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I entered my accounting book's ISBN at Amazon and it was ranked way over 1000. So I guess this book won't do well. I did manage to find an later edition of the book on ebay and it didn't sell either even though it was being offered for a low "buy it now" price. Anyway this book I have I got it for free so I'am not losing any money on it. So I may just keep it for my own reading. That Amazon ranking info is a useful tool. I'll use it for future books.
I'd think that a low starting bid would attract more potential bidders to that auction and not cause people to necessarily assume the book was of less value or use. That's one reason I was surprised that book didn't even get a bid.
Starting bid strategy is the subject of many many conversations in the auction community. There are good arguments either way. It's my opinion that it depends on the item.
A used iPod in great condition with a bunch of accessories and good photos on the listing could be started at .99c and it would most likely get a lot of bids and find a fair price.
But an item that has a narrow market, and is not widely searched for - I would not chance it on a 99c auction. Because it very well may end at 99c with one bidder.
Your mileage may vary
Starting bid strategy is the subject of many many conversations in the auction community. There are good arguments either way. It's my opinion that it depends on the item.
A used iPod in great condition with a bunch of accessories and good photos on the listing could be started at .99c and it would most likely get a lot of bids and find a fair price.
But an item that has a narrow market, and is not widely searched for - I would not chance it on a 99c auction. Because it very well may end at 99c with one bidder.
Your mileage may vary
It's a big topic of conversation in our house, too. We've segued into almost all fixed price listings, though, because a lot of our things don't do well on auction. Our niche tends to have a lot of items that people need, but will sit for a while before someone buys one.
I listed my Jeep a few times, no winning bid as I had my reserve set. Third time was the charm, same listing no changes. Winning bid was 3 times my reserve. Market is weird that way.
I noticed a small print book I had was sold by someone else for $40, figured I had not looked at it in years why not sell mine. Mine sold for $400, buyer was so close I almost drove it over.
Take your accounting book over to Amazon and enter the ISBN number into search. When you find your exact book, scroll down to the product details and see what the ranking is. If it is under 1000, you have a book that will probably sell.
How far over a 1000 would be too far over for a book to be worth trying to sell? I ask because I found some books on ebay that had Amazon rankings over a 1000 but the books got several bids on ebay.
It's just a general rule of thumb for Amazon sellers.
A book ranked at under 1000 will probably sell on Amazon in a couple days.
5000, a few weeks
10,000 maybe a month.
If it starts to get up over 100,000 I wouldn't bother listing it.
I don't remember where I read that, but it seems to be fairly accurate. With exceptions of course.
I use that formula to decide what to list on eBay, since Amazon is so huge and has so much accumulated data, I figure it could apply to eBay as well.
If a book has under 1000 ranking on Azon and there are no copies available on Amazon, I would definitely take it to eBay and auction it.
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