How to Sell a Book on Amazon (Tips and Steps to Follow)
We all have that scruffy old book and looking for a way to make quick bucks with it. No need to worry; this post would be dealing wholly with how to sell books on Amazon. Amazon is one platform that is said to offer all kinds of personal and professional account levels, which all depends on how many of the books you plan to sell on Amazon.
Amazon also provides various options to ship directly to customers via the Amazon fulfillment center.
That said, here’re some of the ways you can sell that old book or textbook on Amazon.
How to Sell book back to Amazon?
To sell a book on Amazon, you’ll need to decide on three major stuff;
- Sourcing of inventory
- Fulfillment method (FBA or FBM)
- The kind of seller you wish to be (that is, either a professional or personal seller)
Once you’re done making the decision, you can go ahead to list your books right on Amazon. And wait for a sale!
Breaking it down a little;
How to fulfill orders?
There are two major procedures in fulfilling orders on Amazon: FBM or FBA.
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Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM)
When on sale, you pick, pack, and ship the book yourself by applying any carrier of your choice. FBM sellers are also known for storing their type of inventory.
So, when you tend to calculate your costs, remember to add in storage fees if perhaps you’re not storing the books at home. Don’t forget to apply shipping and handling costs and the period it takes to pack and ship orders.
FBM is used;
- When you apply for a few orders
- Having large enough operation that costs to ship orders are minimal than Amazon’s
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
When a given sale is made on Amazon, Amazon proceeds to pick, pack and ship the book on your behalf. Amazon is also said to store your inventory for you and take care of all customer service types.
Instead of handling all necessary fees or costs, all you need to do is pay Amazon an FBA fee to cover all the costs.
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FBA is used;
- When you have lots of orders to fulfill, and the operation isn’t big enough
How to create an Amazon Seller Account?
Suppose you wish to know how to sell back a book on Amazon. You need to create an Amazon seller account. And here’s just how;
- Log into your Amazon account, or you can as well sign up, especially if you don’t have one.
- Visit Amazon’s selling guide page, scroll to the ‘How to register section, and select either ‘Sell as an individual’ or ‘Sell like a professional.’
- Select the country you’ll be managing your virtual shop, and when the dropdown shows, proceed to identify the type of seller you wish to be before you do click ‘Agree and continue.”
- Select the enter details on your citizenship country, birth country, proof of identity, phone number, etc.
- Next up, Amazon will send a one-time pin to the phone number you offered.
- Please enter it in the pop window.
- After clicking ‘I Understand’ to confirm you’ve all the necessary banking information to open a seller account, you’ll need to provide all of your banking information.
- Check the terms and conditions box and select ‘Verify Bank Account.”
- On the next page, type in your credit card information, and choose the billing address.
- Now add your store name, UPCs (if you have any), and tell Amazon if you’re the manufacture or brand owner for all or some of the products.
- Confirm all of your account details and upload ID documents and bank statements before you submit them.
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In a few business days, about five or eight, you will receive a postcard with the code to verify your account before receiving an email from Amazon which confirms the process as complete.
What Kind of Books to Sell on Amazon?
Learning how to sell a book back to Amazon is pretty easy. Nonetheless, you don’t want to spend your time listing all kinds of books that no one wishes to purchase. This is the major reason we need to know the right type of books to sell on Amazon.
Here are some tricks;
- Check the book bestselling-rank—all Amazon products have its ‘Best Sellers Rank’ (BSR). The lower the merchandise BSR, it simply means it sells more on Amazon.
- It would help if you estimated the book’s likelihood to gain profits, and you can use these few tools; Keepa, Jungle Scout, Book Scanners, Jungle Scout Extension.
Listing your book on Amazon
Once you’re a registered seller on Amazon, you can proceed to list your book. The simplest way is to go to the actual product page for the book you want to list. Yes, you can list your books from the Amazon page itself rather than making an entirely new listing. Then once you list your book, it shows on the same page.
To access the product listing page;
- Type in the book’s international standard book number (ISBN)—which is simply the book’s registration code.
You can find the ISBN on the barcode or somewhere inside the book’s jacket, mostly found on the back cover.
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That done, and once you’re on the product listing page, you’ll find a gray button that says ‘Sell on Amazon‘, which is just below the Buy Box. Then after seeing an image of the book on the screen. You move over to type in more details.
Enter the following information;
- Price: It is advised that you sell the book for the lowest price possible unless there is a large difference between the prices on varying conditions of the book.
- Fulfillment Channel: FBA or FBM
- Condition: There are five conditions for Amazon books, which are; Like new, New, Good, Acceptable, or Good.
- SKU: This signifies your own special or personal code for the book. And this can be whatever you wish it to be; it’s also best if it’s something that will help you remember it. If you decide to leave it with nothing, you need not worry because Amazon would generate one for you.
- Quantity: If you have more than one copy of the said book, all you need to do is enter the quantity when it comes to this section. Otherwise, it defaults to one unit.
And once you’re done with both information, then you’ll get one of two things;
1. Selected to sell the book FBA:
Then you have to prepare the book to ship to Amazon. Mostly, it does take 1-2 weeks for your inventory to arrive at the destination fulfillment center. And it will take Amazon’s staff another three days or even a week to unload all inventory and share it with their network.
2. Selected to sell the book FBM:
Then your listing for the book will appear on the book’s product listing page in fifteen minutes or more. All you need to do at this juncture is wait for a sale.
Conclusion
Well, when done with all the nitty-gritty procedures on how to sell back a book on Amazon. You need to know Amazon offers to store and send your product for you once they’re sold. They’ll also provide customer service for your items and all necessities. This is termed ‘Fulfillment by Amazon.”
All items sold in this way are eligible for Amazon Prime free two-day shipping, which attracts more clients to your goods. For all types of shipping costs, you will pay Amazon based on the weight of the item. And this fee covers picking up your order, packing it all up when it’s sold, shipping to the customer, customer service, and dealing with all types of product returns.