How does selling stuff on Amazon work?

Escobar4Life

Escobar4Life

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I have some video games I want to sell. I'm willing to sell anywhere but ebay. I was wondering how selling games on amazon works? How much will they get if you sell something?

I apologize if this is the wrong forum for this but I couldn't find the right one.
 
To be honest, you're better off selling on ebay. If a buyer has a claim they can actually keep the item, and get a refund. Amazon also takes a good sized chunk of your profit.
 
[quote name='Zaku77']To be honest, you're better off selling on ebay. If a buyer has a claim they can actually keep the item, and get a refund. Amazon also takes a good sized chunk of your profit.[/QUOTE]

Its true about the buyer claim stuff. LaQuinta James was shipped an item from me WITH a tracking number and everything. It was delivered and everything was good. Two months later she decides to claim that she never got it. Amazon gave me a chance to tell my side, as soon as I clicked send they sent me an automated email saying they sided with her. Pretty annoying.

Amazon takes a good chunk of your profit but between eBay and paypal I dont see much of a difference. Also Amazon is much easier to sell on. And you can sell it for higher than on eBay usually. So it is give and take. I would try it out if I were you.
 
[quote name='Escobar4Life']I have some video games I want to sell. I'm willing to sell anywhere but ebay. I was wondering how selling games on amazon works? How much will they get if you sell something?

I apologize if this is the wrong forum for this but I couldn't find the right one.[/QUOTE]

As a general rule of thumb I'll clear around $7-8 on a game that lists for $11 + $3.99 shipping. The basic breakdown is (List Price x 0.15) + 1.35 + .99 = Total Fees. $11 is an easy price to list at because the fees and shipping cancel each other out ($11 + $3.99 = $11 shipped after fees).
 
[quote name='Zaku77']To be honest, you're better off selling on ebay. If a buyer has a claim they can actually keep the item, and get a refund. Amazon also takes a good sized chunk of your profit.[/QUOTE]

The man speaks the truth. Amazon is even more one sided than ebay when it comes to seller/buyer disputes.

Go with ebay, cl, glyde, or some sort of trade-in program.
 
[quote name='Escobar4Life']think its better if I sell it on craigslist instead?[/QUOTE]

Depends on your local market for retro games; I sell a ton of stuff on Amazon that I get for $1-3 apiece locally. Also the fees aren't so bad when you factor in getting lowballed everywhere else. ;)
 
They take 20%
Shipping sucks.
Easy as all fucking shit to list.

You have to factor convenience vs extra effort. eBay is a little more work, will get you a little more money probably.

I use Amazon.
 
[quote name='luan87us']Sell it on craiglist for local pick up. No fees no bs.[/QUOTE]With the added possibility of robbery added into the mix.
 
I don't like eBay/PayPal fees, but the way I sell my games is I start my auctions at 99 cents and list for 7 days and charge 3.99 for USPS First class mail shipping. This works out to me actually making $1.20 or more on shipping even after buying delivery confirmation and has been proven to not degrade the amount I sell my games for (trust me I've done a LOT of digging through eBay completed listings) which over time really makes up for any fees taken out.

Seems that 3.99 is a fair price for people and they are willing to pay for it especially with first class mail. I bought 100 bubble mailers on eBay for 20$ to get me started and I swear that was the best purchase I've made. Saved me tons of money and I still haven't ran out. To buy 5 bubble mailers at Walmart it's like 8 dollars and change or some crap.

But I digress, yeah fees suck, but Amazon like others have said do take out profits too, and are bad in terms of buyers filing claims. eBay is pretty decent when it comes to seller protection.
 
I think the best bet is to sell at best buy or amazon to them directly. I've been trading all my games to best buy and getting those 50, 40 or 30% more on trade ins and raking in the credit which is put towards TV's new games, gifts, etc. I don't trust craigslist at all.
 
[quote name='Escobar4Life']think its better if I sell it on craigslist instead?[/QUOTE]

Hell yeah
 
I use Ebay a lot and have done pretty well so far. I've had a couple claims, one in particular that blew my mind. I sent them a brand new/sealed 360 game. A week after they received it, they opened a claim stating, "The game you sold me was new, but the disc was not in its lock. It was scratched up and I had to sell it as a used game. I demand a 50% refund." I thought he was crazy. But then Ebay looked at the dispute and said that he keeps the game, I keep my money, and Ebay actually refunded him his full purchase price, blaming the post office. :eek:

Ebay/Paypal takes an average of 12% of my sales in fees. Not the best, but better than I could do anywhere else in this area. I also have a few yard sales every year and sell cheaper games. I've found soccer moms will easily pay $6 for any current gen game, no matter what game it is. And I can sell most retro games for $1-$2.

