Amazon.com book selling - a waste of money!

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

So, Focus Publishing's first book, Seasons of the Moon by Rabbi Sinclair who is a member on here, is finally listed on amazon.com. I really have to say that I don't feel it's worth it. The process of setting up your own merchant account for me was very confusing and it was not very clear up front that this would be something I would have to pay for as in a monthly fee. Not only does Amazon.com charge you $39.99 a month to list a new product with amazon.com, but they also charge 15% off of the price of what you're selling your item for. So, if I have one book that I sell for $25, I make $21.25 off of that book plus Amazon.com has preset shipping fees that you can charge your customer. Meaning if it costs me $25 to send a book to the UK, I am forced to charge $12.99 from Amazon.com to ship that book ANYWHERE overseas. They don't offer me any option whatsoever to put in my shipping fees.

So if I receive two orders this month from the UK, I make $42.50 plus $25.98 for shipping. My costs are $39.99 for the monthly fee and $50 for shipping. So I make $68.48, but I spend $89.99. Now I understand why people complained about the international shipping costs for books when ordering from my website - I'm actually charging people what it costs me. The only way to make money on there is by jacking up the price of your item. Unless you are selling books in a high volume - Amazon.com is a waste of money in my opinion.

[Toyon]

Don't think feebay is any better. The fascisti on feebay have decided that you cannot say that you take money orders. They have made it very difficult to set the time of the auction and they charge for things you haven't selected, unless you opt out. It isn't just monopolies that suck. Oligopolies are nearly as bad. What's the next emerging Il Duce oligopolist of enterprise? App1e computer.

[darr]

I sell new and used books through Amazon from time-to-time. I do not use a Merchant Account, just the usual Seller's Account which carries no fees unless you sell a book. I choose not to ship internationally so the normal $3.99 fee more than covers the usual $2.74 Medial Mail fee. I find it to be a good service, better than *bay for sure. I guess if you go to all the trouble of setting up a Merchant Account, it means you are leaning towards high volume sales? If so, your book would need to be in demand. Have Oprah put it on her list. ;)

Anyhow, here is a recent order I had through Amazon:

Item: Making Digital Negatives for Contact Printing (Book & Disk) [Spiral-bound]
Condition: New - New
Condition Note: Received as gift -- never read -- with sealed cd & color guide
Listing ID: 0410E5M98VK
SKU: DE-EX0O-IOQZ
Quantity: 1
Purchased on: 04/18/2009
Buyer's Price: $30.00
Shipping: $3.99
Amazon Commission: $-6.84
Your Earnings: $27.15

I received a total of $33.99 and had to pay Amazon $6.84 plus $2.74 shipping cost, my net was $24.41 which was better than having the book sitting in a box for 2+ years like it had been.

I respond to this post because in my situation (too many books), it works for me and is very convenient. A lot of photographers looking for rarer books should check the used sections on Amazon by title. I sell many books there and would not look to sell them on *bay or even on this forum as Amazon helps me establish a price and handles all the paperwork, etc. For me it works well.

My 2 cents.

Darr

[QT Luong]

As darr wrote, it's not too bad a system if you use a seller's account and you ship only to the US or sell only high-priced items.

My understanding is that you needed Advantage (the "merchant account") only because the book you wanted to list was not on amazon yet. Is that correct ? But why wasn't it there ? For instance Ray McSavaney's self-published book (hightly recommended, by the way) is listed on amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0963470701/), and knowing Ray, I am ready to make a big bet he didn't do anything.

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

As darr wrote, it's not too bad a system if you use a seller's account and you ship only to the US or sell only high-priced items.

My understanding is that you needed Advantage (the "merchant account") only because the book you wanted to list was not on amazon yet. Is that correct ? But why wasn't it there ? For instance Ray McSavaney's self-published book (hightly recommended, by the way) is listed on amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0963470701/), and knowing Ray, I am ready to make a big bet he didn't do anything.

I'm not sure I understand - how else would a book get listed if the publisher doesn't list it?

[QT Luong]

Amazon must have some mechanism to pick up book listings. If you research photobooks there, you'll see they have a lot of obscure titles, either self-published, or old and oop, for which the rights holder likely didn't do anything.

Another thought: once you've got your book listed, if you discontinue participation in Advantage (so as not to pay the monthly fee), does your listing disappear ? If not, it's a $40 one-time fee, which isn't bad.

