bring it to just over £15. When I went to checkout I couldnt see anywhere that said it would be free P&P, just that it would be a standard £x.xx for delivery.
Can anyone advise what i did wrong?!
Also, I saw alot of books selling at 1p? Is this right? I could have topped up my bill to £15 ordering countless of these penny books!
Thanks!

The free delivery is only available on books bought directly from Amazon. All the 1p books and many of the others you have seen for sale are from Amazon Marketplace, where private sellers, and other bookshops can sell books. These books are not eligible for the free delivery. I hope this helps

rare_stuff

re - free P&P you also have to select super saver delivery

livelife_2

rare_stuff wrote: »

Hi Mike,

Yes I do use autopricing software. I mainly use it for the time saving features in order management, printing off packing slips, address labels, emailing customers to confirm order, advise of dispatch etc, which saves a considerable amount of time when dealing with 20+ orders (and rising) a day. As well as the benefits of listing sessions involving listing 100+ items a day. The time saved is quite staggering!

The pricing side of it is much more complex though, and I rarely run the pricing software more than once a week. Always set to match, rather than undercut, and with a complex set of rules on which sellers to ignore when pricing. When it runs I always check individually the price changes it suggests and amend if required, before uploading the changes. I have a current stock of approx 6000 books and checking prices on all of them would be impossible and a neverending task. Though I have to admit that sometimes I get caught out and price match to the realms of unprofitability, though this is somewhat mitigated by having a royal mail account which allows me to send items upto 2kilos in weight 2nd class for less than most people could send a 600g item!

I would not recommend the use of it for any amateur seller as it costs more than the monthly amazon pro-sub! And even a seller with a few thousand items in stock may find it unprofitable to run. I do know some sellers with stock levels of several thousand who have also trialled it but found it not worth the the monthly fees due to their stock type and number of sales.

I hope that has answered your question!

R.

Thanks, yes it saves me checking it out in more depth myself. I started out in November and have 750 or so books online selling 1-3 per day so I'll leave the software for while.