Ebay Vs Amazon?

**Rebookie** · 10-29-2009, 08:22 PM

I have about 20 cookbooks I want to sell.. I've never sold anything before. I just want to free up space in my kitchen.

For people who hock the wares, which is better for books?

**Contrary Housewife** · 10-29-2009, 11:51 PM

We found Amazon was much better for books. Your listing stays up for 30 days and you don't pay anything if it does not sell. (Ebay charges you to list)

Plus, I think people go to Amazon looking for books more than they do on Ebay.

Check Amazon for titles you want to sell, if you see 147 of them starting at 1c it is not worth your time to list it, just take the book to the charity shop.

**frugalfranny** · 10-30-2009, 12:34 AM

Might depend on how you are going to sell them......lots of them as one sale? Or...one at a time.

The books I have bought on-line, I bought on Ebay but I would only bid on 'lots'.......the shipping wasn't that much more for a bunch of them than it was for just one. Also, I wasn't ever looking for any 'new' book.

The fees could be a bit much on ebay if you are selling them one at a time.....and price them cheap.

Check them both out........check the fees...etc. Good luck.

**ladytoysdream** · 10-30-2009, 08:23 AM

If you are not in a hurry, I suggest Amazon. When the book sells, they charge you .99 each plus a percentage. Not sure as it has been quite awhile since I sold anything there. If you have a large quanity of books to sell, then they have monthly fee program and you won't be paying the .99 each.
Ignore the penny sellers....list your book for what you want for it. A lot of times, buyers will pay a bit extra so they don't have to deal with the large volume sellers.

Ebay can be a good choice if you put them up to auction. You should base your starting bid on what you would be happy getting for each book. If you start too low and only one bidder comes along, they will own that book at the start bid. You need to do some research on completed auctions. Lots of people never bid till the last minute. Find a small scale ( used baby scale works good ), so you can get the correct amount for postage. Media rate is the cheapest way to go.

Cookbooks are a good thing to have to sell. A lot of people collect them. Some of the older books can be quite pricey.
Take your pictures first so when you start listing them, you can put them up back to back. It helps bring bidders in, if they see you have a larger number of auctions to check out.
Combine auctions to help save the buyer on postage.
Collect some boxes ahead of time, so when your auction sells, you are ready to ship promptly.
Treat it as a new adventure. Do your homework. You may find you like it and go out and buy more cookbooks for resale. Find a niche you like

**tervsforme** · 10-30-2009, 08:25 AM

I didn't have much luck selling cookbooks on Ebay, I did much better on Amazon. I don't know if it was the cookbooks I was trying to sell or not. Research is the key. Just search on E-bay to see if they are selling or not and then on Amazon to see what they are going for. Some might sell better on one place than the other.

Just my experience, good luck!

**Pemberleyan** · 10-30-2009, 08:28 AM

You've gotten some good advice. I've several books on Amazon. This week I decided to get rid of 13 Southern Living yearbook cookbooks, and found that some of them were worth about a penny, so off to the thrift store they went.

**NikoSan999** · 10-30-2009, 08:45 AM

Ebay is good for books but you can't just put the book up and say" 150 pages, color pix, copyright 1929"
It needs to be interesting and have words in the auction people search.
I would put in at least some of the recipes and take more than just the cover photo especially if it is an older book.
I once had a WWII book up and a man was searching water globes and my book came up. He said in an email he couldn't resist looking at it because it was an odd thing to come up for what he was searching for. ( I put the index in my auctions, entire index along with some of the text out of the book) Needless to say he bought the book.
With Ebay you can not only search title line but with the box checked you can search title AND description. Don't think you can do that with Amazon.
For example if you list Apple Cobbler and someone is looking for an apple tree yours would come up.

**nuisance26** · 10-30-2009, 08:47 AM

~I had one item listed on Amazon but I don't like their fee system or the inability to temporarily suspend your listings(vacation setting).
I sell my stuff on Half.com. It's cheaper than Ebay and much easier to list items and complete transactions. And they have a vacation setting!~

**Rebookie** · 10-30-2009, 01:40 PM

I did some research on Amazon last night.. I have three barefoots and three Sandra Lee paper backs.. (Never used them) That's why I'm selling!

Now my ??? is should I sale them as a "collection" or the same person, or should I sell individually?

I am sorry if I am bothering anyone with this, but I want to do this correctly.

**ladytoysdream** · 10-30-2009, 01:47 PM

Sell separately to get more money.
If you put 3 like ones, in a auction, someone might bid if they already own 1 or 2 but they might not bid that high. If it is one, they need and it is a separate auction, they would probably bid higher.
Somewhere in your title, get the word cookbook in.
Try different search terms to see what comes up, how many,etc

**frugalfranny** · 10-30-2009, 02:03 PM

Some great info...will keep reading this.

Like to hear from the people that have sold things on both. Very interesting reading and the 'timing' seems to play a part too.

Good luck with your selling.

**ladytoysdream** · 10-30-2009, 08:53 PM

Actually now would be good timing to put cookbooks up. You have two major holidays coming up, Thanksgiving and Christmas. People like to cook and bake.
Maybe you can stress being frugal in your auction description. People making meals at home versus going out to eat.