Monday, September 8, 2008

Selling Books, CDs and DVDs on Amazon and Half.com

It is only the 8th of the month and already I have already done better sales on Amazon and Half.com in these eight days than I did the entire month of August. Why?

Honestly I don't know, but I can add this - in my day to day job I work with an author. He mentioned last week that August is traditionally the slowest month for book selling. Maybe it has to do with people having already bought their summer beach reading back in June? Then in September we have folks going back to school, so they may be preconditioned to buying books. So maybe that is why August is a dead zone. It is certainly very interesting!

Even though I have been trying to keep my purchasing down to a minimum, I recently bought a book on Amazon about book selling: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site. My selling experience so far has been in selling books, cds, and dvds that were either from my own collection or ones that have been given to me by friends. It was simply a way of getting a little extra cash - not unlike having them at a garage sale. I don't know that I want this to be a continual income stream or not, but I find the prospect intriguing. I have always had a pipe dream to own my own bookstore!

Anyway what I thought what I would do is do some research. After all - I can always resell this book back on Amazon when I am done, right?!? (I will make sure to write a review of it and let you know if I actually find it helpful or not once I am done.) I know people do find my blog specifically looking up information on personal experiences with selling media online and so I try to write about when I can.

I will say this, Amazon charges fairly high commissions. My average commission on an Amazon sale is $2.75. My average Half.com commission fee is $.39. So why list with Amazon? Because 9 out of 10 of my sales happen through Amazon. So, what can I do? I keep listing at both.



Other Posts About Online Selling:

Books Selling eBay vs Half vs Amazon

Setting Up Selling Online with Amazon and eBay

Garage Sale vs eBay - What is the Best Way to Sell Your Junk?


EDIT: Looking for more information on online book selling? I am compiling all my articles about my experiences in one place. Check them out at The Online Bookseller.




Photo by Victory of the People

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's weird. I actually had a great month in August on Half.com... but I was selling college text books, so I figured that was why. Anyways, that's great news!

Dawn said...

College text books - yep, that would do it! Are they your own textbooks or are you reselling them from somewhere else?

Anonymous said...

I just love books but I have really cut down on my spending and rarely buy them now. I have sold a lot of them but I need to sell even more.

Dawn said...

Louise - I am the SAME way. I am not selling any of my favorites, just ones that I won't read again. Plus some dear friends have given me books to sell and then there was the box of FREE books I found. (Those are selling like hotcakes.) I have a goal not to spend much money on books - I've plenty to re-read.