Nathan Holmquist – Founder
Nathan Holmquist started selling used books on Amazon in 2006. A year later he switched to FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) and saw a noticeable increase in profits and sales. Armed with this knowledge, he wrote an FBA eBook and created this blog documenting his FBA journey. In 2014, he founded the Amazon listing software ScanLister. He currently lives in Palm Bay, Florida. You can contact Nathan on Facebook here.
Kevin Harmon – Guest Contributor
Kevin Harmon has a PhD in eBay, Amazon, Walmart, and ecommerce. He is the Founder or VP of four different companies in the Top 20 on eBay/amazon worldwide. He has sold over a million items online for millions of dollars in the past 20 years. He has Enterprise level experience and skills in several areas such as management, entrepreneurship, digital marketing, and sales. He is also creator and host of the Travels With Randy Podcast. He writes for several different publications, has appeared on national TV, been written about in books, magazines, and newspapers, and has willingly jumped out of an airplane.
Follow Kevin on LinkedIn HERE
Follow Kevin on Twitter HERE
Follow Kevin on Facebook HERE
I’m a retired teacher. I thought that I would have a comfortable life with an adequate income from my retirement check. I didn’t anticipate my health insurance rate to increase to a $1000 per month! I’ve started picking but I just can’t afford a course at this time. When I’m able, I’ll take your course. If it is as good as I think it will be, I’ll provide you with a testimonial . I’m good at articulating my thoughts.
Looking forward to taking your course in the future,
Mike Curtis
Hi Mike,
I currently don’t have any courses out except for my eBook located on the right of the blog. There are plenty of good Amazon courses out there like the Proven Amazon Course by Jim Cockrum and Amazon Boot Camp by Jessica Larrew.
hi Nathan – your tips and info are great but after trying fba it sure seems to me the cost of
selling this way is pretty expensive; sold an item for 9.95 and fba fees were nearly 6.00 that’s a
high per centage for the ‘privilege’ of selling thru fba. I am a pro merchant and have been selling
for over 5 years. love to hear your feedback…thanks – karen
Maybe you can price those items at $15 or $20? The great thing about FBA is that customers will pay much more for an FBA item.
Nathan, thanks for all your excellent content. It has really helped as my wife and I start off with selling via FBA. One question we had is how do you determine your premium over what the Merchant Fulfilled Sellers base prices are and do you do this for all your books? Also when would you reprice? Lastly, do you have a tutorial on analyzing the data from Aseller and how you use it to look for the best potential sellers? Is Amazon’s Sellers App Data good enough or does it lack pertinent info? Thanks again.
Basically, I add the $3.99 shipping costs at a minimum. So if the book is selling for an MF price of 10 + $3.99 shipping, I would price at $13.99. The rest depends on the other FBA sellers and how long you are willing to wait for the sale. I reprice once a day with Repriceit.com.
Good afternoon Nathan!
Great information on Amazon FBA. I’m new to selling books on Amazon FBA. I have neatopricer on my Dell AXIM PDA. In your past and recent findings, do you think I should set my neatopricer to a minimum price of $4.00? Excluding the $3.99 with Amazon shipping. (So a total: $7.99.) Hope to hear from you soon! Thanks again.
Hi Hector,
Yes, $4 is a good minimum to start. As you get more experience, you could probably set the minimum for a merchant fulfilled price to $2 or so.
-Nathan
Hi Nathan,
What repricing software do you use? I have called a few companies and they say they don’t usually deal with used items or books. Some of their fees are really expensive except for RepriceIt, but I have heard bad things about them.
Thanks,
TJ
Hi TJ,
Sorry for the delayed response. I use Repriceit.com. It does most of the repricing strategies that I want, and it’s affordable starting at $10 a month.
-Nathan
Nathan,
I am just starting in the Amazon world even though I have been in retail for over 35 years. I have a quick question. I have a Thrift store in my area that has their hard cover books priced at .50 every day. The last day of each month everything in the store is ½ price. There is a large crowd every month for the sale. I thought about getting there when they open and tell the manager I will purchase all the hard cover books for the .25 price and see how that turns out. What are your thoughts on that approach?
Michael
I wouldn’t buy any books without scanning them first. Most books have no value on Amazon.
Hi Nathan, Just came across your website and I am hooked! What a wealth of information. I’ve just started selling on Amazon FBA and in the last couple of weeks I have sent in a few different shipments of books with great rankings that are competitively priced. But I’m not seeing the sales yet. Do used books get the buy box on FBA? Have you got any tips on increasing my FBA sales? Thank you!
Yes, used books get the buybox. New books do not. Can you send me some examples of books that are not selling? Send them to [email protected].
If you’re just starting out, I would recommend that your books are priced so they show up within the top 3 listings of the page.
What is the scanner that you use and where can I purchase it?
