anyone sold on amazon?

[gardenmom5]

pretty self-explanatory.

 

I've got so many books (and DVDs) to sell, I thought this could be worthwhile.  I could take them to our local homeschool store, or half-price books and be done,  . . . 

any experience please . . . 

[BeachGal]

Years ago, I sold books and CDs. Creating a seller’s account was easy. No problems with buyers, either.

[gardenmom5]

1 hour ago, BeachGal said:

Years ago, I sold books and CDs. Creating a seller’s account was easy. No problems with buyers, either.

creating an individual account is not being easy.  it keeps wanting to set me up with a business account.  I did email them, and they did say after the account is set up- I can switch to an individual account and they'll refund me . . .  

Did you just sent stuff off to amazon to store and ship to buyers?   That's what I'm hoping to do.

[BeachGal]

It was pretty easy to set up and manage an account years ago but I was doing this over ten years ago, iirc. I’m guessing they’ve changed.

All sales and shipping were handled by me which was a hassle. Sending it all off to Amazon would have been much easier. That’s what I would do nowadays if I were selling.

[easypeasy]

I did! Years ago when it was EASY! Then they went and changed everything & made it so I couldn't sell from my personal account.

I called a few times and was told that I needed to convert my current account to a seller's account and then start another, private account. They said if I tried to do it the other way around, my personal account would be flagged for fraud and I couldn't re-open it. I tried to argue (my PRIME is set up on my private account, my purchase history, etc... but nope. Had to set up a new account for myself.)

😳

So, I donated it all instead. 😕 It became way too complicated & I was really afraid of doing something wrong and getting the account locked.

[katilac]

I've sold tons on Amazon, but I've always just sold and shipped it myself. You have to be ready to ship quickly (within 2 days) and you have to keep shipping supplies on hand. It's a big audience and it's nice to have them handle payment. 

Does your homeschool store consign the items for you? That would be very tempting. 

You might try  decluttr.com -  you use your phone to scan barcodes of books/dvds/video games, and it makes you an offer. Could be 12 cents, could be 12 dollars, could be 'we aren't taking that now.' If you don't want to accept their offer on a certain item, you can just click the x by it on your list. You have to pack it but they pay shipping and you just print the label and drop at a UPS point. It's not much harder than boxing it up and schlepping to the thrift store, and I feel more confident the books will actually be used. They also take tech, like used tablets, phones, consoles, but I've never tried that. If anyone wants to try them, using my referral link will get you an extra $5 on your order:  https://decluttr.mention-me.com/m/ol/ij9kb-7c888c6f10

[gardenmom5]

1 hour ago, katilac said:

I've sold tons on Amazon, but I've always just sold and shipped it myself. You have to be ready to ship quickly (within 2 days) and you have to keep shipping supplies on hand. It's a big audience and it's nice to have them handle payment. 

Does your homeschool store consign the items for you? That would be very tempting. 

You might try  decluttr.com -  you use your phone to scan barcodes of books/dvds/video games, and it makes you an offer. Could be 12 cents, could be 12 dollars, could be 'we aren't taking that now.' If you don't want to accept their offer on a certain item, you can just click the x by it on your list. You have to pack it but they pay shipping and you just print the label and drop at a UPS point. It's not much harder than boxing it up and schlepping to the thrift store, and I feel more confident the books will actually be used. They also take tech, like used tablets, phones, consoles, but I've never tried that. If anyone wants to try them, using my referral link will get you an extra $5 on your order:  https://decluttr.mention-me.com/m/ol/ij9kb-7c888c6f10

Yes - and I will send a bunch of stuff there, because a lot are homeschool supplies.  (but not everything.)  

I have a telescope to sell - still going for a good price on amazon - and since we kept the box I could conceivable sell it on amazon. I can also consign it at the homeschool store.  I don't feel a need to get top dollar - and I really don't want to deal with selling on ebay.

