Great App Needs Two Things Added
Really like the app, great easy way to check my account, especially to keep up with customer messages. The two things I would really like added would be PPC monitoring and ability to modify. Also I would like to be able to modify sale prices, currently I can only modify the regular item price, which doesn’t help me when I want to run a sale or modify a sale. Otherwise it is great. The app actually has something that I can’t get on the web app- I can filter messages to see all received messages. This is awesome for following up on customer messages that I may not have gotten a response on in a while or something. On the web app I cannot find those conversations back easily if I send several other messages out in the mean time. That would be nice to pull from the phone app and get in the web app functionality.
How Useful Is The Opticon Opn
The Opticon OPN-2006, or similar, is an essential tool that every bookseller and retail arber should have in their toolbox. It makes life 10x easier.
Add a scanning app like ScoutIQ with a downloadable database, you should be able to make 20-30 decisions per minute, maybe more.
Regardless of your phones operating system, the Opticon OPN-2006 is relatively easy to pair and use. Oh, its also small and lightweight, making it perfect for FBA arbers and booksellers.
But what I love about the Opticon barcode scanner is that you can use it in a lot of instances. To list your books on Amazon with a bulk listing software like Scanlister, for example.
You can rely on OPN-2006. Its used by small and big organisations for various functions from visitor registration to inventory tracking. You can also use it to check if a barcode is scanable, which is one of Amazons requirements.
Amazon Seller Aka Seller Central
Seller Central is , by far, the easiest way to do business on Amazon. As a seller, you get access to Amazons platform which you can use to market and sell your goods in any way you see fit. This means that you get to decide on your products, set your own prices, and employ your own marketing strategies and shipping channels. Alternately, you can also opt for , popularly known as Amazon FBA.
As the term suggests, FBA means that Amazon will fulfill your order on your behalf. This includes picking, packaging, shipping, processing returns and even providing customer service for your products. In simpler terms, Amazon takes care of all the heavy lifting while you get to focus on other important aspects of your Amazon business. All you have to do is send your products to Amazon and watch the magic happen. Needless to mention, Amazon all of these amazing services at a fee, often referred to as .
If you choose to ship your product by yourself, then you will not have to pay the FBA fees. However, you will need to have a reliable logistics partner that offers highly competitive delivery so that your margins dont suffer. By contrast, Amazon FBA serves as a much better choice although you will have to be careful with the fees part.
Since you are practically responsible for everything as a seller, you will have to consider several factors to run a successful Amazon business. Some of these factors are:
- Products/Niche
- Competition
- Logistics
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Some Isbns Have Changed
To yield book stats from an app, you will either scan a bar-code or manually input the ISBN. Bar-codes were only being put on books in the 1990s, and any book printed prior to 1970 will likely not have an ISBN on the copyright page even.
Dont take a pass on books in good condition because they dont have a bar code! You can type in the title, or use an app to image-scan the front cover. The Amazon Seller app is good for this, though I also use the app Flow.
These two methods will occasionally bring inaccurate results, since there may be several instances of the same book on Amazon, owing to third-party data entry.
What Can An Amazon Seller Scanner App Do
A scanner app will allow you to go into a shop and scan the packaging or the bar code and get instant access to metrics on that product.
It will give you an idea of which items are profitable or not and which are already too well represented on Amazon for you to have a share of the market.
It is a sure way to avoid losing money buying stock that will not perform well on the platform.
The app gives you data on the current price, the estimated profits after fees, the products range and if you are eligible to sell that product with your account.
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Amazon Vendor Vs Amazon Seller Which One To Choose
As mentioned above, the two primary ways to do business with Amazon is by either becoming a part of . Both the platforms have their own pros and cons and joining them is a matter of perspective. For some, becoming an Amazon seller may prove to be a more viable option while for others, doing business with Amazon as a vendor may hold more potential. To help you arrive at this decision, we have prepared this short list.
