Selling books on Amazon

Tidewater

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OK, I am purging my bookshelves of a lot of books about Russia that I no longer need. I tried selling them on ABE books, but I have not moved a lot of inventory and that costs 25 bucks a month to have a seller account on ABE books.
So I switched to Amazon which used to be nothing but books. Some books I list no problem. Other books Amazon says that I need to request permission to become a distributor. When you click on the request permission to become a distributor, Amazon wants proof that I bought either 10 or 50 copies of the item. (This is I believe part of Amazon's attempt to eradicate counterfeit products sold on Amazon.)
But I don't have 10 or 50 copies. I have one copy of one book.
So I went to customer help and spoke to Guarav. He said yes, you need to request permission to become a distributor and you need to prove that you purchased 50 copies of this item from a legitimate source. I very explicitly told him I do not have 50 copies of the item. I have one copy of one book that I am trying to sell on Amazon. He said well do you have any other questions that I can help you with that ended the "support."

Obviously "counterfeit" books are not a serious issue because nobody pays a lot for used books these days.

Anybody know the special key to getting around being a distributor?
 
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tusks_n_raider

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Yeah eBay is the best place to sell used books.

It's slow to begin with if you've never sold anything on there because you have to acquire some positive feedback as a seller and then buyers will have more trust.

You don't have to pay a monthly fee but eBay does take a percentage of the sale.

I sold off my entire Video game collection last year (1,000s of games) one game at a time so I assume Books would sell just as well.
 

Tidewater

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Thank you all. I have never sold anything on eBay, but I will give it a try.
Looking at the Amazon Sellers Central training videos, it appears there are three typoes of Amazon sellers:
Originators (you made the product yourself.
Amazon itself
"Authorized sellers." I guess if the publisher asks Amazon to restrict their product, then Amazon will set it up so you have to get Amazon's permission.

Weird, since Amazon got started as a book seller, but whatever.
 
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Tidewater

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An update. I am now moving books on Ebay. I have sold four.
Mrs. Tidewater says I only have 2,000 books to go. (I have a lot of books)
Long Game: China's Grand Strategy to Displace American Orders
My most recent one was Rush Doshi.
I think this is Doshi's dissertation made into a book. He examines what is "grand strategy," how we can determine what China's grand strategy is, and what the US should do about it. It is a good book and I am happy it is getting a new home.
 

Padreruf

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An update. I am now moving books on Ebay. I have sold four.
Mrs. Tidewater says I only have 2,000 books to go. (I have a lot of books)
Long Game: China's Grand Strategy to Displace American Orders
My most recent one was Rush Doshi.
I think this is Doshi's dissertation made into a book. He examines what is "grand strategy," how we can determine what China's grand strategy is, and what the US should do about it. It is a good book and I am happy it is getting a new home.
I am there with you and people have been encouraging me to start selling. How do you handle shipping?
 

UAH

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Nov 27, 2017
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An update. I am now moving books on Ebay. I have sold four.
Mrs. Tidewater says I only have 2,000 books to go. (I have a lot of books)
Long Game: China's Grand Strategy to Displace American Orders
My most recent one was Rush Doshi.
I think this is Doshi's dissertation made into a book. He examines what is "grand strategy," how we can determine what China's grand strategy is, and what the US should do about it. It is a good book and I am happy it is getting a new home.
Long discussion with my wife this morning on the coming crisis over Chinese electric car manufacturing and its impact on US based automotives. A lot to unpack on this topic!
 

Tidewater

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Long discussion with my wife this morning on the coming crisis over Chinese electric car manufacturing and its impact on US based automotives. A lot to unpack on this topic!
Truly, but China has some massive problems.Every foreign student who comes here to study ought to be forced as a condition of admission, to watch a documentary on the Tienanmen Square Massacre and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
The fact that most young Chinese are unaware or that insist it never happened is astounding. We need to turn young Chinese into a political virus so when thery go home, they can infect the Chinese Communist Party with shame for how it has behaved.
 
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