August No Spend Month Challenge Day 19: How to Sell on Amazon.com

 

Hello again, savvy savers! I hope you all are well rested, and ready for a new daily challenge! By now, you’ve probably heard of, purchased from, or price matched by way of Amazon.com. It is currently the largest retailer in the world, and honestly one of my favorite shopping venues as not only to they sell everything under the sun, offer free shipping  with Amazon Prime, or on orders of $35.00 or more, they also do not charge sales tax! Woohoo! Amazon makes the act of shopping in your slippers, a state of mind! 

Moreover, the Amazon’s seller program, similar to Ebay, doesn’t offer auction-style selling, but instead offers sellers everyday items such as textbooks, books of all values, conditions, and print-type, dvd’s, music cd’s, collectibles, and more to a larger, more managed audience! One aspect of Amazon selling I like is the FBA (fulfillment by Amazon) shipment method, where you can send all your inventory to Amazon and let Amazon do the shipping for you; for those who frequent the post office, this can be a major time-saving system.

So, why Amazon? 

1. Registering an account is free is you sell under 40 items per month; if you are selling more than 40 items per month, there is a monthly fee of $39.99.
2. Simplicity: You can watch movies, listen to music, and then sell for profit, or Amazon gift cards, to buy more of what you want, or apply to monthly groceries, by way of Amazon Pantry and Amazon Subscribe & Save! 
3. Extras: Somehow you ended up with two identical books/kitchen utensils/wall clocks. Rather than keep both, list one for sale.
4. As a profit-driven venture: Thousands of businesses use the service to sell products.

What Can I sell:

• Anything! Books, video games, movies, craft supplies, kitchen accessories, …the list goes on.
• Keep in mind that some categories are off-limits, such as “adult products,” and if your item is on the off-limits list, you’ll be notified. 
• An item may be in “acceptable”, “good”, “very good”, “like new” or “new” condition.
• It’s a good idea to be honest about the condition, accurately describing it as best as you can.

How to Sell:

1. Click here to sign in with your Amazon email address and password.
2. Next, enter your legal name and read the “Agreement”. Accept the terms and select “Continue”.
3. Add your credit card information: Amazon needs identity verification, so it asks for valid card information.
4. Choose your “Display Name”, aka shop name. Enter your mailing address.
5. On the next page, agree to be called or texted, as a  verification step.  A PIN will be provided, which you will need to enter before registration is complete.
6. Congrats–you’re a registered Amazon seller! 
7. If you have not already set-up two or more payment methods, on a buying account (one of which is a bank account), or if you have changed your payment method in the last 7 days, you will have an additional 7 day wait before payments are directed deposited into your bank account. 

How To List An Item For Sale:

1. From the homepage of your Amazon seller account, go to “Add a Product” (in the lower left sidebar). This takes you to another page where you can see if the product is on Amazon already. If not, choose “create a new product”.
2. List your item. Be sure to use a good quality stock photo, and then enter as much information about the product as possible. 
3. Before you set a price, gauge how others have priced it based on the condition. If it’s priced too high, it probably won’t sell; if it’s price too low, then it will sell really fast but you won’t get as much as you potentially could have.
4. Note that all shipping charges are preset. 
5. You can also opt to have your items mailed to Amazon, who will mail them on your behalf.
6. Amazon sends an email to you when a product sells.
7. If you prefer to mail parcels yourself, try to ship the item–with signature confirmation/tracking– be sure to do so within 3 business days to keep your customer happy.
8. Funds are deposited into your banking account on a scheduled basis.
9. After items have been received for a full 3 business days, you can request buyers leave you a product review, and a sellers review, too!

Sellers Tips:

• Fees are charged per sale.
• Fees vary based on the category and the selling price.
• Amazon deducts them from your balance. 
• Always use USPS’s Media Mail option, for shipping heavy books.

 For me, as I already have a seasoned account, I listed ten items for sale.

My Selling Goals Were:

• I am going to list 10 household items; 12 Blu-Ray Discs, and 10 PS3 Games.
• I hope to make $100.00 in profit.
• All items that do not sell will be donated to charity.
• All items will be listed for one week.

As well today I was also able to accomplish:

1. As part of my #Choose30 Daily Challenge, I woke up at 7:25, walked my fur babies, showered, & dressed to my shoes. (Thanks, Flylady!)
2. Worked on my daily Motivated Moms Planner.
3. I finished a day’s worth of clerking assignments ahead of schedule!
4. I cooked from my pantry for each meal.
5. Read my daily devotional.
6. I waked two miles.

Today I saved:

• I eat at home this evening for dinner, saving our family $6.95. 
• I recycled, upcycled, and composted one bins of deluge, and saved $0.25, the cost of 1 trash bag. 
• I cooked three meals from my home pantry, saving $6.81 in the process.
• My family drank water today, and saved $0.69, the cost of a 2-liter of soda.
• I also did not watch cable tv, and saved $3.68 by doing so.

Total amount I saved my family: $21.38

This months savings goal remaining: +$60.33

So today I challenge you to sell 10 items on Amazon.com! Moreover, do you already sell on Amazon? What has your experience been like? Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! Be sure to come back this evening to see how my daily challenge went, as well as how I was able to additionally save around my home!

Please be sure to check back tomorrow for another way to save for this months No-Spend Challenge! 

Here’s to saving,