- Amazon Vendor Central is an invite-only program whereas Seller Central can be joined by anyone. If you are eager to get started with Amazon, then Seller Central is undoubtedly the quickest way to go about it.
- Vendor Central has a relatively simpler business model than Seller Central. As an Amazon vendor, your primary job is to fulfill the purchase orders you receive from Amazon. This entails billing, shipping and in many cases, avoiding any returns or chargebacks. Since you are only dealing with Amazon, there is not a lot that you have to worry about.
However, if you are selling your products directly on the Amazon portal, then you will have quite a few things to consider monitoring your sales, advertising campaigns, managing your inventory, your , constantly analyzing your performance metrics, shipping, et cetera. As you can see, an Amazon seller has clearly got a lot on his plate but for many, this is a rewarding experience.
Amazon Seller Customer Support
Additional Resources:
Getting Started Reselling On Amazon
If you already enjoy shopping and picking up great deals, why not start making a profit from it?
This business is a bit of a treasure hunt. When we go into a store, we dont have any idea what were going to find, Jessica explained.
To get started, you need three things:
With those three things in place, youre good to go. Now lets go hunt for some profit!
Related: The Amazon Seller App is one of our top money making apps. Check out the full list for more.
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Final Thought: Bluetooth Scanners
All of the apps mentioned support bluetooth scanners. This means you can scan products more efficiently and without using your phone’s built in camera . I highly recommend investing in a good bluetooth scanner. The one I recommend is the KDC200i which currently sells on Amazon for about 9. You can often find these from other sellers who purchased them in bulk or grabbing a used one is totally ok as well. You won’t regret getting a good scanner if you use it!
How To Determine Which Books To Buy To Flip
Charlie said he relies mostly on triggers built into the Scout IQ scanning app to tell him if a book is worth reselling on Amazon or not.
You can change these triggers yourself, but they provide a good starting point.
The app will either tell you to accept or reject a book when you scan it based on:
- eScore How many days in the last 6 months at least one copy of the book was sold
- Sales rank It looks at the sales rank for the book, with #1 being the best seller in a category
- Profit It calculates an estimated profit after fees
Charlie said not to be discouraged if you dont find a book to resell in your first few scans. Most books are going to be reject. Most books are not worth selling on Amazon, he said.
It really is a volume and speed game. You want to scan as many books as possible to find the ones that trigger as accept.
Regarding profit, Charlie said, I dont buy anything under 100% ROI. That means for every $10 he spends, he expects to bring in $20. He typically spends around $1-$2 per book, and has seen them sell for as much as $154!
And through practice and repetition, youll start to develop an eye for the types of books that are profitable and where to find them.
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The Good And Bad Of Fba
The Fulfilled by Amazon program allows you to ship all your books to an Amazon fulfillment center, Amazon takes care of the rest of the sale, and you kick back and collect the money. Sounds great, right? Not so fast, as you shall see.
After listing each book I wanted to sell, I printed out barcode labels and attached one to each book. I packed all the books into a box and created a shipping label. I weighed the package to calculate the shipping costs and then headed to UPS, which is one of the Amazon preferred shipping partners. Yes, I had to pay to ship the books to a fulfillment center.
The second surprise is that you have no idea where Amazon will have you ship the box until you print the mailing labels. If you are sending the package across the country, the price will be higher than shipping to a closer destination. Another surprise was a split shipment. In one case I had 20 books in the box, and 18 were scheduled to go to one fulfillment center, and two were scheduled to go to another. I decided it was a waste to ship two books, so I kept them and saved them for another shipment.
I sent a total of 41 books in three different shipments. Total shipping cost to Amazon fulfillment centers: $26.84. Even though this was cheaper than shipping the boxes through the USPS, it was still a surprise cost and an unpredictable variable.
It takes roughly 12 weeks for Amazon to receive the packages and make the inventory available for purchase on the site.
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How To Use The Scoutify App
The Scoutify App gives you 2 ways that you can search for products on Amazon.
