I'm interested in selling vintage books. I notice that on both sites prices for books varies greatly (in fact, I've seen books I've published vary from the cover price of 9.995 to 100.00). anyone have experience or advice on the advantages/disadvantages of both?

Amazon has a good return policy if a sale goes bad. I like Ebay as you have the option to Auction your goods. I dont know which might be the higher in fees.

No experience selling on eBay.

On Amazon, I found the people setting up your site were morons. I never did get them to correct some details for my book.

The other thing is the delay in paying you. Someone orders a book. You get notice of the order, pack it up and ship it, and get the money quite some time later, net of Amazon's cut. You have to keep track of it. Amazon has reports you can download, etc. You do everything their way.

Regarding Ebay, do you have a Paypal account? If so, you are pretty much ready to try your first experiment there. If not, and you don't intend to get one, I'd advise skipping Ebay altogether.

No experience yet with Amazon as a seller, but I may be in the near future so I'll be interested in hearing how it goes for you if you try it.

I've sold rare records and vacuum tubes on Ebay for years and have been satisfied. Put a reserve price on the auction, or list a "buy it now" price that you will be glad to receive.

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Originally posted by David Lee:
Amazon has a good return policy if a sale goes bad. I like Ebay as you have the option to Auction your goods. I dont know which might be the higher in fees.

That is an interesting statement when you consider eBay's origins as an auction site. It disappoints me these days when 90% of the stuff you see are listings from businesses.

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Originally posted by DaBigBR:

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
Amazon has a good return policy if a sale goes bad. I like Ebay as you have the option to Auction your goods. I dont know which might be the higher in fees.

That is an interesting statement when you consider eBay's origins as an auction site. It disappoints me these days when 90% of the stuff you see are listings from businesses.

eBay like many of the indoor/outdoor flea markets have been inundated with Asian merchants with their new goods. You just have to navigate around the crap. Chris

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Originally posted by Chris Anchor:

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Originally posted by DaBigBR:

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
Amazon has a good return policy if a sale goes bad. I like Ebay as you have the option to Auction your goods. I dont know which might be the higher in fees.

That is an interesting statement when you consider eBay's origins as an auction site. It disappoints me these days when 90% of the stuff you see are listings from businesses.

eBay like many of the indoor/outdoor flea markets have been inundated with Asian merchants with their new goods. You just have to navigate around the crap. Chris

Absolutely correct. Asian invasion but you can still buy and sell safely on Ebay. Regarding PayPal, I've never had a single issue with my PayPal account and its always been secure. That said, I never attached a credit card or bank account to my PayPal account. If I buy on the site, I load funds via Pre paid PayPal or Green Dot money card. Go right back to my auction and send payment. A very fast way to pay. Selling there should be simple. Ive never sold on Ebay however, I know many people who do and they all do very well. Best of luck.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by BrianC:
I notice that on both sites prices for books varies greatly[QUOTE]
With eBay go to Advanced Search and look at the Sold Listings- That's real world price= it just sold at that price.

I'm not familiar with Amazon.

eBay is what it is. Buy it Now is about 10% listing fee \ PayPal Fees 3.9% + .35 and Shipping kills ya. There's media mail and you can print the shipping label via eBay and get a discount.

I've done the Ebay/PayPal thing for years. Buying it works pretty well. Selling...they get theirs in terms of fees. Substantial.

I do ebay daily as a seller and looking back I would say as a true seller maybe 10 years solid. I sell and process high six figures steady for the past 3 years. Ebay is changing and you have to be able to adapt to their changes, ebay has been and always be a flea market, although they long to an Amazon which they will never be. The strains that are imposed on large sellers is hard but the profit is there if you are willing to do your work.

Paypal gets a lot of hate but honestly for what they take and if you follow the rules there are very little problems. I can say in the past 10 years I have lost money 3-4 times and they were all my fault for not following the rules regarding addresses. That to me is a very low margin and not something that would discourage me from using paypal.

I would look at how much volume you are looking to do and our profit margin. Fees are at 10% final value fee, shipping, and paypal 3% fee so you need to factor that into your cost. When I started my goal was "Top Rated Seller" badge which came with a 20% discount on your final value fees and lower shipping rates for USPS along with free $100 insurance for USPS priority mail. That has changed you still receive the shipping perks but discount has been lowered to 10% unless you opt in for a quicker handling time which in my opinion is not worth it. The key to saving on fees is to open a basic store. The store discount on fees is well worth the $20 monthly fee if you are selling volume.

BrianC feel free to send me an email I would be more than glad to help out.

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Originally posted by apprentice:
Regarding Ebay, do you have a Paypal account? If so, you are pretty much ready to try your first experiment there. If not, and you don't intend to get one, I'd advise skipping Ebay altogether.

No experience yet with Amazon as a seller, but I may be in the near future so I'll be interested in hearing how it goes for you if you try it.

I do have a PayPal account, but haven't used it in a while. Never had any trouble with it, though.

If you do Farcebook, you can also consider using the Yard Sale section- you end up mostly with local interest, but if the items are highly collectable/desirable, anyone on FB could be a customer. My wife uses it and seems to move stuff pretty quickly, pays no fees, and has yet to have any kind of scamming attempted.