How to Sell books on Amazon or eBay In 2021
The E-commerce industry is leading the global market. Additonally, the marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Shopify allow merchants to sell anything, anywhere to anyone. Yes, anything means it covers everything from clothing to furniture. Even, it also offers the opportunity to sellers to sell books to buyers.
In fact, selling books on Amazon can help you in making revenue through your online business. Furthermore, along with Amazon, eBay is also considered as a great platform to get started with. Many people around us frequently ask which platform is right to start selling books online.
Well, both e-commerce sites are unique and can help you in reaching your targeted audience. However, to help you to make a better decision we’ve rounded up an ultimate guide whether you should sell books on Amazon or eBay.
Before starting, let’s know more about Amazon and eBay.
What is Amazon?
Amazon is a leading digital retailer that helps in selling anything. This powerful e-commerce site has a wide range of product categories starting from coffee tables to clothing. However, you can also sell your books but the selling comes with a price. Moreover, you can count on amazon account management for your business needs.
What is eBay?
eBay is another popular e-commerce site mainly known for auctions and C2C sales. Moreover, it’s free to create an account on eBay. It can help you to sell as well as buy products on it’s platform. As mentioned earlier, as an auction site it allows people to sell their used/second-hand books, clothes, and many other things. With a low fee, it would be a great idea to start selling books on eBay.
How are eBay and Amazon different?
Although, both eBay and Amazon are e-commerce sites helping in selling products online and have some similar features. However, there are some key differences between these both platforms.
One of the main things that make it different is their business model. Amazon is an online retailer platform helping in direct selling of products and has a huge inevntory. The products it has are from Amazon itself and also from third party sellers. It has a fixed pricing model. Whereas, eBay has emerged as an auction site. It allows selling between third-party buyers and sellers. It works on a wholesale pricing strategy where a buyer will bid to win (purchase) a product.
How to sell books on Amazon?
Selling books on Amazon is quite easy and involves some easy steps. If you are a bit lazy or do not want to handle things by yourself, you can use amazon account management services to do that on your behalf. They usually charge you a fixed amount and they control your amazon account and the whole inventory, making it extremely easy and convenient for you. But if you want to do it by yourself, you need to do some extensive research and follow the steps mentioned below. So, to get started go through following steps,
1- Create an Amazon account
The very first step is to create an account on Amazon. However, it offers two options to sellers. You need to decide whether you want to create an individual or professional seller account on Amazon.
Individual Seller Account: It’s free to create an individual account. However, Amazon takes a commission of $0.99 for each sale you made on Amazon. It also has some limited features like you can’t create bulk listings.
Professional Seller Account: If you opt for a professional seller account, you need to pay a monthly subscription fee of $39.99. However, Amazon doesn’t take any commission on any sale. Furthermore, you’ll have access to advanced features as well.
Find the books to sell on Amazon
Once you create your account, the next step is to find books that you can sell on Amazon. It’s important to have your stock up for selling. There are multiple options like wholesale, online arbitrage, and even you can sell your own books. Look around you and opt for the right option for your Amazon business.
Create List of your Books
As you are done with your account and find books. Now it’s time to create the list to start selling books on Amazon. Optimize your product’s page according to it’s algorithm and you are all set!
How to sell books on eBay?
Like Amazon, selling books on eBay involves some steps.
1- Create Account
Firstly, you need to register your account by following the instructions given on the website. Once you create your account, you need to link it with PayPal to start selling on eBay.
2- List ISBN of the Book
Click on the “Sell” button on the top of your account page and select “Book”. Now, you need to list the ISBN number of your book. It will add details about the book where you can further add additional information about it.
3- Choose “Auction” or “Buy Now”
As an auction site, it gives you two options - Auction & Buy Now. You can either list your product in auction or allow buyers to buy directly without bidding or going into auctioning.
Following these steps, you can create your account on Amazon and eBay. However, managing the account can be challenging and you may need an expert’s help there. Urtasker is a leading marketing agency that offers Amazon and eBay account management services. They can help you to streamline your operations and improve conversion rate.
Selling on Amazon vs eBay - Key Differences
Selling Fees
Well, as Amazon has two accounts options for seller i.e. Indivual and professional seller account. One has a commission fee while later associated with a monthly subscription fee. However, there is also a closing and referral fee on Amazon. If you go with fulfilment by Amazon, then you also have to pay FBA fee.
On the other hand, eBay doesn’t charge for 50 listings. However, above it, you need to pay $0.30 for auction and $.05 flat fee for fixed price sales. Moreover, it charges 10% of total sales price.
In short, it's quite cheaper to sell books on eBay than Amazon.
Shipping
Shipping is important in any e-commerce business. It can help you to build a strong relationship with your customers.
To help sellers, Amazon offers two shipping processes; Amazon FBA and FBM. In fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), sellers ship products on Amazon warehouses, and rest process of picking, packing, and shipping handled by Amazon. However, in FBM, the seller himself is responsible for everything from packing up to product shippment to customers.
As far as eBay is concerned, it’s shipping method is much like Amazon FBM. A seller has to manage all tasks including picking and shipping.
Return Policy
It has a major influence on a shopper's buying decision. It can build the trust of a buyer in your brand.
However, Amazon asks sellers to follow its own return policy. Whereas it also offers the flexibilty to customize according to your business. For example, you can charge shipping or any other cost related to shipping it to customers. On the other side, eBay allows sellers to choose whether they accept returns or not.
Final Verdict - Amazon or eBay?
The article has given you an ultimate guide on selling books on Amazon or eBay. Starting from creating the account to the key differences between these two e-commerce sites, you have enough information now.
If you are still wondering, is it better to sell on ebay or amazon? Or which one to choose? Then the final choice is on your requirements and business goals.