Choosing A Fulfillment Method
As you build up your inventory, you might want to try different fulfillment methods. As explained in our series, there are a few ways to go about it:
- FBM – ship from your warehouse and handle buyer communication, returns, refunds, and claims by yourself.
- FBA – list the books and ship them to Amazon, who takes over from here. You may also be able to opt for FBA Export or FBA Small and Light.
- SFP – list with the Prime badge, use Amazons labels, and ship from your warehouse using an approved courier within 24 hours.
Promote Your Used Books
Now that youre listings are taken care of, here comes the fun bit making sales! If youre only casually selling a few used books, you might choose to simply kick back and wait for the sales to come in.
But if youre treating your used book sales as a real side business, then youre going to want to promote your listings.
You can do this in a variety of ways. If youve chosen a professional sellers plan, you can take advantage of Amazons included advertising features or pay extra to really boost your listings and get them seen by as many potential customers as possible.
If youre savvy with social media, dont forget to share your listings and draw attention to your Amazon store using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram too. This is a free way to draw more attention to your listings and boost your sales.
Selling Books On Amazon Bonus Tips & Secrets To Make More Money:
- Install Keepa, an Amazon price drop, and availability alert browser extension.
- Heres the search result for best selling used paperback books listed on Amazon. Study the type of books that appear here to get a sense of the market.
- If you are selling used books on Amazon, you mustfollow the condition guidelinesvery carefully when describing your book.
- to see what works best for your business.
Also Check: How To Become An Amazon Locker
How Much Does It Cost To Sell Second
Like other selling platforms, there is a fee for each item you sell. How much you pay depends on the selling plan you have chosen. You can either set up a Basic plan which doesnt charge a monthly fee but you pay 75p per sale. If you opt for the Professional plan, youll pay a £25 monthly fee
This means if you decide to shift some of those books youll need to account for these fees, depending on the plan you choose.
Account For The Cost Of Selling Books On Amazon
are no joke. They charge:
- A 15% referral fee on books.
- A $1.80 closing fee on all media items, including books.
- Either $0.99 per item or $39.99 per month .
And never forget that your time is valuable!
set a minimum sale price like $12 or $15. If the book cant sell for that price due to competition, condition, or lack of demand, they wont touch it. They know the thin profits wont make up for the lost time and the risk of problems like .
For detailed info on Amazon fees and calculating profits vs. losses, see “”
Recommended Reading: How To Return Amazon Order
The Future Of Book Selling On Amazon
Jumping into any kind of business not backed by research is dangerous, so if you plan to sell books on Amazon but was worried about the future of this venture, consider these:
PROS:
Selling on Amazon remains a lucrative venture because it is home to a market that buys.
Amazon has more than 300 million active users, with 150 million Prime subscribers.
Net sales in 2020 amounted to $386.1 billion.
Amazon has a 50% share of the US print book market as of 2018.
Whether youre on the verge of self-publishing or launching your own online business, partnering with Amazon continues to be a safe business model.
CONS:
However, Amazon is in control of service fees and future policy changes, whether you like it or not.
As a bookseller on Amazon, youd have to agree to the changes or look to sell somewhere else.
For example, when Amazon upped the FBA fees, .
Will you be willing to comply when changes like these happen in the future?
Before you invest everything into selling books on Amazon, weigh these pros and cons carefully.
Create Your Amazon Seller Account
- The Individual selling plan is a pay-as-you-go plan that provides access to basic listing and order management tools. You can create listings one at a time by matching products to existing pages or creating new pages in the Amazon catalog. You don’t pay fees to Amazon unless an item sells, so its a good starting point for entrepreneurs new to online selling.
- The Professional selling plan gives you access to advanced selling tools for a monthly subscription fee. Unlike the individual selling plan, you pay a monthly fee regardless of whether you list or sell anything . The Professional selling plan gives you access to inventory tools to upload batch files and manage your orders through feeds and reports. These tools are especially beneficial to medium- to large businesses.
You May Like: Is Amazon Locker Free Shipping
What Types Of Books Are Profitable On Amazon
To , you should focus on offering non-fiction books. However, you should not look for all of them in the stacks of books because it may be time-consuming. While some of those fiction books are bestsellers with hundreds of daily copies on Amazon, the prices are simply too low for third-party sellers to profit on.
Because selling low priced books may lead to a loss, if you source your books, you should search for books that are over $25 in value. You can choose to set a lower limit if you find it reasonable.
