Here are my book selling stats for March:
Selling Stats
Number of Sales: 21
Sales: $195.10
Shipping Credit: $83.79
Inventory Costs: $0
Amazon Commission: $57.62
Shipping Costs: $52.31
Amazon Marketplace Membership: $39.99 (Recurring monthly fee)
Brother’s Commission: $18.75
Friend’s Commission: $4
Total Profit: $106.22
Best Sale of the Month was: Sorry, I don’t have the data in front of me at the moment. Whatever it was, it was in the twenties, nothing stupendous.
I didn’t buy any new inventory in March and my sales really reflected it. I’m actually surprised that I still managed to make over a hundred dollars. I actually considered calling it quits this month, just because the motivation to book shop was no longer there and the one day I did try to go out was just a total pain because the store was so busy. But for now, I will play it by ear and try to find some time to buy some more books to sell!
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
thanks for your help and information so far. a few more questions …
what is the amazon marketplace membership that costs $39.99/month?
also, do you have a bluetooth scanner that you use when you’re out scouting books? or do you enter the ISBN numbers by hand? i tried the latter today and it was pretty time consuming; on the other hand, the scanners look pretty expensive.
Hi Karen,
Here’s some information on the Pro-Merchant status on Amazon ($40 fee): http://www.amazonservices.com/content/sell-on-amazon.htm?ld=AZFSSOA
Basically, if you think you are going to sell more than 40 items a month it’s worth it because Amazon removes the $1 selling fee for pro-merchants. Amazon still takes a commission but without out pro-merchant status they take normal commission plus a one dollar fee.
There are also a few perks you can see at that link, things like being able to add product pages and the fact that your listings don’t expire.
When I first started, I input ISBN numbers into my phone. What a total pain and waste of time, but it was awfully exciting when I found a winner. I soon upgraded to a PDA and bluetooth scanner and it was the best thing I ever could have done. I made enough money to pay for them both in the first month.
I used to have a partner in the book biz, and I actually have an extra PDA and scanner that I’d be willing to sell. If you are interested, you can shoot me an email through the contact form.
Hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions and good luck book hunting!
Thanks so much for the information! It is really helpful. Do you have a standard profit margin that you look for when deciding whether to purchase and resell a used book? I made about $4 on a book this past week, but I’m not sure if that’s worth it.
I try to triple whatever the book is selling for and I don’t like to buy anything that is worth less than $5, unless I know I can turn it around really fast (high Amazon rank) or if I’m buying it for pennies. Otherwise, I won’t buy a book unless it’s triple, so say for a $6 book at the thrift store, I won’t buy it unless it’s selling for $18 on Amazon. This allows for the undercutting that will go on at Amazon and still hopefully turn a decent profit!