Selling books on Amazon through their new Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program offers several advantages to the casual book seller.
Sorting Advantages. This is perhaps the biggest advantage of all. Such a big advantage, I'm surprised this has not caught on by other sellers. Here is how it works. Let's say there are 5 books listed at $1.00, 1.25, 1.75, 2.50, 4.75 all in very good condition. The $1.00 book is listed on the top as the cheapest.
Now, I can list my book at $4.98 and still remain at the top of the page.
Why? Well, the sorting is based on the price + shipping. The lowest price is at $1.00 plus the $3.99 for shipping. This brings the grand total to $4.99 for the cheapest book. Therefore my $4.98 listing will be at the top.
I know what you're saying though. What about all those FBA fees? Well, let's look at some math.
FBA
Sale price $4.98
Commission (15%) – .75
Final Value Fee – 1.35
Fulfillment Fee -.50
Weight Based Fee (.40/lb) -.40
The total after commissions is $1.98
Merchant Fulfilled
Sale Price: $1.00
Commission – .15
Final Value – 1.35
Media Mail for 1 pound -2.17
Shipping Reimbursement +3.99
The total after commissions $1.32
I can already hear you. “But, you gotta ship all those books to Amazon's warehouse and pay monthly fees for storage”. Well, Amazon and UPS have a partnership with deeply discounted rates. You can ship 70 pounds of books for $14.00. That's comes to 20 cents per pound. And if you include the UPS pick up rates it comes to 24 cents per pound.
For the monthly fees, you pay 1-2 cents a month per book. So, let's say we have an extra 25 cents per pound for FBA. Well, for marketplace you have to buy bubble mailers, which come to around 25-30 cents each. So we'll just call it even.
So, as you can see, you make approximately 50 percent more for this example. But we do not have to stop there. From my experience….
…To be continued.
Nathan Holmquist
Will there be a part 2?
Nathan,
When you sell via Marketplace, Amazon takes a cut of the shipping and there is a “variable fee” for both FBA and Marketplace. The $.99 book sellers actually lose money on the deal. If you can, please show the comparison with these revealed. FBA is clearly better, and the update will make it even clearer. Also the cost of packaging should be included for Marketplace, and shipping and boxes for FBA.
Is there a lower rate for books via Amazon UPS? I pay about $12 per 45 lbs when I ship UPS/FBA. I do know that additional pound cost very little.
Thanks for all the great insights!!
Couple of Q’s. I am assuming you are using a book scouting scanner to give us those juicy details. They let you in with it?
It seems to me that i am paying out half my items’ price to AMZ after commission, fees, etc.
Lastly it seems you have 3 stickers on your FBA boxes, whereas I usually only have 2. Does the third one say “this is N. Holmquist’s stuff process me quickly? LOL
Elisabeth-
Here is the part 2 — Two years later:)
Bodiless,
Amazon has a variable closing fee of $1.35 for books. I just named it “Final Value Fee” in the blog.
There is also a $.99 per item fee, but this can be waived by joining Amazon Pro Merchant for $40 a month.
I’ll see if I can get an update soon.
Amazon UPS is by far the cheapest.
Nathan
D-
Yes, I use a book scanner at the sales. Some library allow them – some do not.
The fees may seem like a lot, but with FBA you can charge your items $3.99 higher than the competition because of the FBA pricing/sorting advantage.
This $3.99 mark up will usually cover all the fees.
The 3rd sticker? That’s top secret:)
Nathan
How do you go about deleting the items that have shipped from amazon? I’ve been doing them manually but it is taking a lot of time to do that.
Sean,
I usually don’t. I know what you’re talking about though. Amazon doesn’t close the listing after an FBA item sells.
Thank you for opening my eyes to a “new” and better way to sell books.
I wonder if you check book for book what they are selling for on Amazon, or if you just go with your gut instincts.
RichRecluse,
I use a scanner from neatoscan.com to check the prices before I buy. This is a must…
Nathan
Selling via FBA sounds intriguing.
If items are shipped to FBA and languish without selling, what would a person need to do if he no longer desires to pay for storage?
Also how would one go about shipping via Amazon UPS? Would one click on a button during enrollment in FBA?
Thanks!
ecoworld,
You would need to request to have them sent back to you, which would cost around $3 per item.
Or have them destroyed, which costs around 50 cents an item.
Yes, when you are enrolled in FBA you can print UPS labels directly from your Amazon account.
Nathan
Nat – I tried to buy your book but i got a message from click bank that said it was no longer avaiable.
