Selling Your Stuff on Amazon Part 11 - Advice for newbies in first two posts

teapot2

Glad you found the book Soolin :j .

Sales have been pretty dire since the new year, quite often going a week between SDNs. I'm selling some academic books for a friend and quite a few of the sales I have had have been her books so its not like I'm getting all the money from them anyway!

Just paid my pro merchant fee and am thinking of cancelling it for next month unless things pick up as I'm not confident of making enough sales to cover the fees. Am listing new stock as well so its not that.

Green Met site is down as well this weekend so won't be selling anything on there either......

Teapot x

helsbells

soolin wrote: »

I found it!!

I sat and had a bit of a calm down and remembered that I had slotted in books to empty boxes on an ad hoc basis as I removed some that weren't selling, and I was constantly being interrupted so it was more than possible I hadn't update dmy spreadsheet with its whereabouts. So all I had to do was work through the boxes in the order I remember opening them..and lo, there it was nestled under a whole load of Martina Cole books that are unlikely ever to sell.

I have wrapped it and it's already gone special delivery so it should all be well. It was a rather tatty 1963 paperback book though and I just hope the buyer read all the description..I was brutally honest about the colour of the pages, but you still never can tell.

Oh Soolin I am so relieved for you I nearly had a fit when I couldn't find a £3 book! Can I be nosey and ask what it was, you don't have to say if you prefer not;) . My most expensive was a book on caving for £46, it was a flook though.

My sales have been rubbish too, the form seems to be if something is going to sell it seems to do so quite soon after listing before stagnating.

How often do people list before they give up.

On an up note I had a brilliant bargain day yesterday. Bought a blouse that was evidentally new in a 2nd hand shop, prevaricated because it was £3.50, didn't recognise label and am sick of buying bargain labels for more than they actualy cost new, but as it was new took chance. Then saw a 3 books for a £1 sale. Saw one I would have bought my mum new so bought 6 for £2.
Got home googled the blouse band and realized it was about £70's worth :eek:, then realized one of the wood working books was too fiddly for dad, thought I would take my chance on Amazon where it sold within 2 hours for £11.99 Wish I could do that everyday.:D

soolin

The book was an old 1963 paperback novel about espionage in Germany during WW2. It is the kind of book that you wouldn't think twice about dumping and I only ever found one other copy on bookfinder at £90 so I chose £99 randonly on Amazon and it sold in around 7 weeks.

soolin

I forgot to say well done helsbels, If only every day could be like that !

helsbells

soolin wrote: »

The book was an old 1963 paperback novel about espionage in Germany during WW2. It is the kind of book that you wouldn't think twice about dumping and I only ever found one other copy on bookfinder at £90 so I chose £99 randonly on Amazon and it sold in around 7 weeks.

Fantastic! I would never have picked up on a novel having potential value although obscure stuff about the war generally seems to be a goer. Something I had about sonar (sp?) in world war one sold really quickly.
I know what you mean also tho there is always that residual concern they haven't read the honest description. Hope the buyer is happy then you can really celebrate:beer:

nearlyrich

I decided to take the plunge into Amazon selling but got sidetracked after listing just one book as you do, I completely forgot I had listed it and got a pleasant surprise tonight to receive an email saying it had sold:j It was a bargain book to me and even after fees and postage costs I will make about a tenner, hope that's a sign of things to come when I list my others, and I hope things pick up for those of you who are finding it tough at the moment.

wendym

There's a newly posted Grabbit - a 1p book from an Amazon seller. Such innocence!

soolin

wendym wrote: »

There's a newly posted Grabbit - a 1p book from an Amazon seller. Such innocence!

AW bless.

Mind you I suppose we are all so used to Amazon that it seems obvious to us and we forget that some people are only just discovering the marketplace. There was a very long thread on MSE about 18 months ago where someone felt very ripped off as they had bought a whole batch of books from a market place seller and just hadn't seen the postage before they agreed to buy and had ended up with a dozen books that they thought were a bargain but with an actual cost of nearly £30. In fact if I recall the thread got quite nasty and might even have been closed or pulled by the mods. I certainly still get th every occasional feedback that states 'OK but was overcharged for postage' or something similar.

patchwork_cat

If you are a pro merchant apart from the £25 per month fee what other fees will amazon charge you? Sorry if this is answered somewhere else searched under pro merchant, but didn't see anything. I am an ebay seller and am really feeling the pinch with sales right down ( posted a comment to that effect and got a very sarcy reply!) There were quite a few comments about recent changes in ebay, but as it is also Amazon maybe there are other reasons - I sell mainly books too.

helsbells

Yes you did didn't you :eek: I saw that. Being the sensitive type it really puts me off although i thought you handled it very well. Everyone on this thread is very helpful - well they have helped me a lot. I only sell small amounts on Amazon but people here say things have gone a bit quiet there too just as a heads up. There are a few pro sellers here who will answer your question better than me might be a bit slower than other threads but it will happen:D