Selling Used Books from Home
How to Make Money Selling Books on Amazon Marketplace
Start with your own books, then possibly turn book selling into a money making, profitable business!
If you’re reading this, you probably have shelves full of books you want to get rid of. Dust off the covers and start selling!
Getting Started
Hit the "sell items" button at the bottom of Amazon’s main page, and you're off! You can begin listing items as soon as you enter your bank account information. Amazon doesn’t use Pay Pal. They wire your proceeds directly into your account. If this worries you, you can set up a separate bank account.
Fees and Pricing
Amazon only collects a fee when your book sells. You set your sales price. Amazon collects the money from your buyer including the amount for shipping. They then deduct a commission of fifteen percent of the sales price, a transaction fee of ninety-nine cents and a variable closing fee. Amazon will waive the ninety-nine cent transaction fee if you become a "pro-merchant." Warning: Only become a pro merchant if you have a LOT of books to sell. It will cost you $39.99 per month. Granted, you can cancel the account at any time, but you are stuck with the payment for at least one month.
List an Item
When you’re ready to sell your first book, Amazon will ask you to set a price. But first you’ll have the opportunity to see what others are charging for the same book. Make sure you match the lowest price. But be careful. If you list your book for under one dollar, you could lose money because of that ninety-nine cent transaction fee. Also, Amazon will ask you whether you want to ship internationally. Shipping internationally is great because it opens up many more potential customers. But watch out. It’s more expensive to ship to other countries especially if your book weighs a lot. Amazon charges the customer more for international shipping. But once in a while, that won’t be enough to get your book to certain countries in 14 days. Check with the United States Post Office for over-seas shipping rates.
Making Money
What do you do when you’ve sold every single book in your home?
- Check out library book sales. They are a great place to buy used books. But you have to check often, because the folks that work at the libraries also know what a gold mine they have there.
- Find used book sales. Check your local newspaper and the internet for used book sales in your area. Usually they are held under tents in shopping malls.
- Don’t over-rate the condition of your book. If anything, under-rate it and let your customer be pleasantly surprised. Your customers will have an opportunity to rate you as a seller. And in the book selling world, that rating is gold.
- Treat your customers like kings and queens. While Amazon gives you two days to ship once the order is placed, you need to ship the same day or the next day. After you have shipped, send your customers a personal e-mail thanking them for the order and letting them know their book is on the way.
Follow these tips and you may find yourself in the book-selling business!
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