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

rare_stuff

soolin wrote: »

rare_stuff, Arkonite_babe has stated in her post that her local charity shops will no longer take books. My own local shops go through periods of refusing books as well (that's how so many of us sellers get stock in the first place, many sellers have arrangements with charity shops as the shops can't take more books).

Perhaps if they were making a donation as well, the charity shops would reconsider. Though if they do not wish to give away money there are usually oxfam book banks in most areas. If they purely want to get rid of them putting them on freecycle seems to do the trick for me, and I don't have to give any money away with this route either.

I'm just shocked that a member of MSE would be happy to sell at a loss, I thought this forum was about money saving, not money throwing away! I'm even, more shocked that they appear to be a moderator on MSE too!

(people deliberately selling at a loss in any marketplace is an annoyance as a trader, to say the least, if you are also selling in that marketplace. And are usually ignorant of the impact this has on the profits of others, though if you do try and educate there ignorance and they still refuse to see sense, their pricing policy can only be seen by others as destructive or even malicious. I just wish that I was in such a comfortable position to sell stuff at a loss, not that I would!)

rare_stuff

foxybabe wrote: »

I have a question please. I have just sold a book which needs to go to the states for £125. My question is, what additional insurance do I need to cover the book?

Many thanks in advance.

To get the necessary cover for that you would have to look into RM AirSure which is a fully trackable and insured service. International signed for would not cover the required amount and is not fully trackable. If the book is partcularly heavy it maybe worth checking some courier options, though insurance on those is usually £50 unless you pay a surcharge to raise it.

Nice Sale though! :money:

foxybabe

Thanks for that. It cost me £16 to post it (signed for). I just told the post office what it needed to be covered for and they sorted it out for me.

arkonite_babe

rare_stuff wrote: »

I'm just shocked that a member of MSE would be happy to sell at a loss, I thought this forum was about money saving, not money throwing away! I'm even, more shocked that they appear to be a moderator on MSE too!

Just to be perfectly clear here on a point you mention, I'm NOT a moderator in any form. I'm a volunteer board guide who willingly gives up my spare time to help out on these boards.

As you can see from the site rules, this is our role

MSE_Martin wrote:

BOARD GUIDES

The Board Guides are site users who have volunteered to help keep the forum running smoothly. (Read what Board Guides have been asked to do HERE)

If you’ve seen a thread you think should be merged or deleted because it’s been duplicated (we prefer not to have threads duplicated on the boards as this creates confusion) send a pm to the relevant Board Guide. You can see who the Board Guides are at the bottom of each board or on the Board Guide list.

Please remember the Board Guides are only doing what Martin’s asked them to do. They do an excellent job of keeping the forum wheels turning but are not responsible for the site. Do not expect them to deal with any type of abuse issue.

If you have a question about actions a Board Guide has taken first read these Forum Rules, which explain why most of the actions are taken. If you’ve read the Board Guide note and the Site Rules and you’re still unsure why a particular action has been taken please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].


If you ever feel a Board Guide has said/done something that needs to be reported please report it as you would any other site user’s post/pm to [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

soolin

As a BG on this forum can I also echo what arkonite_babe says, we are not moderators and we carry our signatures merely so people know who we are and can contact us if they have problems on our individual boards.

Incidentally rare_stuff you appear to be suggesting that Amazon is a level playing field when of course it is not and even with not making a profit arkonite's books might still not be the cheapest..think about how it works. I am a pro seller so I get 83p a book more than a non pro seller so I can automatically undercut the non pro's. Look at the threads on the seller boards about the 1p books where new small sellers moan about taking a loss on a 1p novel, some of us can squeeze a small profit on them but maybe as that means non pros can;'t we should stop competing as it is unfair?

Likewise I can't sell heavy books at a small price as I use standard Royal mail, yet the big sellers have postal contracts and can sell even the heaviest book for a few pounds..should they be stopped as I can't match their price? You could easily get in a position where Arkonite sells a hard back book at a loss and yet is still not the cheapest by a long way due to postal charges so I can't see that her selling price has much to do with anything.

rare_stuff

OK, hands up! I got confused between the role and power of moderators and board guides, though in essence I don;t really see much of a difference as both have power to edit submissions, etc. So, in reality a Board Guide is essentially the same as a moderator, it's just here they are given a somewhat friendlier title. I've yet to find a single forum where the moderators (or whatever you wish to name them) is anything other than an unpaid volunteer. It's also quite beside the point I was making to argue the semantics over which term should be used to address those who have a position of power & responsibilty here. Although I do note the disclaimer saying they are not responsible for the site, they surely have some responsibility to the position they have been given to uphold the ethos of the site.

What I was trying to point out was that a BG is a position of responsibility, and they should, I believe, uphold the main principal of this site which is 'Money Saving'. A_B came under criticism not for pricing items too cheaply for others to make a profit, though it was part of it, but because they stated they were happy to sell at a loss. Given the reason that they could do what they want with their belongings, and price how they liked is not something I object to. But if they are doing the equivalent of giving money away with each sale, surely freecycling, and donating their spare cash would be a much better thing to do than hand over fees to amazon for the ability to make a loss getting rid of their tat.

It is this attitude of someone given responsibility here that I found much harder to swallow than the fact that an amazon seller was simply pricing too low. I don;t suggest anywhere that amazon is a level playing field or that it should be. I was only pointing out the stupidity of knowingly selling at a loss andthe possible impact this could have on other inexperienced sellers, and to a certain extent those who do have experience of selling on amazon and rely on it to make some difference to their finances as many are not in a position to sell stuff at a loss, particularly the readers and fans of these boards.

soolin

Just for clarification MSE does have moderators as well as BGs and when they post they show who they are by using a standard colour font by their user name, take a look at the first post on that long courier thread and you'll see what I mean. Only they can delete a thread, we BGs can temporarily disable a thread pending review.

tirlittan

And another book sold! Won't probably be able to send it today, but will make sure I do it tomorrow.

soolin

tirlittan wrote: »

And another book sold! Won't probably be able to send it today, but will make sure I do it tomorrow.

Books are flying out for me at the moment, i am having my best few weeks ever. I expected to sell text books what with students going back to uni, but I am also selling novels and paperbacks, so maybe people are not going out and are instead staying home and reading to save money.

tirlittan

I've been thinking of getting rid of these books for ages as have moved quite a bit. It's nice to have money coming in from something you don't want anymore.