Tips To Make Money Selling Used Media On Amazon

Most people who want to start selling stuff online usually think that ebay is the best option.  If you are interested in selling used media you shouldn't overlook amazon however.  This post will show you how to get started profitably selling used books, movies and music.   While no one will ever become rich following my method it can be used to earn an extra income in your spare time. 

Frugality Is The Key

The biggest thing you need to know about amazon is that customers generally go there to find the cheapest deals on media.  This means that you need to be the lowest priced seller or very near the bottom to be successful.  Like ebay there is feedback and it is still important to have good feedback on amazon but you have to be able to really compete on price.  This means you have to be frugal youself in finding the lowest cost merchandise and shipping supplies.  So how do you do that?  Here is a list of places you should be frequenting for getting stuff to sell for cheap. 

1.  Hit the garage sales.  You will be surprised at the gems you can find at garage sales for very cheap. 

2.  Thrift stores.  Those are a goldmine for finding books and music for dirt cheap prices. 

3.  Library sales.  Check out your local library when they have book sales. 

4.  Flea markets are also a good place.

5.  Don't pay retail for your mailing supplies.  I recommend getting a wholesale club membership it will really save a lot on shipping costs. 

So you know where to go to find cheap stuff.  You still need to be careful at those places on what you pay.  Overall you should never pay more than 50 cents for a paperback and a dollar for a hardcover.  As far as music cd's and movies you should also be frugal and not pay more than a couple of dollars.  

What Specifically To Look For To Find Gems

Now you have an idea of where to go and what pricing to stay within but there is more to it.   There is another problem to overcome.  There are a lot of books, music and movies that simply don't have any value on the amazon marketplace.  Those items tend to be listed for only a penny and then almost never get sold.  What you want to do is find gems which have some demand and fetch a decent price on the markeplace.  If you use the following rules of thumb in your book/movie/music scouting you will have a greater chance at finding gems and avoid buying or at least buy less of the junk. 

1.  As far as books go hardcover ones tend to be worth more than paperback on the markeplace.  Also avoid fiction titles.  You want to be looking for specific topics of non fiction.  Business titles are always in demand.  Out of print books are usually more valuable.  Science is an in demand topic.  How- to books are in demand.   I recommend against buying diet or cooking books as there is a glut of  them on the market. 

2.  With used music titles I recommend only buying either compilations or best of titles.  They are always more valuable than regular cd's.

3.  Movies are the trickiest ones to buy.  It is the hardest to predict values for.  In general if it is a newer and popular title you will be able to get a decent price for it.  Anything else like I said is hard to predict.  That is why back when I was selling I stuck mainly to books and music which I was better able to predict which ones would be gems. 

Well that is my basic guide to selling used media on amazon.  I hope it has helped those who are interested in doing the same.