selling books e bay or amazon?

[newmenewname]

OK slightly cheeky here since I wanted to ask about Amazon!

we have loads of books we really should sell some are work related and some are children's books

any idea which site is best?
do books sell on e bay?
what do we do about post and packing (don't both sites limit you? and some of the work ones are really heavy!)

any hints, tips or suggestions gratefully received
thanks

Amazon for me!

Ebay makes you list free P and P and then charge when you have to put a higher starting price. Then there's the final value fee and PayPal fees over that!

Amazon caps P and P for domestic at £2.75 (gives more for international), but takes a higher percentage of the final value. But, essentially since PayPal charges a cut as well it works out similar, if better on Amazon than ebay. You don't pay for listing on Amazon and your stuff stays till it sells. Plus, Amazon also lets you know all the fees upfront. You also don't have to put pics of stuff on, and saves you lots of listing time.

On the con side, you are competing with a lot of established sellers on Amazon. I've sold books on Amazon, and the whole process is a lot easier than ebay.

Hope this helps.

thanks
very helpful

have you sold any children's books?

I thought Amazon only took 89p for individual sellers am I wrong?

Hi, I've sold a few children's books, have one on at the moment. This is what it cost me to list + final value cost. Just an example.

Product Name: Paddington at the Zoo
ASIN: 0006647448
Condition: Used - Like New
Condition Note: --
Your price: £1.00
Quantity: 1
Your shipping methods: Domestic Only
Amazon.co.uk's Fees (if sold): £1.33 for Domestic Only *
Postage charge to buyer on your behalf (if sold):: £2.75 for Domestic Only *
VAT on Amazon.co.uk's fees: £0.19 for Domestic Only *
Total you will receive (if sold): £2.23 for Domestic Only *

That's what a price of a £1.00 would cost you overall. Basically, you would make money on the postage, as it doesn't cost very much to send a book like that.

Its up to you to price it so that you make your money back on postage. So, I wouldn't have sold that book for the price if the actual postage was more than what I was getting in total, iyswim.

Hi, I've sold a few children's books, have one on at the moment. This is what it cost me to list + final value cost. Just an example.

Product Name: Paddington at the Zoo
ASIN: 0006647448
Condition: Used - Like New
Condition Note: --
Your price: £1.00
Quantity: 1
Your shipping methods: Domestic Only
Amazon.co.uk's Fees (if sold): £1.33 for Domestic Only *
Postage charge to buyer on your behalf (if sold):: £2.75 for Domestic Only *
VAT on Amazon.co.uk's fees: £0.19 for Domestic Only *
Total you will receive (if sold): £2.23 for Domestic Only *

That's what a price of a £1.00 would cost you overall. Basically, you would make money on the postage, as it doesn't cost very much to send a book like that.

Its up to you to price it so that you make your money back on postage. So, I wouldn't have sold that book for the price if the actual postage was more than what I was getting in total, iyswim.

Sorry, posted that twice

I have not sold books yet on Amazon but have sold a number of DVDs recently and it is soooo much easier than eBay. My current selling method is to list things like DVDs and books on Amazon first, and if they don't sell within a few weeks, try eBay. You can list on Amazon really quickly, you don't pay for the listing on Amazon and can change your price or cancel your listing at any time. (And re-list easily too, if necessary.) This is great around holiday times when I feel I can't post anything on eBay for 2-3 weeks before I go away.

The only drawback with Amazon is that you have to be ready to post at any time. You have no idea when an item will be bought.

Of course, you should do some research first - if a certain item is selling on eBay for much more than people are listing on Amazon, go there first!

Spoke too soon - I have just sold my first book on Amazon

congrats

How do I ind out about costs of listing on amazon?

Is it true I can only charge is it £2.75 postage even if it is a really heavy hardback?

thanks

Yes - you can only charge £2.75 for UK postage for a book, so you have to price the book accordingly if it is large. But Amazon give you a credit of £2.26 towards postage.

There is no fee for listing - you only pay once the item is sold. Individuals selling at Marketplace pay a £0.86 per item completion fee, plus a closing fee of 17.25% of the sales price (11.5% for Electronics & Photo items) for each item sold. And then you get your postage credit on top, which varies per item.

Fees are here.

Postage credits here.

Yes, you can only charge £2.75 for postage. My strategy is that I check the weight of the book and check on the Royal Mail website as to how much the postage would be. I then add the excess amount to the price I was originally going to charge for the book.

As you can relist several times without paying, its worth putting the price you want and waiting for your book to sell. If you want to shift it quickly, its worth putting the lowest price in as they tend to shift quickly then. But you won't make as much as you would likt to make in that case.

Can I just ask Amazon sellers - what's the rough average turnover time from listing to selling? I realise some books will sell, others not; but is it possible to generalise?