Not all change is for the worse…

By Sharon Fussell, July 19, 2012

I cannot believe how fast this year is whizzing by, seven months almost gone already. I suppose the saying ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ must also apply to selling books!

It’s strange but a few of our usual charity shop venues have dropped by the wayside all at the same time. Managers have left and new ones have not got around to getting us to take culled books.

However, if I was worried that this has indicated a decline in books available for sale in bulk, I needn’t have bothered as new shops pop up all the time with managers who are very keen for us to sort through and buy their culled stock from them.

What this does is demonstrate that in business things rarely remain the same and you need to be aware and be able to make changes.

With Amazon nothing is static for long, it can be a little disconcerting when changes are made, However, there is little you can so if Amazon change their systems, just adjust, adapt then carry on regardless until the next ‘new’ change.

If you are selling using FBA you will probably notice various changes, ‘goal posts’ are moved and it can be very off putting. When Amazon recently increased handling charges from 18p to 60p per item it was very annoying, the impact on selling low value books is severe.

To counteract this particular change we have adjusted by making sure we no longer pick up thick heavy fiction books. We are noticing that although our volume of sales have decreased, our profits per books have increased, this is because in the main non fiction books have higher prices.

Of course this may also mean some books take longer to sell due to the lower demand and higher price, but it’s worth the wait to sell a book for upwards of £10 each rather than a few individual sales of £2.80.

So, it means we do purchase less books overall, and we also process and send a lower amount of books, but our income is still consistent.

Strange but true moments

Sometimes buying and selling books produces some strange moments.

On occasion I have been watching the TV and mentioned that I had recently listed a book concerning the subject of the TV program and, lo and behold, a sale comes through for that very book – as though the buyer had heard me!!

On another occasion, two copies of the same title sold on the same day, one to a buyer in Scotland and another to a buyer in Ireland, the title was ‘Welsh Humour’ – again very strange!

Perhaps you would like to drop me a line if there is something you would like to know and we can discuss any new ideas in future ezines: [email protected]