I discovered the Marketplace option on amazon.co.uk purely by accident when searching for a book. It is a really great idea, especially around this time of year, i.e Christmas, not only for you to pick up cheaper presents, but also to raise that little extra capital yourself by selling your old books/cds/videos.
If, like me, you are unable to work, you may find paying the mortgage hard, and well, we all could do with a little extra cash now & again. Plus, I'm sure we all could do with a little extra shelf space too.
So, how does it work? Really easy, all you do is register on site as a seller (follow the links), enter your account details - bank acct, email, address etc., and you are ready to list your items.
Listing items. Again, easily done, just search for the product, & when you have found it, click on that product, and then
to the right of the screen, you'll see a little icon saying "Got One to Sell?". Click on this & you are away. To list an item, you have to choose firstly, condition of the item from the drop down window, ranging from New, to Used - slightly damaged. Then you can add your own condition comment, e.g "Some scratches on CD cover" "Spine a little damaged" or "Mint. Still in wrapper" for example.
Prices Then, it's name your price. Amazon will give you a hint at the sort of price to ask based on what condition you have the item listed. They will take a small commission on the sale,as they are acting as both an agent & advertiser in effect. Lastly, you can choose your postage option. Amazon sets it's fees for each product, independent of size or weight, so a huge hardback book will get the same postage as a small paperback, for example. The postage is also paid to you. UK example is Books £3.32, CDs £1.00, Video £1.50, DVD £1.10.
Postage rates also depend on where you are willing to despatch to, with 4 options.. Uk only (see above) European US Rest of the World. Each have their own rates which are described in detail on line.
Selling tips. I am aware, before someone says that you can also sell Video games, Electronics, software & toys. But, my experiences do not include these products (or DVDs for that case), so I feel unable to comment on them.
What I've found. I've tried to sell books, videos & cds. CDs sell by far the best, I reckon I've listed 30 and already sold 20 or more of them. It doesn't seem to matter about the obscurity too much, I've sold ones I never thought I would (Kim Fowley, Sparks, Laibach, Sebadoh, The Higsons, Bill Drummond). Examples of what you can expect to get (UK sales) Cd listed at £5.00 Amazon commission = -£1.50 Postage credit = +£1.00 Net payment to you = £4.50 Listed at £7.00, net payment = £6.20 Listed at £10.00, net = £8.75
Books. Don't sell too well. I've found my old Maths text books sold, but the beautiful hardback cricket books haven't, and neither have the recent paperbacks - which you often find have many lisitings already! The plus point is with the high postage credit, your net payments are higher than your listing price. e.g, listed at £3.00, net = £5.12 listed at £3.50, net = £5.54 listed at £5.00, net = £6.82 listed at £10.00, net = £12.77
Videos Sell reasonably well. I've sold my older ones more easily (e.g Three Amigos, Porkys 2, 9 1/2 weeks, Easy Rider) But more modern ones again you find have multiple listings & are difficult to sell (e.g South Park, Killing Zoe, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Bottom Fluff) With postage commission, net payments will be slightly more or less than listing price. dependently due to commission e.g Listed = £1.50, net= £2.02 Listed = £3.00, net= £3.30 Listed = £3.50. net= £3.72 Listed = £10, net = £9.25
Postage. The postage details are layed out thoroughly in the instructions you'll find online, which I recommend to print out as a handy reminder. When you have a sale, Amazon send you an email which has the following: 1) the address to send the item to of the buyer 2) the e-mail address of the buyer (it recommends to email the person when you have dispatched the item) 3) A dispatch label 4) A Packing Slip - details of the transaction to include in your parcel. Makes the transaction seem more professional in my mind.
There are a couple of other things to include. 1) write "Your Amazon.co.uk Marketplace Order" on the front of the package 2) write your own return address on the rear.
The only rule is to send the package within 2 working days.
Payments. Payment is sent direct to your registered bank account every 14 days. An email of confirmation will be sent to you by Amazon.
Final comments. I really like this feature on Amazon. I have sold items a plenty, and recently have bought a first item through Marketplace. You'll find people like myself just selling items, plus professional sellers & companies. Although rather like Ebay, in a way I seem to trust this company a little more. In the past I have bought stuff from Ebay to find it was a pirate copy, or not exactly what I was after. You can comment on & rate buyers/sellers (again like Ebay), so that too is something to bare in mind, and keep an eye open for.
Yes, on the whole, I fully recommend this. And if you feel so inclined, I still have items for sale on there you can buy! (Ouch!, cheeky sales pitch!)
On the down side, I have just thought, if you can't find the item in the search, you will be unable to list it for sale. Amazon will only sell what it already has listed. Luckily, the range of products & titles is pretty wide, I didn't find any CDs unlisted (including my own band!), videos were all there, and only a couple of older books were missing.
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Good review man very well written and some fab. interesting opinion(-:
Andy0 03.05.2003 11:40
Good op. Its true that books don't shift that well. I've listed loads of out-of-stock books, as well as popular books which haven't shifted. So, please check out my site *lol* Also, if you sell a lot of books, Amazon do a pro-merchant subsription that costs £25 per month but you dont get charged the 15% commission. Check it out here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/browse/-/help/909144/026-3341369-2882853
GR-Design 16.11.2002 16:15
I've found it quite a good way of making a bit of money on the side, £200 actually!
Advantages: Wide selection Of Products, Speedy Delivery, Better Prices Achieved Than Ebay For Selling Disadvantages: Charges For selling On Marketplace Are Expensive
criple 15.02.2003 (27.02.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Amazon.co.uk Marketplace
Advantages: one of the top 2 market places to sell you products Disadvantages: email correspondence / questions from buyers gives them access to you private email address
Nov 14th, 2002
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