Selling books on Amazon sucks

There must be a way that this would be a little more simpler I would think. I know of people who do sell there, and I have checked it out some, but never understood how it really works.

I actually ended up with loss the first time when I sold a book at Amazon. The shipping cost ate up the profit. So I talked to their customer service at 800 number. The man was helpful. He told me to add the main shipping cost to the price of the book. That is how, I would profit. I listened to him and from that time on I basically had no problem at Amazon. Even I wonder why some people sell books at 1 cent. I am quite interested to know the answer. There must be some kind of mission they have for charging such a low price.

Amazon only make a contribution towards shipping (which is charged to the customer and passed on to you, the seller). Often, the shipping will not amount to $3.99 (if the book is small and light) and this is how some sellers can make a profit by selling a book for 1 cent. When selling on Amazon, if you want to make a profit, it is important to take into account the shipping allowance AND the charges that Amazon make when the book is sold and to set your price accordingly. I sell on Amazon and aim to make a profit on the books I sell (in fact, I just about break even if I take time and packing costs into account). There are some books which it is not worth listing because of the dealers who list popular paperbacks at 1 cent (meaning that the customer pays $4, of course). To compete with those dealers one would need to have a Pro account and a high volume of sales. If you are just selling the occasional thing, like a textbook, you would probably do better (or as well) taking it to a second-hand store that deals in textbooks or selling it through the online service which many colleges and universities provide. You have to think that, whatever you get for the book, it is more than you would have got by giving it away or throwing it in the trash!

I sell on Amazon in the UK and have had the same problem with some sales especially with books which cost more than the postae allowance that they give you and they take quite a hefty fee out of it as well. So now, I weigh things first and then calculate how much I can make and won't list anything if I can make at least some profit on it. I've noticed people selling books, CD's and DVD's for a penny on the UK site, they must make a loss on those sales, perhaps some people do it to help built their feedback but at that rate, you might as well try eBay but even they've limited how much postage you can charge on some items. In the UK, you can get a Certificate of Posting for free which insures the book up to £32, it might be more now, I don't know if they have something like that in the States.

That really is upsetting. Books are supposed to earn more because you gave your best. Only the Amazon earns to the expense of the writers Anyway what book did you sell? How long did you write It?

Hmm, So, you are complaining about the shipping fee gonna eat you up alive if you keep on doing selling books through amazon as a business. I had noticed that most of the cost is coming from shipping fees, that are the knockers, and we just hope to get a huge quantity to send to one place. That is how you gonna save money through shipping.

I sell on Amazon and do very well when I'm active enough. Most books won't cost anywhere near what you paid for shipping and most of the time I make money on the shipping allowance Amazon gives. That's how people can sell books for a penny. Also you don't have to buy the envelope to send a book in. I've wrapped them in brown paper and I've reused gently used shipping envelopes so that part was free or almost so. Be sure to send it media mail, which will give you a better rate. You have to know where to cut your costs. I stay away from hard back books unless they're in high demand and I can get a good price for them because the shipping costs more.

That's why most of my friends don't recommend it. I have been told that if I want to sell my books, it's just best to go to a place that buys, trades and sells books, and I know that there are a few of those places around. I know that there are quite a few of them where I live.

Something like that happened to me on ebay. I sold something and turns out the postage was much higher then I anticipated so I lost my shirt on it! I haven't tried anything else as I felt like I really got burned. I don't know how they can sell things for one cent!

if that is the case then you need to firts weight the book and find out how much the exact shipping will cost and then add the difference to the price of the book or call it a handling charge. I have never used Amazon to sell anything so not too sure how their calculator works. However, if say you want to sell your book for $5.99 and shipping is set at $3.99 but it is actually $7.99 then simply sell the book for $9.99 and that will include the extra cost of the shipping you need.

This is very interesting. I just finished publishing my first book, "Realmwalkers" with Createspace and they have put my book on Amazon to sell. I don't have to worry about shipping fees or anything and I get paid $5 royalty if Amazon sells my book. So I am lucky in this case with Amazon. I may not make a big profit but I am happy that I don't have to worry about shipping or mailing anything from there. As for selling books from home, however, to keep from losing money, I look around to stores like Big Lots and buy padded envelopes at 2 for $1.20. So it pays to shop around. Then I use USPS.com and print out shipping/postage labels which are discounted when you print them at home. You must have a credit card to do this though. And make sure you mail your books via MEDIA MAIL if it qualifies as such. There are some books that the post office will not let you send via media mail. My book, Realmwalkers, is less than 2 lbs. So it only costs me about $4 to mail (envelope included). I hope this helps. =)

I'm not sure about selling stuffs on amazon. IF u are unhappy with the way things are happening in amazon, why not try eBay? That would be a better alternative choice for u right? Some people sells not because of profit. They just want to get rid of stuffs they don't want anymore at a faster rate. If i have a lot of garbage at home, i don't mind selling them at such low cost as well.

when u want to sell books on amazon..don't expect to get a profit from it. many people sell just to get rid of their book. i have had the same problem, i simply cannot compete with those who are selling at $0.01. i simply don't know how they do it. it isn't one person selling it at 1 cent, there are ten other people selling it at one cent. not only that, you need to use proper packaging from amazon..the boxes, labels..stuff like that. very annoying.