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

Amazon must have some mechanism to pick up book listings. If you research photobooks there, you'll see they have a lot of obscure titles, either self-published, or old and oop, for which the rights holder likely didn't do anything.

Another thought: once you've got your book listed, if you discontinue participation in Advantage (so as not to pay the monthly fee), does your listing disappear ? If not, it's a $40 one-time fee, which isn't bad.

I don't think that's possible. In order for a book to sell and for you to get the money, there has to be an account linked to your bank account.

[John Whitley]

I don't think that's possible. In order for a book to sell and for you to get the money, there has to be an account linked to your bank account.

Yes, but it can be a vanilla no-monthy-fee Seller account, not a full Merchant account. I, like others here, list books for sale as a Marketplace Seller on a fairly regular basis. There is no monthly fee for this, but the books I sell are already listed. In short, I think that you're not using the right tool out of the Amazon toolbox for your needs. I agree with QT as well, your listing should stay where it is. FWIW, I regularly get search hits on Amazon for old defunct listings created by third-party sellers, sometimes duplicate listings for existing items.

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

Yes, but it can be a vanilla no-monthy-fee Seller account, not a full Merchant account. I, like others here, list books for sale as a Marketplace Seller on a fairly regular basis. There is no monthly fee for this, but the books I sell are already listed. In short, I think that you're not using the right tool out of the Amazon toolbox for your needs. I agree with QT as well, your listing should stay where it is. FWIW, I regularly get search hits on Amazon for old defunct listings created by third-party sellers, sometimes duplicate listings for existing items.

How did you get the books listed in the first place?

[Wallace_Billingham]

I thought you selling the book on Amazon was one of the things that made this different from normal Vanity Publishing that you talked about on this thread

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32337&st=0

I maybe wrong but since Yaakov paid to have the book printed, how or are you out anything?

And I would also think if the added value of all that marketing you claim to do was really working you would sell more than a book or two each month being listed on the largest bookseller in the world, but maybe I am wrong

You always talk on this forum and others about how photographers spending big money to be in your magazine is such a good deal for them because of all the marketing and exposure they get. I guess that is not the case when it won't even sell a book with the largest book retailer on the planet

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

I thought you selling the book on Amazon was one of the things that made this different from normal Vanity Publishing that you talked about on this thread

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32337&st=0

I maybe wrong but since Yaakov paid to have the book printed, how or are you out anything?

I was giving a hypothetical situation. Seasons of the Moon does not sell for $25. I've only just put the book on amazon.com because Rabbi Sinclair asked me to.


And I would also think if the added value of all that marketing you claim to do was really working you would sell more than a book or two each month being listed on the largest bookseller in the world, but maybe I am wrong.

If amazon.com was the only place we were doing marketing for this book, we would be out one or two books most likely. However; there are several other locations where we are marketing this book that have helped us sell several dozen books already.

[Michael_4514]

I'm not sure I understand - how else would a book get listed if the publisher doesn't list it?

You're comparing apples and oranges. Amazon sells books like any other bookstore. It gets them from distributors and sells them to the public. Amazon itself lists those books, because it carries them for sale.

Since your book isn't carried by a distributor that Amazon does business with, you set yourself up as a merchant. You can sell books, or you could sell beanbags. Amazon couldn't care less. It's like your store within Amazon's big store. Amazon isn't carrying your product, it's just letting you borrow its web site and billing infrastructure, for a fee of course.

[Wallace_Billingham]

What I don't understand is why wouldn't you just get a 13 digit ISBN/Bookland number and have Amazon wharehouse, sell, and ship the books for you?

With an ISBN you could also get listed on Ingram and sell to and through retail brick and mortar stores through Ingram.

[Eric James]

...
If amazon.com was the only place we were doing marketing for this book, we would be out one or two books most likely. However; there are several other locations where we are marketing this book that have helped us sell several dozen books already...

Like Luminous Landscape and this forum...

OT: While many of the book's photos are very nice some of the "photography" is miraculous - how is he able to photograph the same cloud formation at different times from different locations? Amazing!

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

Like Luminous Landscape and this forum...

No.

[Roger Krueger]

The Pro Merchant program at $39/month + 15% looks like it makes sense for decent volume, but if you're only moving a couple of books a month the Amazon Advantage program at $29.95 a year + 55% seems to make more sense, assuming your costs are such that you can make that kind of markup work. Since it includes fulfillment any foreign shipping price mismatches aren't your problem.