Selling Books By Internet Auction
It seems like everyone is getting into the Internet auction business these days. EBay was one if the first and is probably the most successful.
It recently went public and its stock went up 65% the first day of trading.
There’s OnSale.com and several other auction services.
For books you are wise to stick with eBay until some of the other fledgling book auctions services attract more interest.
I’ve distributed 100s of books on eBay. I’ve made a bunch of cash on eBay. And the greatest part was, that it was fun and really simple.
All you do is list your books (include a picture if possible), make sure that you place them in the right category, announce your sale to discussion groups and sit back and watch the fun.
To get started you need to register with eBay and get a User ID. You’ll likewise need a Credit Card.
After you are registered you’ll be able to begin to list items for sale. There is a fee for listing depending on the initial price you select for your item:
EBay FEE SCHEDULE:
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|
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Insertion fees: Auction-style listings
|
|
Starting or reserve price |
Insertion fee: Books, Music, DVDs & Movies, Video Games |
Insertion fee: Other categories |
|
$0.01 – $0.99** |
$0.10 |
$0.15 |
|
$1.00 – $9.99 |
$0.25 |
$0.35 |
|
$10.00 – $24.99 |
$0.35 |
$0.55 |
|
$25.00 – $49.99 |
$1.00 |
$1.00 |
|
$50.00 – $199.99 |
$2.00 |
$2.00 |
|
$200.00 – $499.99 |
$3.00 |
$3.00 |
|
$500.00 or more |
$4.00 |
$4.00 |
In addition to the insertion fees there is a final value fee. This is a percentage of the final bid price on your item.
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Final value fees: Auction-style listings Closing price |
Final value fee |
|
Item not sold |
No fee |
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$0.01 – $25.00** |
8.75% of the closing value |
|
$25.01- $1,000.00 |
8.75% of the initial $25.00 ($2.19), plus 3.50% of the remaining closing value balance($25.01 – $1,000.00) |
|
Equal to or Over $1000.01 |
8.75% of the initial ($25.00 ($2.19), plus 3.50% of the initial $25.01 – $1,000.00 ($34.12), plus 1.50% of the remaining closing value balance($1000.01 – closing value) |
You will not be charged a Final Value Fee if: There were no bids on your item, OR there were no bids on your Reserve Price Auctions that met the reserve price. The Final Value fee is not contingent on consummating the sale with the buyer.
When you list an item on eBay you need to select the opening bid or the first bid you will accept for the item. It could be $1.00 or $100.00, it’s entirely up to you. Personally I prefer to have the market forces working in my favor, so I tend to set the opening bid low to attract bidders. Then market the auction to the discussion groups to generate more interest.
You have an expensive item you might want list the item and set a reserve price. The reserve price is different from the opening bid amount. The reserve price is the minimum amount you will accept as the final bid. So you could have an opening bid of $1.00 but a reserve price of $250.00. If the final bid on your item doesn’t reach the $250 then you can keep your book and try to sell it elsewhere. If your final bid price is $250.00 or more then you have to sell it to the highest bidder.
If you do not set a reserve price on your book and your opening bid is $1.00 and you only get a $1.00 bid on it you have to sell it to the person who bid the $1.00.
Some people are psychologically reluctant to bid on anything that starts out high, yet once an item is receiving bids they may bid much higher than they ever planned on. Sharp shoppers like us, may think this unrealistic, but it’s useful to utilize in the auction business. The reason it works, I think, is because bidders bid because they want my book- “obviously” you say! Because they bid on it! But the point is they bid on it and if they don’t want to lose they must bid again if someone else bid against them.
In other words, every time they bid they lock themselves into winning the item. And if they didn’t meet the reserve and were disappointed because they lost – we have the upper hand, offering to make them whole again by making them a winner after all with our counteroffer!
If you list the item the first time and it does not hit your reserve price, you can always re-list the item at NO reserve. Many people are reluctant to bid on a reserve auction because they don’t know how high the reserve is. But if you list it a second time, you’ve created some energy around your item and may attract even more bidders when they find out there’s no reserve the second time around.
EBay allows you to view the list of bidders while your auction is taking place. It’s interesting to see that some bidders come back two, three or four times when they get outbid by someone else.
It’s possible to make a great deal of money on eBay. Go to eBay’s web site at www.ebay.com and get a feel for the kind of books that are selling. Generally the first edition books of popular authors will generate more interest and bids. Authors such as Jack London, Jack Kerouac, L. Frank Baum, Charles Dickens, A. Conan Doyle, etc.
Start slowly and list just a few books of your own. Don’t be discouraged if no one bids on your books right away. Some eBay users will try to ’snipe’ your book by bidding at the very last second for it. Sometimes you’ll get a flurry of bids in all at once towards the end of the auction.
© 2010, Work At Home Covert Opps!. All rights reserved.
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