Consignment Books .com Introduction Page.
You are at http://www.thebusinesscritic.com/consignmentbooks/application.html ud Sunday August 30, 2009 04:43 PM -0500
Wanted To Buy Classifieds .com
Brian W. Nelson
BrianNelsonConsulting.com
Sales Motivation
Creative Marketing Consultant
31 Gessner Rd.,
Houston, TX 77024
713-467-3025, Fax 713-467-3192
TheBusinessCritic.com
bnelson@PartyTentCity.com
Hello,
1. Thanks for your interest
in selling books from your home on the Internet. As you can
see in the
business affiliates box below I have several affiliated businesses.
2. One of the things I do is to sell used books on the internet through Amazon.com .
I
personally have just over a thousand used books listed with
Amazon.
3.
I use all their software and search their current data base to learn about the
value of a book.
I set the price for the book. It will
then be listed in the Amazon computer inventory.
Now anyone in the world can see
the book that I have to sell.
4.
When a customer somewhere in the world wants the book I have listed at the
price
(usually the lowest in the country for rapid sales),
Amazon buys it from me (or you)
and sells it to buyer. Amazon collects the money from the customer. You
don't have to
worry about doing anything with the customer other than shipping the book
promptly
as it was advertised.
5.
Let's say the book listed for $5.00. Amazon collects the money from the
book customer
and deducts a 15% or $ .75. The net amount I get from
Amazon would be $4.25.
(Twice a month Amazon electronically pays me by
putting the money it received for
all the used books it bought from me
into my bank account. )
6. When
Amazon notifies me that they have sold the book I listed with them they also
send me a packing list and a shipping tag which I print out and tape on the
envelope
that I use to mail the book. Amazon also pays me an additional
$2.26 ($8.95 if it is
overseas ) for shipping costs for each book sold.
7.
Books under a pound are shipped via media mail for $1.42. Books over a pound
but
under 2 lbs. ship for $1.84. If I book weighs 2 to 3 lbs you
have to use the entire $ 2.26
for shipping . The lighter the book (like
children's books or pocket novels) the more
money you get to keep on the
shipping charge. You do have to provide the envelope,
sealing tape and packing
materials. There is no need to spend a lot of money on shipping materials.
You can just wrap the books with brown grocery
bag paper.
8. So the total amount of gross income on that $ 5.00 book would be $ 5.00-$.75
Amazon
commission (15%) plus $ 2.26 shipping for a total of $ 6.51.
9.
If this were a consignment sale you would have to pay me for my consignment book.
You don't pay anything for the book until or if it sells. You pay me every Monday
50% of the amount you received for all books sold in the previous week
through Amazon.
If I do not at least get an e-mail report from you on Monday for the previous
week I will
send you a reminder which I hope I prefer not have to do. For the $ 5.00 example
book you would pay me half
( 50%) of the $ 4.25 or $ 2.12. You can do this by check, cash,
Pay Pal , Mastercard or Visa on Monday morning for the books sold during the previous
week.
If you are mailing a check you still have to send me a sales report on
Monday morning
for the previous week.
10.
If you list a book and it does not sell Amazon you do not have to pay anything.
You
do not risk anything because you have not paid anything for the book and
your
have not had to pay to advertise the book by listing it with Amazon.
Listing the book
does not cost anything like it does if you auction it on Ebay.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Consignment Book Sale Program
11.
What do I have to do to get
involved in this program?
Send an e-mail to me attaching
your resume. Also include a detailed letter telling me all about yourself. Explain why you
think this would be a good program for you and a good program for me. I
am investing
hundreds and possibly thousands of books in your care. I want to feel confident
that
this program will work for you. Tell me why you want to do this.
Explain how where you
will store hundreds or possibly thousands of my books.
12.
Do I have to have a computer?
Yes. In your letter tell me about your computer, the size,
the software you
are using, whether you are on Cable, DSL or dial up and if you have more
than one line in the house.
13. Do I need a telephone line? Amazon contacts you by e-mail. I will periodically be asking you to copy your open book file and email me a copy of the books you have listed.
14.
How many books will I get?
You will get a 200 to 500 books immediately. As soon as
you get some of the books listed and need more books they will be
available.
15.
What investment do I have to
make? You do
need tape, stamps, small medium and
large envelopes or grocery
bags to wrap the books like you would a package.
You should have a
printer connected to your computer. I will ask for a $100 token
inventory security deposit. It will be refunded if you want out of the program if you have timely submitted your
weekly sales reports, made all consignment payments to Brian Nelson and have
returned all consignment books to Brian Nelson.
16.
Do I have to pay any fees?
Yes and No.
Amazon keeps 15% commission on each book sold.
Under the normal program they
also keep an additional $ .99 per book. The $.99 per book fee
is waived if you are on
their
Pro Merchant Program Click here
This program costs $ 39.99
per
month. It can be cancelled at any time. You can cancel the
Pro Merchant Program
Click here at anytime.
Click
here for a Amazon sellers comments on the ProMerchant Programs.
One BIG advantage of that
program is that you do not have to re-list books if they do not sell in
the first 60 days. Some books have to be on the internet a year before
they will sell. Other books
sometimes
have one or more buyers waiting and Amazon will tell you the average price
they are willing to pay to get the book you are about to list. If after 30
days you see that the
consignment book program is not for you, you would cancel
being on that program. You would
return all unsold books to me. I prefer to have my consignment merchants
who are willing to
invest in the Pro Merchant program. You can also use the Amazon Z shops to
sell up to 40,000
items with out paying a listing fee.
17.
How do I store the books?
For the first couple of hundred books you don't have to be too
organized.
