Advice please - selling stuff online

[Sakrysta]

For those of you who have experience selling stuff online, could you offer some tips? I've never done it before, but I'm needing to get rid of some books and have more than enough trade credit to last me a while at my local used bookstores. And I just want to try my hand at it, to see how it works.

Is eBay a good idea anymore? I know for a while there it was THE place to sell stuff online. But with wanting to sell books, would I be better off with Amazon? Or even B&N? What are the pros & cons? Pitfalls? What did you do that now you regret? What have you tried that really worked for you?

I would love some advice!

 

[Gary Mitchell]

I haven't sold any myself, but I bookmarked this the other day just in case:
http://www.squidoo.com/selling-books-on-amazon

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I have traded some stuff in on Amazon, but that's it. They make it easy to do - you just tell them what you're going to send back, and they give you a prepaid label. All you need is a box. Once they receive the stuff, you get credit.

 

[Holdfast]

All the standard online options for selling will nickel & dime you to death if you're a casual low-volume seller. Not worth the time for the minute return you'll get. If you have high-value items, new items or have large volumes, eBay is still OK. Still, if you're insistent, for books, use Amazon.

Otherwise, you're better off finding a niche but busy website for your subject matter with a free buying & selling forum on it, or even easier, simply donating stuff to an approved organisation and then claiming the tax deduction.

 

[Lindley]

I've sold some tires on Craigslist. Worked okay.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I've sold some tires on Craigslist. Worked okay.

I did too. Has to be a local buyer though, someone you can meet with. No other way I would trust that process.

Ebay & Amazon have seller & buyer protection & dispute processes.

 

[Starbreaker]

It's hard to sell books on Amazon. You probably won't make anything unless you're a high volume seller. Most any book older than a couple of years will sell for a penny plus shipping.

 

[backstept]

watch out for shipping costs . . . I didn't check beforehand when I sold a large item on ebay and I lost money on it

 

[Sean Aaron]

I'll second everything here. I don't bother with eBay unless I'm getting at least five quid for the item. Amazon is good because there's no bidding aspect, but you might have to wait months for someone to bite and unless your item is better than whatever's there it's only likely to sell if it's the cheapest one being offered.

Stuff like books and DVDs I just give away. Unless it's rare I really wouldn't bother trying to sell them.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I sometimes do trade-ins on Amazon because I buy stuff *from* them and I can always use the store credit.

 

[Sakrysta]

Trade-ins - that's something I wasn't aware of before. How does that work?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If Amazon accepts a trade for an item, they'll have a "Trade in this item for an Amazon gift card" in that item's listing. You tell them you want to trade in that item (you don't have to have bought it from them originally; all that matters is you have it, preferably in original packaging), then they give you a label to put on a box. You ship the thing back to them, and as soon as they receive it and determine it's in good condition, they give you a gift card balance.