Once you have found the product you are looking for, you can add your buy cost and instantly see if the product is going to be profitable or not!
Here are 3 things you can do when you are looking at a product in the Scoutify App :
If you are ready to up your scanning game, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial of Scoutify here.
How Do You Deal With Competitors Selling The Same Books
The software Charlie uses automatically prices up his books to match the lowest Prime offer for the same item on Amazon. When there are multiple sellers, Amazon tends to rotate the buy box so everyone has a chance.
Theoretically, this should help prevent a downward spiral on price as sellers race to undercut each other.
Still, prices are always changing on Amazon, and Charlie has lost money on individual books. Its hard to manage and change prices manually when you have hundreds, or even thousands of products listed.
For now, hes leaving it in the hands of the app to calculate the prices for his books and its been working out well.
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Local Database Book Scanning Apps
This is the best method for a used book selling business because you can essentially make more money per hour you are out scouting used books, media, and other items. You can scan way more per hour than using your phones camera over an internet connection. The difference is quite dramatic when scanning a lot of books.
Ninja Tips To Scan Faster & Find More Books
Now that youre set-up, lets talk about a couple of ninja tips that will put you ahead of pretty much all the competition:
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The Inspiration To Start Selling Used Books
I wanted to find something to find some extra money, Charlie told me.
Charlie had a toddler at home, and another child on the way. So, he wanted to find a side hustle that would bring in some extra cash without pulling him away from the house for hours at a time.
He got to speaking to a couple of friends who were . One friend put Charlie in contact with someone selling books, and this piqued his interest.
I just downloaded Scout IQ and just jumped into it, and Ive been addicted ever since, Charlie told me.
How To Identify Valuable Books
Now that youre all geared up with a smartphone, a book scanning app, and a Bluetooth barcode scanner, youre ready to start scanning books.
But which books should you buy?
The answer is pretty simple: anything your book scanning app says is valuable.
Heres the basic rule of sales rank: the higher the rank, the less often the book sells
- A book with a sales rank of 1 is selling thousands of copies per day.
- A book with a sales rank of 1,000,000 is selling about three copies per month.
- A book with a sales rank of 3,000,000 is selling about one copy per year.
Ill buy books with sales ranks of up to 7,000,000 the price just has to be high enough for it to be worth the initial cost and FBA storage fees.
You also need to factor in your fulfillment method. If youre selling with FBA, youre going to be able to price higher than the FBM offers but only if the sales rank is relatively low.
My threshold for ignoring the FBM offers and solely basing my price on the FBA offers is 1.2 million. If the average sales rank is less than that, I pretend the FBM offers dont exist. But if the average sales rank is more than 1.2 million, I use the FBM offers to guide my purchase decision.
Now that weve discussed sales rank, we need to discuss price: what kinds of margins are you willing to accept?
The answer to this question is directly related to how much money youre comfortable spending and how much time youre willing to invest into processing inventory.
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What Tools And Startup Costs Are Involved In Book Flipping
As mentioned above, Charlie uses Scout IQ, an app that scans book barcodes and tells you how much that item is selling for on Amazon.
Itll also factor in Amazons sellers fees to give you a profit figure.
The live version costs $14/mo. This version pulls the latest pricing information from the Internet while youre out scanning items. If you have a weak data connection while sourcing, you can download a database of the latest prices for $44/mo. The database version is also much faster!
Charlie said this is all you need to get started reselling items on Amazon.
Note: Amazon has a free personal seller account if you want to test the waters, but youll be charged $0.99 per item sold and there are some other restrictions.
As he started selling more items, he invested in some more tools to scale up his business and process items faster:
- Accelerlist software to list items on Amazon $30/mo This saves Charlie hours of time manually creating listings. Alternative: Inventory Lab.
- Bluetooth barcode scanner Most smartphone cameras do this free, but this makes the process faster. A couple popular options are the Opticon OPN-2006 and the KDC200i.
- Label printer For labeling goods with Amazons shipping details.