selling books on Amazon - tips for more profit

Kaminari_2

Nads, it all happens when you least expect it! Good luck with your new listings!

nads

Cheerks kaminari, I know it sounds weird but I think I'm doing it more for fun in hunting down items and finding what sells and what doesn't rather than making money!!!

I like the idea that things are being recycled like this

ps. who the flip keeps editing my sig? >:(

Kaminari_2

I love the hunting too! Today i bought a book for 50p and the cheapest on there was £130!! To be fair the only other two listings were from the USA and we know that there are a few that have over inflated prices.

nads

That would be one heck of a markup if it sold! I think mentioned that they probably do that when they don't have it in stock mark up extortionately high for some rich mug to uy and then they the seller goes hunting for it.

I bought a series of kids books for 50p each but pricing was odd, some where goign new for 1p whilst others for £20 !

Bella13_2

I bought a book from a charity shop on Thursday, and sold it within 5 hours of listing - only made a couple of pounds profit, but it all adds up. Charity shops don't seem to be particularly cheap near me, so it is quite hard to make a profit, and I am really pleased that I managed to do it.

Thing is that I didn't really look at the book, and it was only on reading the reviews (after it had been sold) that I thought I should have kept it for myself!! So I will just have to hunt down another! And whilst browsing through the charity shop, I ended up buying quite a few novels for myself, so I suppose that profit has disappeared! My OH says I should bargain with them in the charity shop over the pricing if I am buying a few books, but I haven't got the nerve.

mike55_2

purplepatch wrote:

IMHO this is the beauty of selling on Amazon marketplace. Your items are worth what others are willing to pay. The fact that she bought it in the US for next to nothing is neither here nor there. If people are willing to pay more in the UK for whatever reason, like they don't know that they can get it cheaper in the States, then that's fair enough.

Saying that, you will often find that just because somebody is listing something at an inflated price, doesn't mean it will sell. My suggestion would be to list it at a slightly lower starting price and if no takers after a reasonable length of time, drop the price gradually until you get a taker.

I had received a book as a gift a few years ago, retailing at around a tenner, and due to it being out of print now, it was listing at around the £50 mark. I sold mine eventually (after dropping price) at £35. The £50 one is still listed. It felt a bit naughty inflating the price that much, but the buyer was happy and so was I

thanks for the response purplepatch. i did what you suggested and what i've been doing in the past, undercutting the ridiculous price for a less ridiculous, but still over-inflated one it's not like i'm desparate to sell it, its only taking up about half an inch in the bookshelf

i had an interesting one the other day. i had a book that was out of stock, so i wasn't sure what to ask for it. as i was typing in the description etc, amazon had a sort of message suggesting to me what the going rate usually is. so i listed it for about 25p more. less than 30 minutes later it sold! i'm not taking notice of amazons price suggestions anymore well done on your sale - i undercut something similarly and that went like a shot too. since then i've sourced another and listed it. i still feel a tad guilty about the price difference between the books price and the price i'm asking though. i must be going soft in my old age

mike55_2

i forgot to mention this in my last message, but i've noticed that if i price the books etc so that with postage they round up to a whole figure, like £5.00, they seem to sell better. maybe the buyers are like me and hate the 4.99 thing? everytime i check prices, someone's usually trying to undercut at least 3 or 4 books by 1p!!!!

larmy16

mike55 wrote:

just an update and another question if that's ok?

i've put the vinyl to once side for now, the books were enough and the prices listed for vinyl aren't very helpful unless anyones an expert or how to package them,

thanks.

How about very large !! unused} pizza boxes for packing vinyl, they are very strong and perhaps you could make friends with a pizza delivery service to let you have a few at cost??????

mike55_2

larmy16 wrote:

How about very large !! unused} pizza boxes for packing vinyl, they are very strong and perhaps you could make friends with a pizza delivery service to let you have a few at cost??????

thanks! it's worth a try for some of the cheaper ones i'll look to see if i've got any fats domino lp's

apprentice_tycoon

very funny Mike!

Have you tried googling for box makers? I have to have dinner plate sized ones made to measure, they cost around 80p - £1.00