This is the scanner set-up that I use.
I am looking at two socket Scanners and wonder which one you would suggest both used.
Socket Cf RFID CLass 1 Lazer RFID 8510-002448
Socket SDSCC 3E 8510-00209
Both Used and near the same price.
80-100 dollars US
Hi Nathan, your site is great! very informative. New to fba and getting a very slow start. Was very excited to get started and bought scanner, printer(thermal) etc. unfortunately got frustrated fast, scanning 1 book at a time, and adding info is time consuming, also trying to figure out what their worth and trying to figure out if their even worth the effort to list has been a real problem, I’m was hoping to send in every book i owned even if profit was small. Should I approach it that way or not? Also your scanlister looks amazing, love to have it but I have to wait financially it would make my life simpler, are you ever going to have a special on it, I know it a one time fee of $99 which I love the fact there’s no monthly fee! Also, I tried a free trial of a app that my books come up with red reject botton should I sell these books anyways? Omg! So confused I’m giving up already, also got a month free( fba) and still haven’t sent in anything and already charged for 1 month. Are their any free apps that would help out this beginner? I have a half box to send in and still setting there. Please pm me. Thanks
Hello,
In my opinion, you really need a fast scanner to make it in the book business. Have you looked at FBAScan with the Socket 8ci scanner? https://booktothefuture.com/asellertools-fbascan-socket-8ci-scanner/
Amazon has a free app called the Amazon seller app as well.
You have a very helpful blog, Nathan. BTW, is that Carolina or Wrightsville beach?? 😉
Hello there, I’m glad you like the blog:) It’s actually Melbourne Beach in Florida. I was visiting relatives there.
Hi Nathan, I just read your ebook and I am trying to get started in the business. Do you ever price your books above other current FBA seller’s prices? If so, when and why? If not, why not?
Also, I have the free Amazon app. Do you think that is good and fast enough for the book business?
Thank you!!
Hi Nathan
Several months ago I join FBA and sent a product made in China to Amazon. The product is selling verrrrrry slow. Though about getting into the book and media business. But want to know more about how to do it. Do you think the book and media business is better than china made products?
Hey Nathan I read an interview you did at some point about how you choose your books based on the lowest merchant fulfilled price. Did you every write an article about this? I can’t find it.
Love this site thanks,
DigDeeper
I have about 168 books in my FBA Account and I simply wish to get out completely. Make me an offer for my books. Look forward to hearing from you.
MyBuySave
Mel
I have been selling books on amazon for about 11 years. I really haven’t put up that many for about 7 years. My sales have almost gone to nothing. I have about 6000 books listed still. Would it be worth it to try and FBA them?
Nathan thanks for the gret youtube video explaining how to use barcode scanner app with Dymo. I left a comment with a question but i guess you did not receive it. I went to the site that has the app. for purchase but there are two there. Amazon barcode label printer then just barcode printer I don’t know which one to choose? I also wanted to ask somebody there if it would run with my operating system windows XP but there is no place to leave a message. I am just starting with Amazon FBA so I have questions which is better Dymo 450 or Brother ql700 for printing bar code. And which program to try if it works on my platform Amazon barcode label or Just Barcode label? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks John
Nathan, I could use a little help.
How can I help you?
Nathan,
I’m still struggling in certain areas-namely getting the books INTO amazon!! I’m using scanlister (for a Mac) I scanned in a batch, clicked List On Amazon, and it actually happened!! (small victory) but when I went to use Amazons Match Low Price feature-following your video tutorial (as much as I could) That part didn’t work, AND, more importantly when I tried to print the labels (again watching your video tutorial with a Demo label printer) I couldn’t because I didn’t have a ‘Shipment ID’ and I CANNOT figure out how to create one!! Do I need to do that BEFORE I start the whole scanning them in process?? The place for me to input it NEVER even popped up on my screen. What step am I missing NOW????
The Match Low price feature on my video is out of date because Amazon changed things. On your seller central account go to Pricing — Manage Pricing. Then you can use Match Low Price.
You can only get a shipment ID after you have scanned items into ScanLister, converted them to FBA, and create a shipment. Please watch the 2nd video on this page. The title is called How to List and Label.
http://www.scanlister.com/tutorials/
If you don’t want to use the Dymo, you can print labels directly on seller central using the 30-up labels on your laser printer.
If you have anymore questions, you can email me at [email protected]. I can also connect to your computer remotely if you need more assistance.
Regards,
Nathan
Hi Nathan,
About how many books do you keep in FBA inventory at any one time?
Now that the LTSF has changed, do you recommend selling anything FBM? I started FBM, then went all FBA, but have made a lot of withdrawals last year after fee changes. My specialty was long tail books, and 11 months is usually not enough time to sell most of them.
Thanks for the nice blog and all your tips!