Between Ebay & yard sales I've cleared out my backlog quite a bit this year.
 
Check Amazon's trade in prices for a given game before you sell. Sometimes they offer more in trade in than you would get selling it after all the fees which is worth it if you buy from Amazon often. Trading in is much less of a hassle, you get printed postage and just send it away.

Craigslist will probably get you the most value but it is by far the most hassle, between back and forth emails with a buyer and arranging a time and place to meet, assuming they will even follow through with that.
 
[quote name='RedRingOfDeath']What ever happened to a good 'ol fashioned garage sale? :p[/QUOTE]

Lowballers. :) Seriously, take a look at some of the yard sale threads.

I think the most I've spent on a game was $8 and that would've been the summer of '09 for a sealed copy of Dark Sector for the 360. In fact, the only times I've gone even to $5 was for a sealed current gen game.

I'm not saying there aren't people who won't pay more, because there's a sucker born every minute... but really no insurance policy to speak of and I think most people assume everything's AS IS.
 
I've been selling on Amazon for a few years, and just this year I started doing it as my full time job.

Versus eBay, listing is a cakewalk. Fees can vary, depending on the item, but before you finalize your listing, Amazon tells you exactly how much you will get after they take their cut. My only gripe is the set shipping costs. Some stuff is way under (and yo run the risk of actually losing money if you don't research) while other stuff is way over what it actually costs (and is a money maker).

As far as getting scammed, out of about four thousand sales this year alone, I've had maybe 5 or 6 people claim the item never arrived, was broken, etc. I've had even fewer people request to return things they bought. And (*knocks on wood*) I've never had a single chargeback.

As far as Amazon automatically siding with the buyer, that's not 100% true. If there is a problem and the seller shows no intention of alleviating the situation, that's an automatic buyer win. But if you are proactive and work with the buyer, and the buyer doesn't want to cooperate, odds are in your favor of winning a dispute.
 
[quote name='musha666']Its true about the buyer claim stuff. LaQuinta James was shipped an item from me WITH a tracking number and everything. It was delivered and everything was good. Two months later she decides to claim that she never got it. Amazon gave me a chance to tell my side, as soon as I clicked send they sent me an automated email saying they sided with her. Pretty annoying.

Amazon takes a good chunk of your profit but between eBay and paypal I dont see much of a difference. Also Amazon is much easier to sell on. And you can sell it for higher than on eBay usually. So it is give and take. I would try it out if I were you.[/QUOTE]

If you didn't have a point-to-point tracking method (which you obviously didn't), you defaulted. That is why they sent you the email as soon as you submitted your side without it. USPS delivery confirmation is worthless (in my opinion and amazon's). If it's not something like UPS or Fed Ex, you may as well not have tracking. Just be aware of this fact if you decide to sell on amazon. Many of the buyers sure as hell are. Amazon is a better place to sell than ebay now, IMO, but neither one of them is very good.
 
[quote name='sp00ge']I've been selling on Amazon for a few years, and just this year I started doing it as my full time job.

Versus eBay, listing is a cakewalk. Fees can vary, depending on the item, but before you finalize your listing, Amazon tells you exactly how much you will get after they take their cut. My only gripe is the set shipping costs. Some stuff is way under (and yo run the risk of actually losing money if you don't research) while other stuff is way over what it actually costs (and is a money maker).

As far as getting scammed, out of about four thousand sales this year alone, I've had maybe 5 or 6 people claim the item never arrived, was broken, etc. I've had even fewer people request to return things they bought. And (*knocks on wood*) I've never had a single chargeback.

As far as Amazon automatically siding with the buyer, that's not 100% true. If there is a problem and the seller shows no intention of alleviating the situation, that's an automatic buyer win. But if you are proactive and work with the buyer, and the buyer doesn't want to cooperate, odds are in your favor of winning a dispute.[/QUOTE]

Kudos to you for being able to sell stuff full time. I would love to do that, but it's hard enough finding what little stuff I sell to begin with.

As for selling stuff on Amazon, my experience has been really positive. I've sold about $3000 worth of merchandise over the past year on Amazon and haven't had a single serious issue. I think the fees of eBay/PayPal just about even out with Amazon, especially considering that once you list something on Amazon, it's up for good.

Generally I've found you can sell stuff on Amazon for a bit more than it'd go for on eBay. It's hard for me to judge if it'd be worth it for you, because a lot of the stuff I sell, I bought specifically to resell. My biggest complaint with Amazon is that I can't sell some items this time of years (Toys mostly) unless I have it fulfilled by Amazon.
 
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