selling books on Amazon - tips for more profit

Rave

lex wrote:

If book sold for £1, I would make around £1.23. If it sold for 1p I would make around 41p. For this one book I thought about there are quite a few listed at 1p already. So is it worth listing mine at all?

That depends if packing up a book and taking it to the post office is worth it for the sake of making 41p. A lot of the people listing books for a penny are power sellers who pay a monthly fee instead of individual charges per item. It makes sense if you're going to be selling 40+ books a month. I don't have the time or the inclination- although I may give it a go in October when I may well have a whole month off work....

Austin_Allegro

Haha I'm cracking up laughing at those upset about us giving away 'trade secrets'. It's not the magic circle, it's a bunch of people selling mouldy paperbacks!

The penny books are not really worth it in my opinion unless you are a power seller.You also have to get those books very cheap (or for free) in the first place.

I usually work on the assumption that my minimum profit on a book should be £1.

The_Bride_3

Can I just say a huge thanks to Apprentice Tycoon!
Enthused by this thread I decided to put all my excess books on Amazon and the first one sold today, only one day after my listing!
:beer:

catkins

I've made £23 in one week selling my unwanted cd's. Still haven't sold any books though fingers crossed

lady_lucan

I ordered a CD box set a few weeks ago from an Amazon seller. Today I got a card demanding customs charges of £9.22! It's really not worth it after paying that - anyone well up on what sellers are told about sending goods internationally via Amazon Marketplace? Cheers, L.

apprentice_tycoon

I assume that it was from Amazon.com, the American site? they would be obliged to put the retail value of the goods on the Customs note, perhaps an experienced seller would have asked you if you wanted it to be marked it as a gift rather than merchandise, bit iffy but I've seen it done

lady_lucan

No AT, it was ordered through the .co.uk site - that's why I'm so miffed. It definitely should have been marked as a gift for that small a value (£20)

beachbeth

Thank you everyone for all the advice on this thread. I have sold on Amazon before but hadn't been on the site recently. However, reading this thread encouraged me to list some books that Ive either: read/will never get round to reading or cookbooks that just sit in the cupboard never being used. Since this thread started Ive now sold 4 books on Amazon and made £10.91, £1.41, £5.95 and tonight another one for £8.00. My postage comes out of this but I am still well in profit and very pleased! Ive listed quite a few books on the Green Metropolis but not sold one yet.

As for selling books for 1p, as long as you are still in profit then everyone is happy. You are getting rid of books that are just cluttering the place up and someone is getting a nice bargain. I do, however, take them to charity shops too if they don't sell.

apprentice_tycoon

lady_lucan wrote:

No AT, it was ordered through the .co.uk site - that's why I'm so miffed. It definitely should have been marked as a gift for that small a value (£20)

That's a pain, I can't think of anything to suggest other than to thank you for pointing out that buying from overseas can have unexpected customs costs unless your seller is willing to mark it as a gift.

competitionscafe

A possible source of cheap books for you?
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=81136