Selling New and Used Books on Amazon
How to List New, Used Like New, Very Good and Good Books as Seller
Jul 24, 2008
A booklover who has bought a book from Amazon may have received the marketing email about "do you want to sell your book?" and ignored it as not for them.
Bibliophiles and avid readers find it difficult to part with books. It could be a missed opportunity as a seller’s account can be set up with relative ease. Listings of books for sale are not permanent. So if a booklover, once they have slept on it, decides to keep a book for longer, they can remove this book as a selling item.
New and Used Books for Sale on Amazon
Someone willing to sell books can set up a seller account on Amazon with the same email and password as their current Amazon buyer account. This way they can see both accounts in their personalized Amazon space. Once signed in to a seller account, a seller can list their books for sale as single items.
Amazon requires for every Marketplace book to be listed in the Amazon catalog and for sellers to state the condition of the book according to Amazon guidelines. This makes selling used and new books on Amazon different to selling books on eBay. In brief, you need to Search and List before a seller can Earn.
In Search, sellers find their book’s ISBN in the Amazon catalog and start their listing on the selling inventory. If their book is listed in the Amazon catalog, sellers then have to add from a pull down menu a statement about the condition of the book and can also add a personalized comment.
List on Amazon Marketplace
Sellers once they have signed up for their Amazon account can read the Amazon condition guidelines themselves. There are nine condition categories for selling new and used books on Amazon:
- New
- Used – like new
- Used – very good
- Used – good
- Used – acceptable
- Collectable – like new
- Collectable – very good
- Collectable – good
- Collectable – acceptable
On reviewing the guidelines, the descriptions are straightforward and helpful in distinguishing between what is used – very good and used – good which are both a book “that has been read...
- …but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.” (Used – very good)
- …but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear.” (Used – good)
When describing the condition of the book, there is a seller’s need to have 100% honesty to the buyers. Sellers may like to think that their book is new or nearly new – but if they have written their name in the front cover and read 10-20 pages causing some minor damage to the spine the book may be considered in no better condition than good by a buyer.
Such a mismatch between the seller’s description of a book and the buyer’s expectations runs the risk of that buyer-seller relationship ending and also negative feedback being left on Amazon Marketplace for prospective buyers of books to read.
Starting out as a Seller as a Means to Go on in Ecommerce
All sellers are advised to think long term in all their book sales on Amazon Marketplace. Each Amazon seller decides on the price of their new and used books. Turnover from book sales can be surprisingly quick. Anyone can sell an unwanted book – on eBay, AbeBooks or Amazon - at a loss.
A seller may start out selling books on Amazon and shipping like it’s an online garage sale. Customer feedback – good things and bad things said about the seller – will be in the system when a book seller returns as a merchant for some serious ecommerce.
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