How can I buy it?
Richard,
It should work – I would try it again.
What does the error message say?
Nathan
Due to your book & blogs, Nathan, I’ve begun using FBA and it’s going well. However, the only remaining doubt in my mind is “Will there be any advantage to it once many more sellers join FBA?” Because that will erase the advantage of being able to sell penny books for $3.98. Already I’ve noticed that some best-sellers have a dozen or more FBA sellers, and competition drives the prices down to $2.50, erasing any profit whatsoever. I feel like it’s only a matter of time before a dozen or so large sellers join up and the advantage we currently enjoy will disappear. With that in mind, I am curious as to why you work hard to promote FBA when it seems it will work against you in the long run to have more competitors?
Josh,
Yes, overtime the advantage may disappear (maybe 2-3 years). Keep in mind that there are over 7 million listings in just the media category only. So, it will take a while to get saturated.
I’m promoting FBA because I’m also interested in the business of selling/giving information as well. I don’t want to just sell books on Amazon. Multiple streams of income is the name of the game!
Nathan
How did you get the shipping so cheap? I sent 2 boxes yesterday, one 30 lbs and one 10 lbs and paid $29 total.
Max,
It cost $7.50 to have UPS come and pick them up at my door. The costs to ship the boxes was about $50.
Nathan
Nathan
Great information, thank you!
My question is: Are a label printer and an ink-jet, laser (etc.) printer needed? Or, will just the label printer do to start?
Gvte,
An ink jet printer is all you need to get started with FBA.
If you use FBAPower.com the speed up the process – then you would need to get a label printer as well.
Nathan
HI! I was wondering if you have info on using FBA for my own homemade products without UPC codes. Will it work if I can add the item under the Everything Else category? Thanks for your help!
Kristi,
Most products are eligible for FBA. I believe “everything else” products are included as well.
Nathan
Hi Nathan, Just bought your book and it is quite insightful into how the FBA works. I do have a couple of questions for you~
First, Sean asked (in comments) about deleting books shipped through Amazon~ Do you have to go in and manually delete all of the books that have sold?I’m confused on this point.
The other question I have is @ packing the books in the boxes. Does Amazon require you to shrink wrap the books and place the bar code label on the back of the shrink wrap, OR do you skip the shrink wrap and place the bar code label on the book itself?
Very informative info you’ve offered here~ thanks!
what are the disadvantages of FBA program? how can it be improved? also if it is transferred to other countries? should it be transferred in its current form?
Ram,
The disadvantage of FBA is that you lose some control of your business. Amazon can and has lost books, but they will refund you if this happens.
With that being said, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of 100 to 1. It is that much of a no-brainer.
Amazon is available in the UK, France, Germany, and Japan.
Nathan
Nathan, just finished your FBA book, you did not cover the subject of barcodes and that each book you send must have YOUR barcode on it.
Maybe I have this wrong, we just submitted a new product so had to buy barcodes.
When selling used books, you just list the ISBN # and then AMAZON provides lables that you place over any existing barcodes?
Thanks,
Vicki
Vic,
When you send used books to Amazon, you must put a sticker with Amazon’s barcode info on it. This will enable Amazon to recognize that this is your book.
When you start an FBA shipment, there is a step where you print the stickers(bar codes).
Nathan,
I just sent 3 shipments to Amazon through “Easy Sell” and no where was I instructed to put individual labels on the books. List, pack, and ship with printable box labels and that was it. Am I getting charged extra for the service of Amazon putting the bar codes on? Or am I simply doing this wrong?
Marsha,
With Easy Sell you do not need to put labels on the items. They will do that for you.
You do have to pay the full cost of shipping though. You do not get a UPS shipping discount.
Sorry Marcia not Marsha
Hi, Nathan,
I have been reading all your materials and blogs and am just about ready to take the plunge. There is one concern, however. I have a fairly large inventory of antiquarian books with no UPCs or ISBNs. Will FBA work for them? Thanks for all of the great information.
Yes. You would need to search for the existing listing on Amazon and look for the ASIN number. Once you have that number, you can list it on Amazon.
Your information sounds great!
Can you clarify please the problem with buy box for used books. I’m selling different items for 1 year and eligible for their buy box. My account health is well.
I have over 20 used books with BSR less then 400000 and they are on FBA fulfillment. But I’m not eligible for the buy box for these books. So my price is higher then FBM merchants. They have sales and I just pay for storage.
Are there some tricks to get this buy box eligibility?