Lessons Learned from Selling $600 of Used Books in 6 Hours
 

Since selling used stuff is sometimes a topic on this board, I thought I'd share techniques I used in my Moving Sale the other day. The techniques could apply for many different items besides books.

I'll be moving in a month, and remembered that the last time I moved, my boxes of books and papers took up just about as much space in the truck as furniture and took more time to load and unload. So I thought I'd try to sell as many books as possible that I will probably never look at again, no matter how much I might have enjoyed them.

At first, I tried selling the books on Amazon.com. This could work well if I had more time. But it was really time-consuming to enter all the books into their system and figure out how to rate their condition and how to price them. Some books have just about no value there because there are too many copies already for sale there at a low price. I sold five books overnight on Amazon.

Then I had the brainstorm of running a bargain book sale for subscribers of my weekly email newsletter. This is what moved $600 of books in 6 hours. Here's what I did.

I classified the books topically into "Bundles" and gave each grouping of 6-10 books a catchy yet descriptive name, such as "The Branding Bundle," "The Web Business Bundle" or "The Inner Creativity Bundle." Then I rounded off the estimated resale value of the books and added a shipping price, also in a round number.

Each bundle contained one or two items that would probably not be salable on their own, but added something to the value of the overall group.

The bundles began going within the hour! I posted "sold" signs as quickly as I could, which seemed to make the remaining bundles go even faster. A few buyers bought several bundles. One subscriber in England even called a friend of hers in Switzerland to tell her to go look at what was still available, and the friend quickly bought a bundle. So that my west coast subscribers wouldn't feel they missed all the great opportunities, I added some more bundles to the site late in the morning.

(By the way, I've added a few more Bundles this morning, so there's still good stuff available.)

Lessons:

1. Bundle related items together to move a lot of merchandise in a small amount of time, including items that wouldn't be of much interest on their own.

2. Name the bundles.

3. Letting people know in real time that things are going quickly quickens the sales pace.

4. Tap your subscriber base, as they have already developed trust in you. (One buyer explicitly mentioned this as a factor in her purchase.)

5. Make the process fun and easy. People didn't have to fill out any online forms, just email me to reserve their bundle, then I arranged payment through the method easiest for them.

Good luck with YOUR moving sale!

Marcia Yudkin


Marcia's Monster Moving Sale is Still in Progress Here...

Good Idea!!..in fact it reminds me of
 

Hey...

I liked that Idea. Its different and does draw more attention to the product and can probably help you sell more.

Its kind of reminds of going to a fast food place. Instead of buying a hamburger and a drink, the resteraunts(sp) bundle them into packages.

Combo #1(hamburger, drink, fries)

Combo #2(bigger burger, bigger drink, bigger fries)

Combo #3(Biggest burger...etc)

That method gets people to buy more than what they planned.

As a matter a fact. That just might work well on selling on the internet just as well from a moving sale. Bundle your products into "themed packages"

Im going to have to try that...

Thanks for the idea

Terrance


My Success Story Package

A Minor Correction..and a questions
 

Marcia

I reread what you said..

I just realized when you said "moving sale" that you actually did sell it on the *internet* and not from your home...

By the way....did you use Amazon Auctions or was it a direct sale from Amazon other options?


Sell Candy Bars

Re: A Minor Correction..and a questions
 

> Marcia

> I reread what you said..

> I just realized when you said "moving
> sale" that you actually did sell it on
> the *internet* and not from your home...

Yes, it was an Internet moving sale. Packing and sending all the books was a pain in the neck yesterday, but I reached more potential customers than if I had a yard sale in front of my house.

Marcia Yudkin


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Success With Bundles
 

I've been following ebay for a few months now to see what sells and gets a lot of bids. This guy (see link below) sells cameras just like a zillion others on ebay. The difference between him and the others is that he always bundles his cameras with every accessory imaginable. Many of these accessories are relatively inexpensive items (e.g., cheapo memory stick, cheapo tripod, etc.)

Follow his auctions an you will see that he routinely generates a large number of bids. It makes sense... Do people who can afford a $3500 camera really want to individually shop for 15 different accessories for their new toy? No Way! They want a turn key solution in a box and they want it quick.

> Since selling used stuff is sometimes a
> topic on this board, I thought I'd share
> techniques I used in my Moving Sale the
> other day. The techniques could apply for
> many different items besides books.

