How do book sellers make a profit on new books?
Hi all
I have been toying with the idea of selling new books direct from one of the big suppliers. But I just cannot see how you can make a profit on them once you take the various postage and fees into consideration.
My question is ( and I understand people don’t like to give secrets away), how is it possible to make it work? What am I missing??
0 replies
Seller_lplZIMdO5UBa7
Your missing nothing at all, you’ve realised that a new seller who simply wants to dabble in a bit of “comfort selling” of new books simply cannot make a viable profit.
Seller_P9WE9DmQhKbaT
I’d speculate that most of the big dealers of new books on here are following are either buying books directly from publishers rather than the wholesalers, or using the wholesalers themselves to do the fulfillment. Either way they must be committing to large volumes per title
They are probably getting in excess of 60% margin of RRP (probably much more for some titles), but their percentage profit margin per item is probably in single digits. For me that would be eye wateringly tight but I guess as long as you are getting enough sales it’s doable
Seller_YSVJTvJFHSin4
A large amount of our sales are in new books, though we are by no means a megaseller. There are three reasons for this:
(1) We are a publisher ourselves and so have quite a lot of control over the supply of our titles.
(2) We distribute new books for other (relatively small) publishers who have no real means of distribution.
(3) We buy some books from wholesalers in relatively modest quantities (it doesn’t have to be in enormous quantities and the margins we get on these books simply varies widely depending on the level of demand on Amazon at a given time - which is why we regularly use a repricer).
(1) and (2) don’t apply to most small booksellers on here, I am guessing. But a number of the larger sellers using Amazon are possibly doing (2), i.e. they are also distributors. The secret of (3) is sources of supply.
Seller_tkfpK1OIBO2c0
We make a 45-50% profit on new books (including graphic novels) by… NOT selling them on Amazon but rather in our brick and mortar store (or shop, as I prefer to call it).
We find attempting to sell new books via Amazon is pointless because (as others have mentioned) there are sellers who are able to sell them for cheaper than we are able to get them direct from the publishers.
Best of luck if you do decide to give it a go, though.
Seller_02vshHrVdfi8E
As selling remainder books has been mentioned it should be remembered that some of the wholesalers of those books already sell them on Amazon. Until they sell out you are unlikely to be able to compete with them. When they sell out the title might become scarce or have collapsed to 1p but a dealer is unlikely to know the dynamics of each title in order to assess which is more likely.
Graphic novels can be purchased from selected UK and US remainder wholesalers. But in order to sell at a close price to the RRP for anything decent.
Seller_JB8wPCk9zkyad
Hello,
A little story for you.
Last year, in an attempt to dilute a metric error, and get feedback, and generally try and ramp things up, I purchased a large quantity of a chart CD, set to be No1 and without doubt the biggest seller of the year. This was going to sell millions and did sell millions. Surely I would not have a problem selling it. I might take a financial hit, but at least it would be an investment in a healthy account, garnering feedback and maybe attracting customers.
I purchased wholesale at over £8 per unit.
When I came to sell it, Amazon themselves were selling for 8.99. They were being undercut by the same sellers with names blahblahblah-uk
This CD was selling high tens of thousands a week. Therefore, you would expect it was selling every minute of the day.
Pricing 8,7,6 and 5 pound mark, it sat there for hours. I NEVER got the buy box, which was always held by Amazon or FBA sellers. Buyers seemingly never even bothered exploring the Marketplace for a better price.
Every time I priced, the same sellers ( generally with names like blahblahblah-uk undercut me by 1p )
In a final F You, I priced one at pence plus the 1.26 delivery charge at 7 AM in the morning. It did not sell all day. I could not believe it. I checked my listing late in the evening and found I had been undercut bu two of the -uk guys.
At midnight it sold, and I had an email from the customer asking if I had another one.
I learnt a lot from the experience.
I had to offload them on the bay.
Over the years, I have looked at other sellers selling similar items to me.
They all have found a " niche " or a strategy which works for them.
But
Selling media, there is no such thing as customer loyalty on Amazon nor building a brand. I see however that it can be done on the other place.
Good luck.