[saraha]

We were trying to sell on Amazon up until 2019, but their fees made it not worth it, we ended up losing money after fees were paid. It wasn't just poor planning on our part either, Amazon just decides things and you have to go along. Shipping to Amazon so that they fulfill is expensive and only works if you have a high ticket item listed for high dollar. I know there are people out there making it work, but it is a question of volume.

[TravelingChris]

I used to sell used books on Amazon.  Then they said I would have to get a tax id and set up a business and so I stopped.  It just wasn't worth the hassle- since I was not making any money on these books- I was simply trying to recoup some of the original costs.

[hjffkj]

I used to sell on Amazon years ago and then they started charging too much in fees to make it worth the hassle.  Right now I sell on facebook marketplace but do all the shipping myself.

[gardenmom5]

Thanks for everyone's input.  I was trying to set up an individual account - but it kept pushing me into a business account.  I contacted them, and they gave "suggestions" - which didn't work.  I'm not paying $40, and then waiting for it to be refunded by switching to an individual account afterwards.  It's just not worth the hassle.

and the dclttr site only gives pennies  (if they're even taking it), but you still have to box the books and take them to the post office/ups - not worth it.  I took a box of books to half price books . . . "we're not taking books right now" . . . 

the homeschool store only gives 25% of what the item sells for (40% - IF you spend it in their store), and it's not worth it to me to drive up there (traffic is unpleasant, and I rarely go that direction for other things.)

so - goodwill it is.

though I'm sending all my veggie tales dvds to 2dd. I'll throw some other stuff in their too.

[Miss Tick]

On 1/26/2021 at 12:19 AM, gardenmom5 said:

creating an individual account is not being easy.  it keeps wanting to set me up with a business account.  I did email them, and they did say after the account is set up- I can switch to an individual account and they'll refund me . . .  

 

This is exactly what happened to me. I got it straightened out, but it was a hassle, and then pricing and figuring shipping on top of actually doing the shipping.... I closed my store and moved my box into the donate pile.

[katilac]

On 1/27/2021 at 9:46 AM, gardenmom5 said:

Thanks for everyone's input.  I was trying to set up an individual account - but it kept pushing me into a business account.  I contacted them, and they gave "suggestions" - which didn't work.  I'm not paying $40, and then waiting for it to be refunded by switching to an individual account afterwards.  It's just not worth the hassle.

and the dclttr site only gives pennies  (if they're even taking it), but you still have to box the books and take them to the post office/ups - not worth it.  I took a box of books to half price books . . . "we're not taking books right now" . . . 

the homeschool store only gives 25% of what the item sells for (40% - IF you spend it in their store), and it's not worth it to me to drive up there (traffic is unpleasant, and I rarely go that direction for other things.)

so - goodwill it is.

though I'm sending all my veggie tales dvds to 2dd. I'll throw some other stuff in their too.

Donating can be fun, because you get rid of a bunch at once! 

Apparently it's a good thing that I set up my Amazon selling account many years ago! To make you feel even better about not doing it: you need to be a "qualified seller" in order to sell a lot of things like telescopes, cameras, tech-related stuff. So, you could not even set up your account and immediately list items like that. Some things you get approved to sell after a certain amount of time/successful sales, other things always seem to be restricted. 

[gardenmom5]

1 hour ago, katilac said:

Donating can be fun, because you get rid of a bunch at once! 

Apparently it's a good thing that I set up my Amazon selling account many years ago! To make you feel even better about not doing it: you need to be a "qualified seller" in order to sell a lot of things like telescopes, cameras, tech-related stuff. So, you could not even set up your account and immediately list items like that. Some things you get approved to sell after a certain amount of time/successful sales, other things always seem to be restricted. 

I'm sending stuff to goodwill, and I'm doing some on my local "buy nothing" pages.  At least I can be more targeted. (and know it's not just going to get sold for someone else to make money off of.)

I currently have a bag of early elementary science books (magic school bus, + other stuff) for a new teacher.  I am hopeful those kids will enjoy reading about science during their own free -reading time.