are books just terrible sellers or what?

[jamesgriffindubbo]

nobody wants books ive found. theyre bulky junk that are impossible to get rid of, they have NEGATIVE VALUE most of th etime because there's an associated cost with disposing of them.

i stuggle to sell them anywhere, and even worse because of the way AusPost calculates shipping (width of item) the minimum shipping fee on them, even small books like a pocket dictionary is normally about $9.00, making them even more impossible to get rid of. ive had buyers try to scab a four book bundle off me for $1 and i took it because i knew nobody else would buy them anyway.

NEVER buying a book again becausae when or if you ever wanna re-sell it you know you wont be able to get rid of it without dumping it in a charity bin somewhere (where  it'll just be thrown in a regular bin after most likely).

[instylecollectables]

Look the bottom line is that if you're serious about selling on ebay and making some extra money then you need to improvise and get your hands on items that buyers actually want to buy.

Established sellers be it book sellers or nic naks sellers have been in it for the long haul thus making it a success.

You might as well have a garage sale if your heart's not really in it.

Go check out your local markets or garage sales you might be surprised at what you find.

Take the time to stock up on items and sell further down the track.

Many sellers have collected for many many years and built up enough stock of items to keep them selling until retirement.

Research and a little patience goes a long way selling on ebay.

[davewil1964]

If you consider it junk, why are you trying (poorly imo) to sell it? And why wouldn't potential buyers also consider it junk? After all, your prices certainly show you don't value these 5 books.

As said by others, you need to do some research, spend some time taking decent pics, providing some accurate descriptions and conditions.

If you have a computer, you only need to do it once per item, so an investment of 10 minutes might well be rewarded.

If you're simply whinging, why post in the first place?

[jamesgriffindubbo]

im going to take on your advice just to prove you completely wrong. if people actually wanted this **bleep** they'd buy it regardless of any of the things you're saying. ive sold **bleep** with much less effort and lower quality sales pages than the books ive currently got listed on my account, and for an actual good price as well. 

books are competely **bleep** as a category bc of the way shipping is calculated australia post.

[davewil1964]

I'm sure you'll come back in 12 months, minimum, and update us. Or less, if they sell. From my experience, except on this account where they only get listed for 4 months, 12 months is a reasonable sell-through limit.

[jamesgriffindubbo]

just as an example, i recently sold a generic copy of chairman mao's little red book for a decent price. how you ask?

yeah -- its right in the name of the book -- LITTLE red book, it fit through australia post's arbitrary b.s greased up mickey hole mail slot, so the shipping was under $5. someone actually bought it because they didnt have to shell out $10 on shipping plus whatever i was charging to make a profit.

its the same every time. once shipping hits above the too high mark, at least for something dopey like a book, the phone stops ringing and the customers stop bidding.

[jamesgriffindubbo]

EVERY piece of **bleep** cd i stick up on the site sells, and doesnt just sells they sel  FAST. for good prices too, prices i didnt even get for cds 10 years ago.

again, that little plastic cd case slides right n easy through that aus post circumscribed size mail slot, $2.00 shipping for that thank you very much

if these cds cost $10 or more to ship, no one would buy em

youre dreaming

[davewil1964]

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@jamesgriffindubbo wrote:

im going to take on your advice just to prove you completely wrong. if people actually wanted this **bleep** they'd buy it regardless of any of the things you're saying. ive sold **bleep** with much less effort and lower quality sales pages than the books ive currently got listed on my account, and for an actual good price as well. 

books are competely f---kd as a category bc of the way shipping is calculated by f_hed australia post.

---

I note that at least one of your books, from the picture, would go as a large letter. That's a max of $5.95 for tracked postage. so an instant $3.00 extra profit. If you don't add freebies. Or feel the need for tracking, in which case the profit would be more. As long as your change the price and postage method - buyers really don't like being charged for parcels if you send as a letter.

I always explicitly state the dimensions of any book I'm listing. That way I know, post-sale from the link in the eBay notification, what postage will be and can prepare postage method while I dig the book out. I'm down to less than 3,000, so it gets easier to find them, but my back slows down my finding them.

[davewil1964]

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@jamesgriffindubbo wrote:

EVERY piece of **bleep** cd i stick up on the site sells, and doesnt just sells they sel  FAST. for good prices too, prices i didnt even get for cds 10 years ago.

again, that little plastic cd case slides right n easy through that aus post circumscribed size mail slot, $2.00 shipping for that thank you very much

if these cds cost $10 or more to ship, no one would buy em

youre dreaming

---

You seem to be stuck in the past.

$2 postage was superseded by $2.20 a couple of years ago.

You seem to want to argue. Let me remind you that YOU were the one asking the question, the vast majority of responders have tried to help you, you have decided that we know nothing about selling books, you have revealed that YOU know nothing about selling books.

Gotta go, I have books to pick, pack and get ready to post tomorrow morning.

[danieh_6]

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@jamesgriffindubbo wrote:

the advice has mostly been "raise your prices, that will somehow make people buy your junk"

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No the advice has always been learn how to market your items better, Regardless of what item if you market it right it will sell. Photos is a large one, write a good description, Put correct tags and as much information as possible and use appropriate postage methods to save yourself money.

[danieh_6]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

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@jamesgriffindubbo wrote:

EVERY piece of **bleep** cd i stick up on the site sells, and doesnt just sells they sel  FAST. for good prices too, prices i didnt even get for cds 10 years ago.

again, that little plastic cd case slides right n easy through that aus post circumscribed size mail slot, $2.00 shipping for that thank you very much

if these cds cost $10 or more to ship, no one would buy em

youre dreaming

---

You seem to be stuck in the past.

$2 postage was superseded by $2.20 a couple of years ago.

You seem to want to argue. Let me remind you that YOU were the one asking the question, the vast majority of responders have tried to help you, you have decided that we know nothing about selling books, you have revealed that YOU know nothing about selling books.

Gotta go, I have books to pick, pack and get ready to post tomorrow morning.

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*Start of 2020 it was changed, not so long ago only about a year ago 🙂