> I'll be moving in a month, and remembered
> that the last time I moved, my boxes of
> books and papers took up just about as much
> space in the truck as furniture and took
> more time to load and unload. So I thought
> I'd try to sell as many books as possible
> that I will probably never look at again, no
> matter how much I might have enjoyed them.

> At first, I tried selling the books on
> Amazon.com. This could work well if I had
> more time. But it was really time-consuming
> to enter all the books into their system and
> figure out how to rate their condition and
> how to price them. Some books have just
> about no value there because there are too
> many copies already for sale there at a low
> price. I sold five books overnight on
> Amazon.

> Then I had the brainstorm of running a
> bargain book sale for subscribers of my
> weekly email newsletter. This is what moved
> $600 of books in 6 hours. Here's what I did.

> I classified the books topically into
> "Bundles" and gave each grouping
> of 6-10 books a catchy yet descriptive name,
> such as "The Branding Bundle,"
> "The Web Business Bundle" or
> "The Inner Creativity Bundle."
> Then I rounded off the estimated resale
> value of the books and added a shipping
> price, also in a round number.

> Each bundle contained one or two items that
> would probably not be salable on their own,
> but added something to the value of the
> overall group.

> The bundles began going within the hour! I
> posted "sold" signs as quickly as
> I could, which seemed to make the remaining
> bundles go even faster. A few buyers bought
> several bundles. One subscriber in England
> even called a friend of hers in Switzerland
> to tell her to go look at what was still
> available, and the friend quickly bought a
> bundle. So that my west coast subscribers
> wouldn't feel they missed all the great
> opportunities, I added some more bundles to
> the site late in the morning.

> (By the way, I've added a few more Bundles
> this morning, so there's still good stuff
> available.)

> Lessons:

> 1. Bundle related items together to move a
> lot of merchandise in a small amount of
> time, including items that wouldn't be of
> much interest on their own.

> 2. Name the bundles.

> 3. Letting people know in real time that
> things are going quickly quickens the sales
> pace.

> 4. Tap your subscriber base, as they have
> already developed trust in you. (One buyer
> explicitly mentioned this as a factor in her
> purchase.)

> 5. Make the process fun and easy. People
> didn't have to fill out any online forms,
> just email me to reserve their bundle, then
> I arranged payment through the method
> easiest for them.

> Good luck with YOUR moving sale!

> Marcia Yudkin




http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1356124219

Another thing I noticed about that auction is...
 

Jack,

Thanks for pointing out that auction....

Another thing I noticed is that his auction started at 47 cents!

I was (for a short time) selling MP3 Players on the online auctions. To test things out, I started one of my auctions at $1.

I found that the MP3 Player auction which got the highest bids, was the one which I started at $1 !

I think what happened is that when people see something worth a lot of money, with a starting bid of just 47 cents (or $1), they'll bid without thinking about it, because the risk to them is ridiculously small. It's a ridiculous bargain! This then attracts other bidders too, who also want the bargain too....

This large numbers of bids (as people gradually bid it up) attracts other bidders.... People feel safer in bidding on an auction that already has a lot of bids (there's safety in numbers). And so, in the end, ironically you may end up getting a HIGHER bid by starting your auction at a ridiculously LOW price!

However - I think this only really works with things that are of widespread interest to people. If it only appeals to a very narrow range of people, you might only find one person with ANY interest in it.... And then you'd have to let it go at 47 cents! But if it has widespread interest (like digital cameras, or MP3 players), then the danger of that happening is very low....

I find the psychology of online auctions fascinating.... :)

- Dien Rice


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Re: Another thing I noticed about that auction is...
 

Hi -

Here in the UK, there's a program called Bargain Hunt which invites contestants to find and bargain for items at antiques fairs which are then sold in a real live auction.

As far as I can tell, when you watch a live auction, the auctioneer tries to open the bidding at or around the expected price for the item; then has to drop the price way back to attract people in to bid. After bidding's underway, the price can reach much higher than the auctioneer estimated, depending on how many people are really keen. Seems to me that eBay works in a similar way. If you set a reserve price at your minimum acceptable amount and then set the bidding off at a real low value, you can't really lose. Especially if you include a good image on the listing page; an accurate description of the item and better details and images on the full item listing.

Great fun, auctions!

Margaret