Selling books - shipping costs
New seller here! I thought I would make an account to sell a bunch of old books I want to get rid of. My first sale just happened and I learned the shipping was as much as the book. So I’m now in the negative with the amount Amazon takes. Any advice or is this just not a way to make money?
13 replies
Seller_atnk8fSvVuoeY
Are you offering free shipping? If so you would need to increase the selling price to cover your costs. If not, the $3.99 shipping charged to the buyer covers media mail postage unless it is a heavier book.
Seller_Hi7wbO2Kbo6bl
Advice: don’t list any books for less that somewhere around $10. Set a higher threshold for heavier books.
Use Media Mail for shipping. If not offered by Amazon for that shipment, just buy it elsewhere (over the counter, PirateShip, PayPal, etc)
Seller_kNAboD6kRgVt7
Research ALL of the fees and costs associated with each sale. Depending how much you wish to profit, you may find any book less than $15-$20 will net you next to nothing. To avoid selling any more at a loss, consider putting your account on vacation mode until such research has been done.
Since you are a new seller, I would also suggest you peruse this forum for threads regarding book selling. Check out rate of returns, reasons for returns, scams, listing on duplicate pages, etc. There is much to learn about selling here. You should also check out Amazon’s Seller University videos.
Best of luck to you.