After that I would suggest you store them alphabetically by title
or by box no as
listed on the sku no. when you list the book on Amazon. Books prior to 1970 do not
have ISBN nos. but Amazon may still allow you to
list the book as they have it in their
computer by title or author.
18.
What if I also want to buy and
sell some of my own books to make more money?
Good.
No problem.
When you list my books I suggest you keep them separate from your books.
There
is no limit on the amount of books you can have on the
Pro Merchant Program (Click here)
Also when
you list a
code in the "SKU NO." you would start with "bn" reminding you that
they are
one of Brian Nelson's books. You could put a box no, date or other
code like color of book
to help you find it quickly when it sells. Every sku no. should be different. A sample might
be " bn 121002 blue spine box 8 ".
19.
What do I do with the books that
are not worth listing on Amazon because they are too
cheap or I can't find
listing? You
just return them to me The next time
you pick
up more books.
Another alternative would be to sell them in your z shop as a
quantity or bulk.
You could sell maybe 10 books of one author at a very low price plus shipping.
20.
How many books do you have
available? I have a
just over a thousand personally
listed already and have
15, 000 in storage. I have one consignment person with over 2000 of my books
on line. I get more opportunities to buy large quantities all the time but I just have so much time to list my own books.
21.
Is this a part time or a full
time job? Neither. You are
an independent contractor with
an opportunity to make money selling
books. You can work as much or as little as you
want 24 hours a day 7
days a week. The internet never sleeps. You are not bothering
anyone
when you list or wrap books at midnight. I do not pretend to steer you into
the
idea that this is a get rich quick program. The more you work, the more
you make.
Someone with 2,000 books listed will make a lot more money than someone with
200 books.
22.
Do I have to take the books to
the Post Office? I only
take the international books
to the post office. My very good and cooperative mailman picks up all my
domestic
books and hand cancels them when he gets back to the post office. Any book
under
a pound can be put in any mail box. If the book is over a pound your mailman has to
remember to cancel it or you have to bring it in to the post office. I
use a sticker on
the books over a pound to remind the mailman to do his
job.
23.
How long will you have this
program? As long as I can
get books and as long as
I feel I am getting my consignment money on all books
sold. I have not run out of books
in the last year. If I do not hear from you very often and you don't
seem to be listing books
on a regular basis I may suggest you cancel your involvement in the
program and return
the books to me.
24.
How do you store your books?
I store them in 17 used $10 file cabinets . Each drawer
is for a
different letter. You could store them in a closet or under the bed, in the
attic, the
garage or where
ever you have space. You can put a box no on the SKU entry so you can
quickly find the book when it sells. I use a low tack tape on each book to
show the price
I listed it for. When I sell a book if the prices match the printed sheet I know
I have the right
book. Once I did mix up my shipping instructions and 2 people
got each others books and
I had to reimburse them for shipping.
25. How long have you been selling books on the Internet? 5 years.
26.
What are some of the downsides of
selling books? A box
of books is heavy.
If your mailman doesn't pick up packages over a pound you
have to drive to the post office.
I solved that doing research to learn that
they do have to pick them up but you have to insist
on it and be sure the
mailman cancels the stamps. I can provide you with a few sample
stickers I use to remind the postal employees to do their job.
Once in a while a
customer says
he didn't get the book or it got damaged en-route and you
do have to
refund him. Most people are very honest.
27. Do I have to have a sales tax no? No. You are selling the books to Amazon.
28.
What if I wake up one day and
decide that the 500 books are more trouble than
they are worth?
Just go to the Amazon and de-list all your books and bring them
back to me.
29.
Can I work with a friend on this?
Sure but I would suggest you work under one
name so you only have to pay the $
39.99 monthly Amazon fee once.
30.
What kind of training will you
provide? Mostly over
the phone.
I can go over each
step and help you become as efficient as possible.
31.
What else can I sell on Amazon
under the Pro merchant program?
I think you can
sell about anything in the Z shop but I am not very familiar with
it. I always check the z shop
box but I really don't know how it works. With
the $ 39.99
Pro Merchant Program Click
you can list 40,000 items in addition to the books. With the $
39.99 program you can
afford to sell a $1 books where since you can also make
money on postage but if you
had to pay $ .99 to Amazon plus 15% it would
not be wise.
32.
Can I change the price of the
book once I set the price on Amazon?
Yes you can
change it at anytime and there is no fee to change it. If a book is not selling then
recheck
the status on the internet. If you are not the cheapest one then you just
lower the price.
33.
What prices have you sold books
for on Amazon?
$ .99 to $425.00. Sometimes
you run into a collector book and they
can be worth a lot of money. Those are great
days when you get a big price
for one book.
34.
How do you keep track of what I
have or sell of your books?
Occasionally I will
ask you to e-mail me a data sheet that is kept
on Amazons computer.
35.
Can I sell your books on Half.com if it looks like it would bring more or
quicker money?
Sure , but it is a lot of trouble to keep track of several listing
companies. Amazon is usually better.
If
you have any questions Call me at
713-467-3025, fax me at 713-467-3192 or e-mail me
bnelson@partytentcity.com Send me as much data about your self as
you can.
I am selective in who I am getting to sell my used books. We have to
be able to
communicate well. I want this
to be successful for you so that in return it will
also be profitable
for me. It has to be a WIN-WIN situation. Remember you can
drop the program at any time.
Thanks.
Brian W. Nelson
Brian W. Nelson
Brian W. Nelson
BrianNelsonConsulting.com
31 Gessner Rd.,
Houston, TX 77024
713-467-3025,
TheBusinessCritic.com
bnelson@PartyTentCity.com
http://www.thebusinesscritic.com/consignmentbooks/application.html ud Sunday August 30, 2009 04:43 PM -0500