Last July, I had a couple crazy FBA book sales. One book sold for $969 and the other sold for $395. The kicker is that the lowest merchant fulfilled price was low (very low). Meaning that the customer could have saved a lot of money buying the merchant fulfilled book.
Here are the books:
- Title: Beyond Tears: Zimbabwe's Tragedy
- Low Merchant Fulfilled Price at time of sale: $1.44 + shipping (very good condition)
- Sale Price: $395 (very good condition)
- Sale Date: June 30th, 2016
- Title: What Your Preschooler Needs to Know: Activity Book 1 for Ages 3-4
- Low Merchant Fulfilled Price: $19.99 + shipping (new condition)
- Sale Price: $969.33 (very good condition)
- Sale Date: July 1st, 2016
Here's the video, I made after the sales.
Now, I was a little skeptical since Amazon buyers can return any item within 30 day. I've also heard, that they can return an item within 60 days by calling an Amazon rep in a case by case basis. So, I waited over four months to show the results.
Here are the results….
1. The first book, Beyond Tears, bad news and good news. The customer did return for a refund on August 6th. BUT, Amazon reimbursed me the full amount on September 17th. So I did end up making $334 after fees. Here's the screenshot that I took on November 16th. Click to enlarge.
2. The second book, What Your Preschooler Needs to Know, held up without a problem. No refund. Here's the screenshot as November 16th. The charge says $1020 because the customer also added a $50 to this order (as seen in the above video). Click to enlarge.
A couple questions for you.
- Why do you think someone would pay so much for a book when they could get it cheaper?
- Why did Amazon reimburse me for the $395 after the customer got the refund?
Please post your answers in the comments.
Thanks for reading!
What was it that caused you to price both items so high when there were much lower books.
Sometimes I price a book initially very high and than let the repricer adjust later. That’s what happened with the $395 book. For the $900+ book, I’m not sure what happened. My repricer landed on that price for some reason. Either it was following my rules or it made a mistake.
Nathan,
I don’t have answers for you. But I’m glad you posted this.
I withdrew a lot of items from FBA after the LTSF exception ended. According to calculations, if I sold none of these items by February, I would have to pay an extra $4,200 in fees. I can’t absorb that kind of additional fee throughout the year, let alone all at once.
The other thing that happened is I have had an upshot in FBA items with detail pages getting their main pictures and descriptions removed. Since my books are in FBA, I can’t resend the pictures. I don’t have copies of the descriptions either. It used to be a book or two would get this problem, now as my inventory grows I see hundreds like this. And of course the books with these useless detail pages don’t sell, just rack up FBA storage fees. A lose-lose situation.
Because of these two problems, I have been exploring other avenues for selling books and media including eBay, Etsy, Alibris, Half.com, and a few other book-only sites.
Whenever I see a book priced so incredibly higher than others and how they could have possibly sold I can hardly bring myself to believe it. Why did you price them so high and what made you think they could sell? Now I hope to find out what I’ve been so curious to know.
Sometimes I price a book initially very high and than let the repricer adjust later. That’s what happened with the $395 book. For the $900 book, I’m not sure what happened. My repricer landed on that price for some reason. Either it was following my rules or it made a mistake.
Getting nervous Nathan…book sales are very slow in Q4, Any suggestions or advice on how to beef up sales? I’m still listing books from my auction buy at a University Library but it is like finding a needle in a haystack going through all of the boxes of books. I would like to hire a helper but there isn’t sufficient profit above cost to do that right now. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
You may want to adjust your prices or keep on sending books in. Also, in my experience, Q4 does not equal high book sales. It is for other categories, but not for books. January and August are my biggest months.
Nice sales! I think Amazon buyers have an option to click (only show me prime offers) in their buyers account. So they may have never seen the lower offers. If that wasn’t the reason, they may be wealthy and needed the book right away and didn’t care about the price.
That could be. Thanks for the insight.
My concerns are admittedly more basic. I am still a novice in the art of book-selling, but my number one fear is having a valuable book returned.
Does not Amazon allow a 30 day return on any sale, FBA or not?
I’ve had lesser items returned in direct & FBA sales for no reason. And not always in the same condition I sent them, but not so bad that I could file a legitimate basis for a formal complaint.
