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The Virtual Marketplace: Selling Your Books

Used textbooks, fictional books you have read, games that you no longer use and a wide range of other items that take up space can be sold. Most people think about Ebay when it comes to online sales, but if it is sold on Amazon, you can sell your items there as well. Amazon has the Amazon Marketplace, where individuals and businesses sell their items at a fixed price. Amazon sets the shipping costs as well. Once the item is sold, ship it and your funds will be deposited into your bank account. So, the first step is to find out if your item is on Amazon. Make sure you have the correct exact edition or ISBN number.

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Then look on the right side, down below and find the text  "Have one to sell? and the button to "Sell on Amazon".  You will need to setup an account, just follow the steps.  They will ask for your bank account information so the funds can be directly deposited into your account.

Once the account is set, you can submit the item information to Amazon.  You will need to set the price. It works best to be competitive. The lower the price, the faster it will, most likely sell  If the lowest price is 'fair' condition and I have an item 'like new', I feel a little more confident in asking a higher price. Enter the quantity and then review the shipping.

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Amazon sets the price on shipping based on the item category, take this into consideration for heavier items. For example, books have a flat rate of $3.99 shipping credit. Shipping Media Mail makes this quite reasonable.  If the book fits into a USPS flat rate envelope, I will often offer my college textbooks with expedited shipping (2-6 days) $6.99 shipping credit. I can ship the book for $4.95 using Priority Mail and I always include tracking.

Amazon will send you an email once the item sells. You then need to ship it promptly (I suggest the same or next day for the best reviews) and package the item carefully.

The information to ship and print the packing slip can be found in your seller account. Click on your account at the top right side of Amazon's home page.  Then select your "Seller Account" on the right side under "Other Accounts". 

This is considered "a business" so you may have to deal with returns and refunds if the recipient isn't satisfied, so be careful of your descriptions and shipping.



 That's it! Check back to your seller account to review your inventory and pricing.  Feel free to post any questions on this of anything I might have missed.

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