Selling used books on eBay

[exprmntl]

Hey everyone,

I've just started on eBay and I chose what seemed to be the easiest path for me to sell. Which is books. Turns out that heaps of the books I'm listing aren't being sold by anyone else on eBay. After some lovely you tubing, it seems as if I've taken the wrong approach to eBay and I'm just listing heaps of products with no demand. Problem being that I have just bought hundreds of random used books that are taking up heaps of room at my place.

So my questions are:

Have I taken the wrong approach to eBay?

How can I figure out which of my books will sell so I don't waste time making dud listings?

What approach could I take to realign my store and become successful? (I'm quite ambitious and would want to start this asap)

On top of all of this, I have started buying items on Lloyds auctions in my country, and I've also ordered some products from china to sell. My biggest two issues to figure out at the moment is Sourcing and shipping.

[exprmntl]

Thanks for your reply and everyone's reply. 

I'm currently going through all of the books I have not yet listed and doing some research. It looks to me like roughly 1 in 8 are worth listing. The reason my costs are a little higher per book is that I still haven't figured out how to calculate accurate postage prices. I'll probably go through and change heaps of prices once I've looked into proper postage prices. 

And again, thanks!

[countessalmirena]

@sugar249,

I said “rubbish stuff” and I meant “rubbish stuff”. (As in, I wasn’t being pejorative towards all Chinese-made goods and classing them all as rubbish.) China can manufacture superlatively - and no one can deny that, but the garbage quality stuff that’s made of cheapest possible raw materials really is shoddy; it isn’t made to any high standard whatsoever. I draw a distinction between items designed by a good brand manufactured in China, and an unbranded churn-it-out-from-a-cough-and-spittle item.

[gutterpunkz05]

Research - Trial & Error - Hard work - A bit of luck - More work.

To me your prices seem high, I  know postage costs, Try bundling some of your listings, other sales options.

Be careful with auction houses, prices often driven up well over market and retail value.

[brickworksmarket]

Always best to sell brand name popular products. The faster it sells the more I am willing to outlay for the item the less space I need to store it. I can't think of many items that are not already for sale on ebay that would have a good sell through rate but I do now keep to a certain product type and try not to deviate.

Maybe you mean no one else sells that brand but then you have the problem that not as many will be searching for them.

[padi*0409]

I rarely buy books on eBay, but today I had to - puppy's a bookworm......................

But I searched "price and postage lowest" as a start point, then weeded the sellers out by feedback. I would imagine that is a fairly common way to do it.

If your prices are higher than the competition then you aren't going to be in the race for me.

[brickworksmarket]

You will need to learn quick when it comes to posting books due to the weight. Many use padded mailers which allow up to 5kg and have 4 sizes.

Many bigger sellers will also be using mypost business and paying a lot less postage so try and avoid low cost books which will be hard to compete .

[davewil1964]

I would also seriously reconsider offering click and collect. Anecdotally it is fraught. Dealing with a carrier and a buyer can cause enough issues without adding another layer of potential issues.

Pick a carrier. I strongly recommend Australia Post. Look into MyPost Business. It might not necessarily be cheaper than eBay labels, but it won't be more expensive. $50 per month in postage will get you modest discounts.

I use flat rate postage and bulk edit when AP up the cost. Only takes a few minutes for 2k items, so not a biggie for you.

Don't chuck the books you have already bought - it might take a few years but they will probably sell. Better than burning your purchase money as it costs nothing to list.

If a few hundred books (less than my personal library) are cluttering up your place maybe look at selling smaller things.

[davewil1964]

Your third issue could well be Managed Payments. Have you signed up and been verified?

[sugar249]

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@brickworksmarket wrote:

Always best to sell brand name popular products. The faster it sells the more I am willing to outlay for the item the less space I need to store it. I can't think of many items that are not already for sale on ebay that would have a good sell through rate but I do now keep to a certain product type and try not to deviate.

Maybe you mean no one else sells that brand but then you have the problem that not as many will be searching for them.

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No I dont mean no one else sells that brand,  the secret is go for unique products.   

If all all just sold the same brand than its going to be a race to the bottom on price.    Go for items which people want.   Research will tell you the answers, and it definitely isnt brand name alone.

[*sons_n_daughters*]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

I would also seriously reconsider offering click and collect. Anecdotally it is fraught. Dealing with a carrier and a buyer can cause enough issues without adding another layer of potential issues.

Pick a carrier. I strongly recommend Australia Post. Look into MyPost Business. It might not necessarily be cheaper than eBay labels, but it won't be more expensive. $50 per month in postage will get you modest discounts.

I use flat rate postage and bulk edit when AP up the cost. Only takes a few minutes for 2k items, so not a biggie for you.

Don't chuck the books you have already bought - it might take a few years but they will probably sell. Better than burning your purchase money as it costs nothing to list.

If a few hundred books (less than my personal library) are cluttering up your place maybe look at selling smaller things.

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@davewil1964 wrote:

I would also seriously reconsider offering click and collect. Anecdotally it is fraught. Dealing with a carrier and a buyer can cause enough issues without adding another layer of potential issues.

Pick a carrier. I strongly recommend Australia Post. Look into MyPost Business. It might not necessarily be cheaper than eBay labels, but it won't be more expensive. $50 per month in postage will get you modest discounts.

I use flat rate postage and bulk edit when AP up the cost. Only takes a few minutes for 2k items, so not a biggie for you.

Don't chuck the books you have already bought - it might take a few years but they will probably sell. Better than burning your purchase money as it costs nothing to list.

If a few hundred books (less than my personal library) are cluttering up your place maybe look at selling smaller things.

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OP. listen to Dave. He knows what he's talking about when it comes to used books. I doubt there would be many here who know about books like Dave does. I won't say "book guru", but you should get the idea. Don't look at this ID. This is a supplementary account. He has thousands and thousands of listings over multiple accounts, with a good sell through rate.