A guide to selling books online

Online selling is a popular business these days, and books are no exception to this. You might wish to sell books as an occasional or professional seller on Amazon, a straight-forward option as long as you meet Amazon's standards. You may wish to establish your own book-selling website, but to do this, you need to be well-prepared and be a professional and this article will thus provide you with a guide to do so.

Selling through an agent

Cash for books Many people sell their books through Amazon, which offers a service to second-hand amateur and professional online book sellers. Sometimes, these are individuals selling unwanted books from their personal library, To do this, you should open an Amazon seller account. You can open a professional seller account on Amazon, but this is open to you when you are selling books regularly. Fees differ between private and professional seller accounts. Amazon is a very useful and effective way to sell books. Selling on Amazon To meet Amazon's standards, you must ensure that you specify the condition of the book [good, very good ,unused etc.]. You should despatch the book within two days of receiving the order. There are various postal services that can be used and you must use the appropriate software to inform Amazon and the purchaser that the book has been despatched. Be prepared to deal in a straight-forward way with the occasional dispute.

Your own business

You may wish to have your own website for you to sell books online as a professional seller. Selling stuff in this way involves your establishment of a site and setting up arrangements with banks and credit cards to receive card payments. You will need to establish which delivery system you want to use, e.g. Royal Mail, Parcel Force and so on. Be prepared to have a returns system in place. If you are selling academic books, make sure that you advertise the right edition of a book, as failure to do so can bring complaints. Build up your stock. You may be selling your own writings, but most booksellers are not. You might specialise in books of a certain type or subject area. When you do this, advertise your website in the press that deals with your area of sales. If you are, for example, selling books on self-reliance, advertise in magazines that promote self reliance. Setting your prices is not easy, so before you set a price, do some research to see at what price the same book is selling for elsewhere.