posted on February 7, 2001 12:27:59 AM
How to sell books at a profit. [1] Ebay is for primarily unusual or collectable books only. Keep in mind you can also group books together that you can't really do on the other 2 sites. [2]Half Com is for basic cheap books that you cannot list on Amazon because thier is no isbn in thier database or because its so common its nearly worthless. Halfcom is your last resort. But list anyway. How long does it take to toss i in a bubblebag. You are going to the PO anyway.[3] if amazon marketplace [forget thier auction its dead]is getting us higher prices let's not screw it up. Like if you list a book and want to undercut someone thats fine. But if hes selling it for $5.39 you do not have to list it for $2. List it for 5.19 . everyone here is a seller. keep the prices up if possible.Amazon is good for high prices on non rare out of print books of any kind. Mass paperbacks are ok too. By the way The main reason Amazon eliminated or reduced all thier bs sales like books for listers for like 25 cents each is because by either charging the $39.99 monthly fee or the 99 cent per sale charge they eliminated the lowballers by chasing them to off half com. and with amazon Originally, I was worried about the $39.99 charge but I have sold about 80 books in 5 weeks and my profits[remember this word] are way up. I know a lot of you are just getting rid of stuff out of your house but think of it this way.Final thoughts...Be selective where and what you sell. You can sell 10 books a week for $20 and have a meal at the pizza place every couple of days on your profits. Or you could sell the same 20 books and make $100 and go take your wife, husband or friend to the fanciest dinner theatre in town on Saturday on your profits. So is it the pizza place or the dinner theatre? make your friends and family happy. So you do not have to do not give it away. Why should you want to give the consumer a break? It makes no difference whether you pay $3 for a book or 5 cents. get as much as you can . Do not feel, guilty. Give yourself a break sell for as much as you can get away with.So anyway if you take a cheap paperback once in a while that your daughter had and was going to put in the trash..so take your $1 on that book on half com if you have to. But sell the otherones for a lot more. Remember that in the direct sale business[not ebay] there are no listing fees. You can always take the price down without a penalty. It is a different mentality. On Ebay you are not going to go fishing with a common poetry book for $24.99 because you may not sell it. But on Amkazon or Halfcom you have NOTHING TO LOSE to try for the higher price. If it does not sell in 30 days cut it incrementally by 10 to 25% each time until it sells. Eventually it will sell or go to goodwill if you have to. Do not toss books in the trash as you could donate them to a old age home even. Reading is good for everyone. We support reading here.Anyway, We are all in business to make money!What do you think Amazon ,ebay, and yahoo are doing by figuring out ways to take more of our profits and by in some cases cutting personnel down. Do you think the big web sites are really trying to help us? What they are doing is trying to make thier stockholders happy. So ride the wave and we have to do the same thing. As far as I am concerned I am jumping on thier bandwagon and I am going to charge the books up as high as I can . We want money too!and my My stockholder is my wife!
posted on February 7, 2001 01:59:20 PM
How to sell books at a profit. [1] Ebay is for primarily unusual or collectable books only
Not true, but thanks for chasing my competition away from bookselling on eBay. More business for me, then!
Well, I read about three lines and figured whatever advice it was it wasn't worth it anything that wordy. . . but I agree with you I do well with unusual and collectable books and just the normal kind of books to. I read a lot I have spent a life time in used bookstores and I just go with what people seem to like.
posted on February 7, 2001 03:14:05 PM
I think we are missing retrolink's message -
That we are beginning to see a price decline on amazon
When I first switched my books to Amazon, I loved it! I was getting way better prices than half.com.
Now the lowball sellers come in and books are being priced for under a dollar - I can't compete with that on my common books. I still do well with my out of print books, but I am seriously thinking of just dumping the commons - and I don't set unreasonable prices on my books.
We are again getting into where I don't understand how it is worth the hassle of listing, printing, packaging, and trips to the post office when your profit is a quarter or less? Can someone explain this to me?
I agree we need to keep proces hgher at amazon if possible, but I can't *tell* anyone else how to price their inventory - I just scratch my head and wonder why?
posted on February 8, 2001 06:13:45 AM
Jane - I don't understand the point of all the work for the 25 cent profit, either. Guess everyone has their own business plan, though, and if that includes using slave labor of some sort to package and mail all those 1 cent books...well...it just factors into the reality of the capitalist system. It's all about competition.
I do believe that the vast majority of books aren't worth the time and effort to list even on a site like half.com, where you do the work one time and leave them indefinitely. They just don't have value for whatever reason. So giving them to charity or your library booksale is a good business move, as long as you have a supply of marketable books coming from somewhere.
There are millions....tons...of books that ARE marketable, can be listed for nice money on whatever site. Either they are relatively unique or hard to find, or lots of people want them. For example, there is a set of dog books, came out years ago, that ALWAYS sell. You just don't see copies cluttering up the sites. They get good, solid, middle-of-the-pack prices. Wish I knew more books like that!
posted on February 8, 2001 04:25:51 PM
I am really fed up with Half.com. I listed and sold a 1969 paperback of Picture by Lillian Ross which is a classic film book, only available now in an expensive hard back edition. I clearly listed it as a paperback, 1969 Avon edition. Wrapped it in bubblewrap and sent it the day it sold...and now I get a rating of 2/5 (my second in a row for a rated acceptable children's book)--
This is after having a 5.0 rating having sold about 100 books (and gotten 19 ratings).
Now I ask you, why do people buy books when they can't read?
And why won't half.com allow sellers to respond to bad feedback.
posted on February 8, 2001 09:13:00 PM
always remember the "holier than thou consumer" they rule the world. At least you do not have to talk to them in person, socialize with them or smell them. that is the beauty of the internet over a brick and mortar business. Always remember that no matter what you do somepeople can never, i repeat NEVER be pleased.So don't worry about it.
posted on February 8, 2001 10:46:00 PM
Retrolonk, in all seriousness...could you define unusual and collectible books? I'm trying to figure out what these terms mean to the booksellers here.
posted on February 9, 2001 12:27:13 AM
I do see that amazon's prices are lowering on some books.
Ones that are in great condition, but have a slow selling record would move, but at a price that I could live with.
I went to relist one and found another sitting there at half of my lowball price.
Kind of a bummer.
I do best in OOP.
