How to list and sell your books on Amazon
- To sell books on Amazon, you'll need to first sign up for an Amazon seller account.
- You can then sell books on Amazon by listing your new or used books as products.
- You can ship the books you sell on Amazon directly to the customer or use Amazon Fulfillment.
If you're cleaning out your bookshelves and trying to figure out where to put your old textbooks and picture books, consider that you can sell your books on Amazon.
Amazon offers both a personal and professional account level depending on how many books you plan to sell. They also provide the option to ship directly to the customer or send it through an Amazon Fulfillment center.
Here's how you can sell your textbooks, niche and rare titles, or older edition books on Amazon.
What you need to sell books on Amazon
To sell books on Amazon, you'll need to have this information handy:
- Citizenship country
- Birth country
- Birthdate
- Proof of Identity (License or Passport ID)
- Business address
- Phone number
- Bank account information
- Credit or debit card
- Bank statement
- ISBN (the book's registration code)
- Book SKU number
Create an Amazon seller account
First, you'll have to create an Amazon seller account. Here's how:
1. Log in to your Amazon account or sign up if you don't already have one. Then visit Amazon's selling guide page, scroll to the "How to register" section, and select either "Sell as an Individual" or "Sell as a professional."
2. Choose the country you'll manage your virtual shop out of, and when a dropdown appears, designate the type of seller you are before clicking "Agree and continue."
3. Next, select or enter details on your citizenship country, birth country, birthdate, proof of Identity (License or Passport ID), business address, and phone number.
4. Amazon will send a one-time pin to the phone number you provided. Enter it in the pop-up window.
5. After clicking "I Understand" to confirm you have all the necessary banking information to open a seller account, provide your financial institution information and bank account information. Then check the terms and conditions box before selecting "Verify Bank Account."
6. On the following page, enter your credit card information and select a billing address.
7. Now input your store name, and tell Amazon whether you have UPC codes, diversity certifications, and whether you're the manufacturer or brand owner for all or some of your products.
8. Confirm your personal account details and upload your ID documents and bank statement before hitting Submit. In five to eight business days, you'll receive a postcard with a code to verify your account before receiving an email from Amazon confirming the process is complete.
List and sell your books on Amazon
Once you're a verified Amazon seller, you can begin to list your books based on previously sold Amazon items or as a new item.
Quick tip: Avoid wasting time listing books no one is interested in buying by visiting each title's Amazon.com product page to view its Best Seller Rank. The lower the rank, the higher the sales - and higher the likelihood your book will sell.
To sell books on Amazon:
1. While logged into your seller account, go to Amazon's homepage.
2. With the search filter set to Books, enter the title or ISBN (the book's registration code) for the book you want to sell into the search bar.
3. Select the book you want to sell from the search results to open its product page, then click on the "Sell on Amazon" button located beneath the Buy Box and current for sale listings.
4. If you're permitted to sell the book, a listing screen will appear. Begin the process by entering the SKU number for the book if you have it.
5. Now, set the price you want to sell the book for on Amazon based on its condition and competitor's prices. (As a new seller you may need to set your price lower than other sellers until you build up your reputation.)
6. Enter the quantity you are selling as well as the condition. Select whether you want to do Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) or fulfillment by merchant (FBM).
Note: FBA will see the company pick, package, and ship the book entirely on your behalf while FBM will require you to send it to Amazon before it's sent to a customer, which will likely take longer.
7. Click Save and Finish to list your book for sale on Amazon.
Use Fulfillment by Amazon
Amazon offers to store and send your items for you once they're sold. This is called "Fulfillment by Amazon." They'll also provide customer service for your items and process returns.
Items sold this way are eligible for Amazon Prime free two-day shipping, which may help attract more customers to your items.
For shipping costs, you'll pay Amazon based on the weight of the item. This fee covers picking up your order, packing it once sold, shipping it to the customer, customer service, and dealing with product returns.
For storage, you'll pay a monthly fee based on the cubic feet your items take up. Be warned, this fee can almost quadruple over the holiday period (October-December), going from $0.69 per cubic foot to $2.40 per cubic foot for standard-sized items.
How to delete your Amazon account when you're done using the online retailerYou can't merge Amazon accounts, but you can share an Amazon Household account with multiple family members - here's how it works'Does Amazon ship internationally?': Yes, it does - here's how to navigate and use Amazon international shippingWhy Amazon doesn't offer a 'price match' policy on the products it sells, according to the company