How about the low priced books? Well, you can still choose to sell them as long as you have a good pricing strategy. Also, in addition to non-fiction, there are different types of books such as textbooks, history, parenting, psychology, self-help, sports, and religion.
Regarding non-fiction titles, you should explore the specific or niche topics, or the so-called long-tail books. For instance, there are hundreds of books about growing mushrooms, but there may be very few about oyster mushrooms.
Reason : Amazon Makes Your Life Easier
On Amazon, you can choose between three fulfillment options:
- Fulfillment by Merchant : You list your product on Amazon, pack it and ship it to your customers.
- Amazon Vendors : You sell your products directly to Amazon.
- Processing by Amazon : You list your products on Amazon. Amazon stores, packs, and ships your product to your customers.
Amazon FBA is a great way to .
That’s because FBA sellers only have to do marketing for their products, and they don’t have to worry about storage or shipping.
When you start selling on Amazon, you can pack and ship products on your own. But as soon as you sell more products, I recommend switching to Amazon FBA.
Recommended Reading: Llc For Amazon
Register For An Account And Choose A Plan
First, you will need to set up an account with the site. You have two options when it comes to selling on Amazon a Basic plan for those selling fewer than 35 items per month and a Professional plan for those who intend to make a business out of Amazon selling.
If you just want to get rid of those extra books for a little additional cash, a Basic plan is a good call. You essentially pay as you go when it comes to fees but are still able to reach millions of customers on the site.
How To Pack Books For Amazon Fba
Packing up a box of used books is a lot like a game of Tetris! You can neatly fill a box with snugly packed books.
The less room you leave for books to move around, the safer they’ll be in transit. I have found that 40 pounds is a sweet spot for books. This amount fits pretty nicely in a standard Small Box.
Of course, if you’re doing a mix of used books and regular RA, you can use books to add weight to light but Large boxes.
If I have a shipment with a lot of bulky, lightweight items , it’s nice to add a few heavy books to the bottom of the box.
Don’t Miss: How To Register Kindle Paperwhite On Amazon Account
$20 Book Sale On Ebay
- $20 sale price
- 12% eBay final value fee = $2.40
- 2.9% + $0.30 Paypal fee = $0.88
- Media mail shipping fee = $2.75
- Bubble mailer = $.10
- Amazon variable closing fee = $1.80
- Fulfillment by Amazon fee = $4.78
- Net profit: $8.
While eBay is the clear winner in this fee comparison, I would caution you against choosing eBay based on this. When I say books sell for more on Amazon, Im talking a lot more. To get a sense of how much more, lets check out a real-world example from my own Amazon store.
Can I Trade In My Item In Person
We accept certain Amazon devices and cellphones for trade-in at select participating locations. Kindle E-readers can also be traded-in at select Amazon Books and 4-star store locations. In-store associates will review your trade-in item and provide a trade-in offer based on the model and condition. Even non-working devices are eligible.
Read Also: How To Get 10 Off Amazon
The Figures & Conclusion
Notice the fees Amazon take. I made only 14p profit on the sale of the book!!! They took £1.66 of the £1.80 sale price. Thats over 92% of the sale price!!! And its not exactly as if Id listed it at a rock-bottom price either.
The other thing Amazon do is they have fixed charges for postage which I think are different for different size and categories of book. So I guessed that this is where I might make a bit of money.
I saved money by using my own Jiffy bag and sticking the address on with paper and cellotape rather than using any fancy labels. Then off I went to the post office to find out how much it was going to be to post the Napoleon book.
The postage was £3.05 for first class or £2.60 for second class . I paid £2.60 for the second class postage.
All in all I therefore made 34p selling this book. It was in good condition, worth a lot more new and even after buying it for just 50p and managing to sell it for £1.80. I still managed to make an overall loss of 16p!!
I would have made an even greater loss if Id had to buy a jiffy bag.
So there you have it. You possibly can make money with this technique, but its not going to make you rich. Youre not going to make a big margin on the book sale because of the huge fees Amazon take from you and it doesnt look like youll make much margin on the post either. As you can see from above, youll be very lucky to make any money at all.
Could The Inventory Dry Up
Of course, Charlie isnt the only person sifting through thrift and goodwill stores and flipping books for profit. These stores want to make as much money as possible too, so I asked him if he thought they would start selling the inventory directly on Amazon in the future.
He said he has seen some books on Amazon being sold by Goodwill, so some stores are doing it. But for the most part, Charlie doesnt think they will start selling their books on Amazon anytime soon.
A lot of thrift store owners dont want to deal with the online thing, Charlie told me.
