Selling on Amazon Tutorial

Amazon is good website to sell used items online. You can sell all types of used items. I've founded used media items such as books, CDs and DVDs sell well on Amazon.

Signing Up

To start selling Amazon, click here. You can sell either professionally for $40/month (if you sell more than 40 items a month) or sell as an individual seller (you pay $0.99 per sale). You can also sell Fulfillment by Amazon which means Amazon will store and ship your orders for you. I chose the individual seller version because I sell less than 40 items per month and like to ship my items myself.

Listing Items 

To add a new item, click the "Inventory" tab and click add a product. Enter your product name or ISBN number. If it's not in Amazon's catalog, you can click the "Create a new product" button. Find your exact item and click the "Sell yours" button. Make sure you click on the right edition of your book.

For example, I had a craft book called "Glorious Crocheted Sweaters" by Nola Theiss in very good condition I wanted to sell (pictured above). I searched for the title of the book and clicked on "Sell yours".



You have to fill in the condition, your price and quantity. Above the "Your price" box you can see what the lowest price a seller is selling the item for. This is good if you want to sell your item at the lowest price to help it sell. The lowest price for this book was $0.33. Sometimes I match the low price or sell mine cheaper. In this case, I thought the lowest price was too low so I sold mine a little higher for $3.99. The price might change depending on the condition of your items and what it is worth. You can search on Amazon to see what your item is selling for.

Click "Save and finish" and your item is listed. You can see all your inventory on the Inventory tab under "Manage Inventory". You will get an email if your item sells. You can also check right on the Seller Central page. The buyer pays for shipping and you can print out a shipping label right from Amazon. 

Trade in Feature

Instead of getting cash, you can use the trade in feature to trade in items for an Amazon gift certificate. You can trade in electronics, books, movies, music and video games. Just search for your item. Print a shipping label and ship your items to free for Amazon. If they meet the product eligibility criteria, you'll get an Amazon gift card. They will send any items that are not eligible back to you. 

In general, you'll get more money for items by selling them than by trading them in for money in an Amazon gift certificate. The trade in a good option to do if you have a lot of items that you don't want to list individually or you would prefer a gift card. I also like to trade in items if I've had them listed on Amazon for a while (such as over 5 months), but they haven't been selling. 

Performance Page and Feedback

You can see how well your performance is under the "Peformance" tab. See your account health, seller rating and feedback. You can respond to any feedback you have. Amazon has a feature that shows how you can improve your rating. For example, it said I could improve my rating by shipping sooner, avoiding cancelling orders if possible and responding to messages in less than 24 hours. 

Overall, I've found Amazon is a great website for making some extra money. I like to sell my used books on Amazon instead of eBay because it is easy to list items and they sell better on Amazon. I also like that you don't have to take your own photos and the info on the product is already there. 

If you try selling on Amazon, let me know. Also feel free to share any tips for selling online in the comments.