Selling Books on Amazon - worth it?

meredith123

I am really going for this, I've even signed up for a pro seller account while they have a 3 months free trial. I've got loads of books to sell and know where I can source tonnes more.

The question is how much can you make from this on average?

Has anyone really made a difference to their income or even made a living doing this here? I need the encouragement!

soolin

I used to do quite well as a pro seller and had a stock that reached around 7000 books. However my market died completely in Autumn 2010 And I suddenly found I was lucky to sell a handful of books a week.

I have been dumping my books ever since and am now down to less than 1000 and am using my storage for more profitable lines on eBay.

My advice would be to Just watch your postage costs especially with the increases on Tuesday.

meredith123

That's strange, I've read about that happening to a lot of people in 2010. I also read that in the latter half of 2010 amazons warehouses became full suddenly, I wonder if the 2 events are related in some way??

What sort of books did you find were worth picking up? I've already worked out recent popular ones are to be avoided. Any tips gratefully received!

soolin

meredith123 wrote: »

That's strange, I've read about that happening to a lot of people in 2010. I also read that in the latter half of 2010 amazons warehouses became full suddenly, I wonder if the 2 events are related in some way??

What sort of books did you find were worth picking up? I've already worked out recent popular ones are to be avoided. Any tips gratefully received!

I dealt quite a bit in military books, or cult sci fi. Sic if is now a dead market as it is being released free of charge for the kindle. Military books tend to be very heavy so although they sell for a fair amount you can still make a loss once you factor in postage.

Basically I would buy hundreds of books at a time, list as few as 10% of them and donate the rest back to a charity shop.

Kaz6862

I used to sell book on Amazon, but there seems to be a demise in the printed book. Not only that, postage was not covering my costs.

Maz

Appears Kindle has had a massive impact and I read (somewhere, can't remember where) that Kindle books on Amazon outstrips hard copy book sales by around 70% or thereabouts.

Assuming your books are second hand? I put some of my books on Amazon when I did a clearout early last year, might sell one every couple of months but tbh it's more to get rid rather than make any money. Postage costs and Amazon fees etc don't leave much left over!

I just take them to a charity shop now or put them on Freecycle as job lots.

emski1234

I'm sorry to dig up an old thread, but I was having a search around for the answer and found this thread, hoping someone might be able to help.
I have a few books to sell on Amazon, but they're really really heavy (big hardbacks). Anyway, I had a look to see what others are selling them for and loads are selling them for 1p. Now I do understand the small profit that can be made selling very light books, as the amazon postage allowance can more than cover seller's postage costs, but these really heavy books will cost a lot to post, so these sellers will definitely make a loss - and a big one at that. (at least £6 depending on postal method).
I know some people sell low to gain feedback, but the ones I'm looking at are all well established big sellers. I just can't work out why you would sell such a heavy, pricey-to-post book for 1p?
What am I missing? Thanks in advance.

Wizzbang

I imagine they have made their profit elsewhere and they just want to shift them if they're selling for 1p! Also, they may have bulk deals with couriers and most certainly aren't using Royal Mail!

tc1992

Emski, a lot of big sellers have automatic "undercutting" software, to make it easier to price their books (of which they will have 1000's). So that it lists the price at (usually) 1p lower than all the other sellers. This software will check the price for example every day. So if 2 or more are using the same software they will keep undercutting each other, eventually till the price goes down to £0.01. Why they don't set a minimum price i don't know? Because, yes, they will lose money on the sale with excess postage charge

There is a way to use this to your advantage, to get cheaper books, but i will leave you to fill in the blanks