My rating on Amazon is 100%
I suppose if your number of sales is very high you can absorb such events with a little more comfort. I spend a decent amount of time preparing for sales. My products are exactly as advertised in some cases even better than the condition class I sell them in.
Is the formula in targeting the customer who really is interested in a rare find, versus the one who hopes to make an additional profit? If so, how to you do that?
Yes, Amazon has a 30 day return policy on all sales. FBA or merchant fullfilled. No sure If I understand your last question though.
I am wondering how the new FBA rules are affecting sellers? I have held off some time wondering how the old rules would affect profits once costs went into place after non sales ! All insites appreciated ! Thanks
It’s hard to say. Some people will quit and others will adjust to the changes. Are you talking about the new storage fees for Nov and Dec? Or the FBA fee changes in February.
For the Storage fee increase in Nov and Dec, I destroyed a lot of my inventory that has been sitting for more than on year. Amazon had a free promotion on this. I also adjusted my repricer so the books will sell faster.
For the fee increase in Feb, I will take a closer look, and adjust my business accordingly.
For your first question, I have no idea why someone would pay so much for a book. Sometimes you see it with text books. I once sold an ACT review book for $330 a few weeks before the test. I sometimes sell professional books like law or medicine, and they can go for a lot FBA. But I occassionally get high results in other categories (still pretty rare) and am as puzzled as you.
As for the refund, that happens to me quite a bit. What happens is that when the book is returned by the customer AZ has to add it back to your inventory. If its damaged, then they reimburse you. They use an algorithm for the reimbursement. If it hasn’t sold many copies, your most recent sale (FBA$$$) may be what they use. More often than not, though, I get screwed on the amount reimbursed – usually a fraction of the MF price, like ten or twenty cents.
Well, I know what happens when it is returned, having been there and done that. But how best to prevent it is my concern. Although I don’t expect 100% success.
I would think the highest priced items would not be returned that often, because who wants to throw money out on a whim. Then again, buyers can be a strange lot, no fixed rules apply.
I have a feeling that the person used their business credit card (it wasn’t their money). Thanks for your insight on the refund policy.
Nathan,
Just wondering if you usually price so high?
Also, I have recently noticed that even when there are other MF sellers, but no FBA, that Amazon tries to restrict me from listing that book, although you can over ride that restriction notice and still send it in. Any comments on that?
Wow ! You must of really got a rush, when these came through. I had a similar
experience, but for a much minor amount. I listed a book with the theme of how
to ” Mend a broken romance ” it was ” used like new ‘ MF. I listed it for $5.95
but I must of fat fingered it, as it came through as $59.50 and promptly sold !!
makes me wonder how much money we leave on the table on every sale day by
day !! Keep on booking !! Regards Jack
Nice sale on the $59.50! I don’t count on those types of sales as a part of my business strategy. But it’s fun when it happens!
Nathan, this is your conscience speaking. That guilty gnawing feeling you have as you check to see if a return was requested is there for a reason. Regardless of why someone would pay $900 for a used book they could get new for $19.99 (an activity book for parents of preschoolers, no less) charging that much (accident or not, it’s never too late to fix the mistake, you know) is *gulp* morally wrong. I KNOW you know that. I am your conscience, after all. This is banking on someone accidentally hitting the BUY button and not noticing that they overpaid stunningly. Company card or not, you don’t want to be that guy. Right? Remember the multiple $35 overdraft fees you used to have? I know this kind of purchase could hit some folks pretty hard, especially if they thought they were buying a book with fun things to do with their 4-year-olds for $1.44. Do the right thing. You are a good person. XOXO
Jenjo, your comment reminds me of a story. One time I was shopping for shoes and I went to my favorite shoe store. There were three pair of shoes I wanted but I didn’t really need the third pair (they were all quite expensive) so I bought the two pair and left. About a week later I was driving by that same store and I thought about those shoes. I decided I had to have them so I went into the store and as I walked in the same salesperson greeted me and asked how she could help me. I told her I was there to buy that third pair of shoes and do you know what she said to me? She said, “Mr Jones you just bought two very expensive pairs of shoes last week and as I look at your feet you’re not wearing either of those pair of shoes now. I’m sorry but I can’t sell you that pair of shoes.” Then I woke up from my dream because in real life that has never happened. We are entrepreneurs. Our job is to sell products to people who want to buy our products. It is not our job to second guess the customers decision on why he purchased our product or why he paid x when he could have paid y.