One interesting idea Charlie is pursuing is working out consignment deals with some of his best sourcing spots. In this scenario, hed take responsibility for selling their inventory on Amazon, and sharing a portion of the proceeds with the store. The big advantage would be essentially eliminating his book scanning competition.
Recommended Reading: Is Thriftbooks Owned By Amazon
Basics Of Selling Used Books: 4 Types Of Used Books To Sell
In general, there are 4 types of books that you should look for when trying to sell used books online. Most books you can sell for any amount of decent cash will fall into one of these four categories.
1. Textbooks
The used textbook market is between $5.5 billion and $8 billion according to a recent article. That means there is A LOT of money to be made in this disjointed market place.
Sure a great deal of used text books sales happen on college campuses. However, a quick perusal of Amazon and eBay listings will show you that plenty of people are still buying and selling used textbooks online.
Where to find used textbooks to sell?
If you are selling your own textbooks, thats one thing. But what if you want to become a text book flipper where you buy and sell for profit?
I would start by looking in these places:
- Second hand or thrift stores, like Goodwill
- Garage salesyou never know!
- eBay.com. You might be able to pick up a cheap book and then turn around and sell it on Amazon or somewhere else for a higher price.
- Craigslist. Especially if you are near a college town, your chances might be better for scoring some cheap textbooks.
- Ask friends and family. You might be surprised what they have lying around!
- Amazon.com. The chances are likely smaller to find anything really low priced here, but its still possible to stumble on the right opportunity.
Where to sell used textbooks online?
2. Modern First Edition Books
Profitable book selling right away
How To Sell Used Books On Amazon
This post contains affiliate links. If you click and buy we may make a commission, at no additional charge to you. Please see our disclosure policy for more details.
Do you have stacks of books lying around gathering dust? Perhaps youve been hoarding your already read paperbacks for years. Or maybe you have a few books that you purchased on a whim, but you know in your heart of hearts that youre never going to read them.
Instead of letting your used books sit there and clog up your bookshelves, why not sell them and make some extra cash?
Its actually pretty easy and straightforward to sell used books on Amazon. For minimal effort on your part, you could have a well-needed clear-out and line your pockets with some extra cash too.
If youre new to selling used books on Amazon, but you dont know where to start, Ive put together a handy how-to guide to make the whole process quick and easy.
Don’t Miss: How Long Does Prime Shipping Take
Setting Up An Amazon Account
Setting up your Amazon account should only take a few minutes. Please read our How to Sell on Amazon step-by-step guide and make sure you have everything you need before you start. Your seller name is especially important, so think of a few eye-catching monikers that inspire trust.
If applicable, have your company registration and US business address ready. Also make sure you have your bank information, social security number, and ID close at hand. If youre registering as a business entity, youll also need to apply for an Employer Identification Number beforehand.
Upload Your Used Book Listings
Now its time to start inputting the data of each book youd like to sell. Most books have an ISBN printed on the back, which youll need to submit along with information about the condition of the book, the subject matter, and of course, the price youd like to sell.
If youre unsure how much a used book might be worth, type the title and the authors name or the ISBN into google and see what other sellers are listing the same title for.
Youll also be asked to fill out shipping options. Remember to bear in mind that books are heavy. Dont underprice your shipping rates, or you could end up losing out on the final amount.
Take a look at other used book sellers shipping rates in your region, which should give you a good indication of what it will cost. You can also check with your local post office or courier.
Luckily, if the same book is already listed elsewhere on Amazon, the handy autofill feature kicks in and automatically lists some of the details for you. If theyre correct, you can leave them be, or you can edit them accordingly.
Once youve input all the information, click to upload your listing. Youre all set!
Recommended Reading: Amazon Link Twitch
Sell Books On Amazon: A Step
Of all the goods you can sell and all the online marketplaces you can sell them on, selling books on Amazon remains one of the best ways to make money online.
Amazon may be the largest online retailer in the world now, but did you know that the company started out as a marketplace for new and used books?
In fact, CEO Jeff Bezos operated the Earths Biggest Bookstore straight out of his garage when Amazon opened for business in 1994.
Look familiar?
Three years later, the company carried 2.5 million titles and earned a whopping $148 million in 1997 alone.
Amazon sold books exclusively from its launch until 1999 when the company expanded into selling toys, electronics, tools, and hardware.
Even with the recent success of online bookstore chains like Barnes & Noble, choosing to sell books on Amazon remains a smart decision because Amazon continues to grow at an outstanding rate, and more and more brick-and-mortar Amazon bookstores are popping up.